Agassi Tops Philippoussis at Siebel Open

<br>SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) _ For a player known more for his remarkable return, Andre Agassi put on quite a serving show against one of the biggest servers in tennis. <br><br>Agassi lost just four points

Friday, February 14th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) _ For a player known more for his remarkable return, Andre Agassi put on quite a serving show against one of the biggest servers in tennis.

Agassi lost just four points on his serve and won five service games at love to beat Mark Philippoussis 6-4, 6-1 on Thursday night in the second round of the Siebel Open.

``I don't try to have a great serve, I just try to hold,'' Agassi said. ``When I win my serve, it's not because of my serve, it's because of my game.''

The top-seeded Agassi, a four-time champion in this event, didn't need speed to show off his spectacular serve, which helped him improve to 9-0 this year and 5-1 in his career against Philippoussis.

Agassi has been broken only once in his past six matches, dating to the fourth round of the Australian Open, which he won last month.

It was another night of near-perfect tennis for Agassi, on the top of his game at age 32 _ when many of his American childhood rivals are planning to retire.

``So much of my mind-set is about survival when I'm out there,'' he said. ``You win one point and it's not enough. You win one game and it's not enough. You win one set and it's not enough.''

When asked whether Agassi is serving the best he has in his career, Philippoussis said, ``I think it looks like he's doing everything as well as he ever has.''

Philippoussis, a wild-card entry and two-time winner of this event, double faulted three times in a game twice in the second set. He hit only 41 percent of his first serves and had six aces to Agassi's five.

Philippoussis had two aces at 132 mph, but Agassi also returned a 130-mph first serve for a winner in the first set.

Agassi has won 25 of his 26 sets this year and has broken his opponents 31 times.

``Stats are great in hindsight,'' Agassi said. ``It was a great night, no question. When you're playing a guy like Mark, you've got to be sharp. If you leave the ball hanging, he's going to use his weapons.''

Agassi plays Vladimir Voltchkov in Friday's quarterfinals. Voltchkov advanced by walkover because Todd Martin withdrew Wednesday for a family emergency.

Vince Spadea beat fourth-seeded Jan-Michael Gambill 6-3, 6-3 in another second-round match. Spadea picked up his fourth victory of the year after it took him until June last season to win four matches.

Spadea has reached the quarterfinals of a U.S. tournament for the first time since making the final in Indianapolis in August 1999. And Thursday's victory comes after a bout with the chicken pox following the Australian Open.

``My first serve has improved, and I have better consistency,'' said the 28-year-old Spadea, ranked 71st in the world. ``This is a good step forward. I feel like I've put in a lot of hard work the last 1 1/2 years, and it's paying off.''

Gambill, who played in the semifinals here the past two years, committed 31 unforced errors and hit only 49 percent of his first serves. Spadea broke Gambill's serve in four of his six chances.

Third-seeded seed James Blake advanced to the quarterfinals for the second straight year with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Hyung-Taik Lee. Blake hit 64 percent of his first serves and had nine aces.

Blake, ranked 24th, believes he is starting to do the things that could help him join the world's top players eventually.

``I'm just getting more experience,'' the 23-year-old Blake said. ``The biggest difference is getting into situations I haven't been in before, gaining that experience and getting more consistent.

``I need to capitalize on the chances I do get, and hopefully this year I can do that.''

Also on Thursday, eighth-seeded Kenneth Carlsen held off qualifier Paul Goldstein 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, and Nikolay Davydenko eliminated Robby Ginepri 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. No. 6 seed Davide Sanguinetti defeated Mardy Fish 7-6 (1), 7-5. Fish had 47 unforced errors.

Justin Gimelstob defeated Zack Fleishman 6-1, 6-4.