US Open Held Hostage: Day 2; Rain Continues to Plague US Open as Agassi Wins in Only Completed Match Tuesday

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
The rain was the big winner again Tuesday at the US Open, threatening to stretch the tournament into a three-week event, with only more rain in sight for today. Only one match was completed, with top-seeded Andre Agassi struggling against the firepower of fellow American Taylor Dent before the youngster came up gimpy and was forced to retire trailing 7-6(5), 4-6, 5-7. "If I could have got that set to a tiebreak or won that third set, I would have stayed out there for a fourth set," said Dent, who aggravated a hamstring strain he had injured a few days earlier in practice. It was unfortunately business as usual for the oft-injured Dent, who since the Australian Open in January has suffered a bone contusion on his knee, back problems and a pinched ulnar nerve, not playing a tour match since Wimbledon. "I don't know if you saw the speeds on my serves, but I normally serve in the 130s -- those were barely breaking 100," he said after throwing in the towel. "I'm going to try and take the positive route and say, 'I was really giving the No. 1 player in the world all he could handle tonight.' I was, you know, I felt like I had a really good chance to do some damage. So, I think that's very exciting. As soon as I get my body in order, I can't wait to keep playing that kind of tennis and executing it." Three other matches remain in limbo, with (3)Ferrero leading T.Martin 6-2, 0-0; (5)Coria leading Bjorkman 6-2, 2-0; and (11)Srichaphan leading (6)Hewitt 4-3 on serve.

On tap today is a backlog of matches in (3)Ferrero vs. T.Martin (JC leads 1-0, last year at the TMS-Miami) to finish, (6)Hewitt vs. (11)Srichaphan (Hewitt leads 4-1) to finish, (7)Moya vs. (22)El Aynaoui (Moya leads 2-0, with a meeting in 2000 and 2002), (2)Federer vs. (13)Nalbandian (The Argentine has won all four career meetings, two last year, and two on hardcourt this year), (4)Roddick vs. Malisse (A-Rod leads 7-0), (8)Schuettler vs. (12)Schalken (Schalken leads 2-1, with a straight-set win this year at Wimbledon), and (5)Coria vs. Bjorkman (first meeting) to finish.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Only two women's matches were played but not completed Tuesday at the Open, with (7)Myskina leading Pierce 7-6(2), 2-0, and (15)Sugiyama leading (29)Schiavone 7-6(5), 5-4, with Schiavone serving to stay in it.

Scheduled for today are (1)Clijsters vs. (5)Mauresmo (Clijsters leads head-to-head 3-2), (3)Davenport vs. (24)Suarez (the American leads 5-0), (15)Sugiyama vs. (29)Schiavone to finish (Schiavone leads head-to-head 1-0), and (7)Myskina vs. Pierce to finish (Russian leads head-to-head 2-1).

NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES, AND BARBS
Anyone notice that Russia's Anastasia Myskina looks like Marilyn Manson without the makeup?...Kim Clijsters and Jennifer Capriati are the only players to have been ranked No. 1 never to have won the US Open...Guillermo Coria is one player who loves seeing the rain, which gives him more time to heal his injured hamstring...Who's happier than Andre Agassi, who got screwed on the schedule Saturday but is no sitting pretty as the only quarterfinalist thus far...Guillermo Coria is 21-2 since Wimbledon...If you thought the rain was bad Monday and Tuesday at the Open, forecasters say the NY area will get hammered today and Thursday, with a band of rain sweeping through the state...The USTA set up a three-piece band to play Caribbean music in the player's lounge Monday and hired Dmitry Schneider, an 18-year-old chess prodigy who played geight boards simultaneously against tennis players, and was not beaten despite a bounty of $100 put up by the USTA to anyone who captured his king...According to the Florida Sun-Sentinel's Charlie Bricker, former tour pros Robert Seguso and his wife, Carling Bassett-Seguso have moved to Bradenton, where they're using Nick Bollettieri's tennis factory to train their three children...There is already talk of pushing the men's final back to Monday, which hasn't happened since 1987, when Ivan Lendl beat Mats Wilander...Journalists were astounded Monday in the players lounge at the Open, watching Russian stick Anastasia Myskina pound down donuts while playing cards...Nice ESPN story about the poor tennis marketing effort, with Jeff Tarango chiming in, "I hate to say fire the (ATP marketing) lot, but they probably should."...If the top eight men's seeds reach the quarterfinals, it will be the first time at a slam in the Open Era (since 1968)...We need to play keep-away from the player's lounge at the Open, with the insane crush of main draw, junior, and senior players, and a lot of media people (besides us) you don't want to talk to. Damn sick of playing chess too -- if it rains all day today, someone kill me...Kudos to Taylor Dent coach Brad Stine, the only sane voice in Arthur Ashe Stadium Tuesday night, stopping his pupil from turning a two-week recover-time injury into two months in the match against Andre Agassi..."We do fully intend at this point to complete the tournament Sunday," said Arlen Kantarian, chief executive of the USTA, adding when asked how much the USTA will lose in dollars due to the rain: "A lot."...The rain delay was a blessing for Todd Martin, who had nothing working in the first set against Juan Carlos Ferrero, and can now re-think what else he can bring to the table during the next 20-minute window of non-precipitation...Nice camera work Tuesday night by USA Network, catching Roger Federer warming up on an outside court in a backwards baseball cap and what looked like his pajamas...Nice pic on the US Open site of Kim Clijsters in a raincoat drying off a court, put those waffles to work...Dammit USA Network, stop showing the Blake-Federer match every day there is a rain delay, that thing has been on so much that people will think there's a Blake-Federer channel...If anyone is still interested, the USTA has rescheduled its 'Michael Chang Afterthought Retirement Celebration' for tonight...Aaron Krickstein on CBS showing the infamous 1991 Connors-Krickstein match over and over during rain delays: "My dad calls me every time. He's watching, and he says 'Aaron, this time I'm sure you're gonna win it'."...According to the AP, the Team Canada junior squad in the player's lounge was playing a game of cards, with the loser of the game having to approach Russian hottie Maria "Orgasmo-Grunt" Sharapova and say, "I'm a loser." One of the coaches lost, and approached Sharapova while she was eating: "She was so confused," said the Canuck coach. "I left. If I hadn't left, she'd probably have called security." The game's next loser had to sing "Oh, Canada," which doesn't even play in NY during hockey games -- no update on what was thrown at the singer...Australia announced that their Davis Cup team of Philippoussis, Hewitt, Woodbridge and Arthurs will face the Roger Federer-led Swiss team in their Davis Cup semifinal later this month: "There's no doubt this tie is going to be a great battled between some champion players," Australia's non-playing captain John Fitzgerald said in a statement earlier today...Who has more career Grand Slams, Barry Bonds or Pete Sampras?...Venus and Serena Williams have been in NYC hitting the club and fashion circuit.