Another Marathon, Another Victory

By CHRIS BROUSSARD
New York Times
Published: September 5, 2004
Sargis Sargsian covered his eyes and rolled flat onto his back. If he
had stayed in that position and taken a nap, no one at the National
Tennis Center would have blamed him.
A true ironman, Sargsian had just completed two of the longest
consecutive rounds of tennis played at the United States Open. Two
days after winning a second-round match that lasted 5 hours 9 minutes,
Sargsian, an Armenian, outlasted Paul-Henri Mathieu of France, 4-6,
4-6, 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (4), in a 4-hour-44-minute marathon last night.
"It's like you're in a different world when you win these matches,"
Sargsian said. "Like right now, I'm talking, I feel like it's not
me talking. It's just the words coming out of my mouth. It's a weird
feeling."
The victory moved Sargsian, 31, into the Round of 16 in a Grand Slam
event for only the second time. In eight trips to the United States
Open, this is the deepest he has advanced.
The unseeded Sargsian will meet a good buddy, sixth-seeded Andre
Agassi, in the next round. Sargsian and Agassi often train together
in Las Vegas, and Agassi helped Sargsian recover after his five-hour
match on Thursday.
"He's like a big brother to me," Sargsian said.
Agassi, a straight-sets winner over Jiri Novak, has beaten Sargsian
five times and will have many advantages in their face-off, the most
prominent one being rest. While Agassi has been on the court for 5
hours 6 minutes through the first three rounds, Sargsian has toiled
for 12 hours 5 minutes.
"It's like a dream to play against such a legend on such a court
in such a big tournament," Sargsian said of meeting Agassi for the
first time in a Grand Slam event. "Hopefully, I play good. Hopefully,
we have a good match. Hopefully, he doesn't kill me."
Sargsian's second-round victory over 10th-seeded Nicolas Massu was
the second-longest match in United States Open history, falling 17
minutes shy of matching the record set when Stefan Edberg defeated
Michael Chang in the 1992 semifinals. After that one, Sargsian thought
things would get easier, or at least shorter.
"I didn't think it would be a match like this," he said. "It's hard
to beat Massu's match. We probably did today."
Asked how he has managed to stay on his feet, Sargsian first credited
his serve, then realized there was no easy explanation.
"I've been serving good," he said. "It prevents me from running side
to side a lot. I don't know how I did it."
Sargsian admitted to being sore and tight entering the match, and
he certainly looked it as Mathieu, 22, took the first two sets. But
finding a second wind somewhere, Sargsian rallied to win the next
two sets. Then things really got interesting.
Sargsian took command by breaking Mathieu's serve to go ahead, 3-2,
but he was broken moments later. Both men visibly exhausted, they
played even through 10 games, tied at 5-5. The next game, with Mathieu
serving, seemingly went on forever, as the two played to eight deuces
before Mathieu eventually prevailed.
Sargsian, physically and mentally spent, thought he was finished.
"After losing that game, I wasn't very confident, to be honest,"
he said. "But I told myself just to keep fighting."
Fight he did, and after falling behind by 30-0, he managed to take
the set, then the tie breaker and the match.
Sargsian's berth in the fourth round is even more surprising than his
career record suggests. Struggling for much of this season, he entered
the Open having won back-to-back matches only once this season. His
experiences on hardcourts had been awful, with first-round exits in
four of his last five events on the surface.
But Sargsian, who has advanced to the third round four times at the
United States Open, said he was always rejuvenated by this tournament.
"In this tournament, I always played unbelievable for some reason
- the last four, five years," he said. "This year is a perfect
example. I've had a pretty horrendous year. I've really struggled. But
coming here, just the atmosphere in the city, which is my favorite
city in the world, and this tournament and my fans. I don't know,
it just clicked. I just started playing good."
And long.