Tennis: Wayward Agassi in positively nice form

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MELBOURNE - Spite and sniping had a day off at the Australian Open tennis yesterday - at least with a couple of notable players.

Australia's Andrew Ilie and world No.1 Andre Agassi, neither of whom is renowned for saintliness, displayed refreshingly positive attitudes following their second round wins, both declaring their desire to give something back to their sport.

After a couple of days of incredible stupidity from Australian teenager Jelena Dokic, Ilie and Agassi refocused attention on the game.

Agassi breezed through his match against Holland's Sjeng Schalken 7-5 6-0 6-3 and responded with a couple of compliments for his opponent and even some praise for the media.

"I think Sjeng is one of those guys that is better than his ranking," Agassi said.

"Every time I play him, I'm always questioning why he's not doing better - not that he hasn't done well."

The shirt-tearing, bandana-wearing Ilie made it past the second round for the second successive year, moving a step closer to a match-up with fellow Victorian Mark Philippoussis.

Ilie beat Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic 6-3 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 and would play his old junior rival in the next round if Philippoussis wins overnight.

As has become his custom, Ilie again tore up his tennis shirt at the end of the match in what he said was a special treat for his fans.

"They queue up out there for tickets and they come and support us and they wait to get autographs," he said.

"They are the true fans and I feel an obligation to give something back."

Pete Sampras crushed Swede Mikael Tillstrom 6-3 7-6 6-1 to move a step closer to a record 13th Grand Slam singles title.

Tasmania's Richard Fromberg joined Ilie in the third round with his 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 defeat of Germany's Axel Pretzsch.

Also through is 11th seed Tim Henman, of England, thanks to an injury to opponent Rainer Schuttler of Germany.

Two seeds - No.8 Todd Martin and No.9 Richard Krajicek - were shown the door after losing second round matches.

Martin was beaten by Fernando Vicente of Spain in five sets and Krajicek bowed out to Frenchman Nicolas Escude.

In the women's draw, Amelie Mauresmo's love affair with the Australian Open was spoiled by a young Swiss rival.

This time though it wasn't Martina Hingis but Patty Schnyder.

"Every part of my game was a little bit down today - my moving, my forehand, my backhand, everything," Mauresmo said after her 6-4 6-4 loss on the same centre court where she was beaten by Hingis in a bitter finale to the 1999 Open.

World number two Lindsay Davenport overcame a brief lapse in concentration to beat Marissa Irvin in straight sets.

Davenport won their second round clash 6-4 7-5 to set up a meeting with Russian qualifier Alina Jidkova, who beat Germany's Marlene Weingartner 7-5 6-3.

Russian pin-up girl Anna Kournikova continued her impressive start by crushing Natasha Zvereva in straight sets.

The 11th-seeded Kournikova brushed past Zvereva 6-1 6-4 and now plays Kveta Hrdlickova of the Czech Republic.

Former champion Mary Pierce had a comfortable straight sets win over her fellow Frenchwoman Amelie Cocheteux.

Pierce, who won the Australian Open singles crown in 1995 and was runner-up in 1997, won 6-2 6-2 in 65 minutes and will play Miriam Oremans in the next round after the Dutchwoman beat Yugoslavia's Sandra Nacuk 6-3 7-5.