By TERRY KINNEY, Associated Press Writer
August 10, 2000

MASON, Ohio (AP) -- Fernando Vicente was out to prove that his victory over top-seeded Andre Agassi was no fluke.

The 23-year-old Spaniard won six consecutive points in the third-set tiebreaker Thursday to upset 16th-seeded Mark Philippoussis and advance to the quarterfinals of the Tennis Masters Series-Cincinnati.

Vicente's 3-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4) victory over Philippoussis gave credence to his contention that he could have beaten Agassi even if the tournament top-seeded player had not retired with back problems. It was one set apiece when Agassi retired Wednesday.

``Everybody said I only won because he was injured,'' Vicente said. ``People think I was lucky. I knew I was going to win that match, the way it was going.''

Never mind that Agassi won the first set and then his play dropped off sharply after his back stiffened in the second set.

``I took good confidence from that match,'' Vicente said. ``I played better today.''

Philippoussis said he was not as aggressive as he should have been after taking a 4-1 lead in the crucial tiebreaker.

``I should not have let it get away from me. It's not like this is my first year on the tour,'' Philippoussis said. ``I have no excuses at all.''

Philippoussis served 27 aces to seven by Vicente. But he surrendered his power advantage in the tiebreaker and later second-guessed his strategy.

``I should have hit it and come in, be aggressive and make him pass me,'' Philippoussis said. ``I'm very disappointed, especially being up 4-1; I didn't make him play.''

No.7 Thomas Enqvist of Sweden and Fabrice Santoro of France were forced to play two matches Thursday because of Wednesday's rainouts.

Santoro started the morning session by beating Sebastian Grosjean of France 6-2, 6-3 and later beat No. 8 Marat Safin of Russia, the winner last week at Masters Series-Canada, 6-1, 7-6 (3).

Enqvist beat Harel Levy of Israel, the runnerup last week in Toronto, 6-4, 6-1 before downing Max Mirnyi of Belarus 6-4, 6-3.

In other third-round matches, No. 4 Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil beat Stefan Koubek of Austria 1-6, 6-1, 6-2; Todd Martin beat Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden 6-2, 6-4; and Arnaud Clement of France beat No. 5 Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia 6-4, 6-1.

``In the second set, he hit the ball very, very strong but missed shots. I don't know why,'' Clement said. ``I think I played a very, very good match today. I didn't miss a return.''