NEW YORK: Andre Agassi was kept waiting as persistent rain and gusting wind prevented any early play on Saturday at the U.S. Open. Earlier, the evening session on Friday was cancelled because of the storm.

However, James Blake managed to squeeze in a tribute to Agassi on Friday by turning up for his match in Day-Glo spandex tights, a shirt full of hot pink vertical bars and a white bandanna wrapped atop his head.

Blake donned the sort of garish ensemble `Mr. Image Is Everything' dared to wear more than a decade ago and, fortunately for Blake, his game looked better than his garb in a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(5) victory over Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia in the second round.

His getup was appreciated by the crowd. Before the coin toss, a group of fans chanted, "Andre! Andre!" and Blake turned to give them a thumbs-up.

Back to business

"I just wanted to do it once. I know Andre, how he probably doesn't want a ton of fanfare," said Blake, who got Agassi's OK for the outfit. "He knows we all do care about him, we all appreciate everything he's done. I think the statement was made. Now it's back to business at hand," he added.

That includes, in the short term, a third-round match against 1998 French Open champion Carlos Moya, and in the bigger picture, the task of joining Andy Roddick and others in trying to carry U.S. tennis forward in the aftermath of the Sampras-Agassi-Courier-Chang generation.

"I wanted to do something just to show kind of how much he's meant to the sport. I'm happy it came on a day after that unbelievable night match last night when everyone has him, for sure, at the front of their minds," Blake said. "We're looking at his section of the draw, see when he plays next. That's the match we want to stay home for and maybe miss dinner for."

Highest seeding

At No. 5, Blake has his highest seeding at any Grand Slam tournament, and the top placement for any American. Roddick, next at No. 9, is one win away from a possible fourth-round match against Agassi.

Unseeded Vince Spadea knocked off No. 29 Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden, a Wimbledon semifinalist this year, but 18-year-old wild card Sam Querrey lost to 2004 French Open champion Gaston Gaudio.

Spadea enjoyed the by-play with a supportive home crowd, as partisan — if not as vociferous — as what Agassi has been hearing.

"I'm just trying to gain any type of energy from any source that's around, including umpires, ball kids, fans, family," Spadea said. "Finding excuses, whatever it is, to get myself over that hump. There's so many humps out there on just a pointly basis," he added.

Murray on fire

British star Andy Murray once again underlined his credentials with a 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 second round demolition of Italy's Alessio di Mauro.

"I feel like I'm playing the best tennis of my career. I think that's shown in my results," the 19-year-old from Dunblane, Scotland said. "It's my favourite part of the year, the American hardcourt stretch. I was looking to play my best here. I have done so so far."

Flushing Meadows is the first Grand Slam event Murray has played since joining forces with American coach Brad Gilbert and he believes that move is already showing dividends.

He reached the second ATP Tour final of his career at Washington, and then pulled off the shock result of the year with a straight sets win over Roger Federer in Cincinnati.

In other action, second seed Justine Henin-Hardenne overcame some early problems to eliminate No. 28 Ai Sugiyama 4-6, 6-1, 6-0. Former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova also advanced.

Henin-Hardenne committed an uncharacteristic 17 unforced errors in the first set and squandered a 4-1 lead as Sugiyama broke her serve three times.

But the Belgian found her form in the final two sets to subdue the 31-year-old Japanese without much of a fight.

Kuznetsova rolled on to the fourth round with a 59-minute 6-3 6-0 whipping of compatriot Anastassia Rodionova. Next up for the 21-year-old will be 19th seed Jelena Jankovic.

Elena Dementieva advanced past compatriot Vera Zvonareva 7-5 6-3 to set up a meeting with unseeded Aravane Rezai of France, who ousted 20th-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-3 6-1.

Paes-Stosur beaten

Leander Paes and his Australian partner Samantha Stosur made a shocking first round exit in the mixed doubles event, losing 6-3, 2-6, 5-10 to the unseeded Belarussian duo of Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka.

The third seeds started off well and hardly put a foot wrong to race away with the first set in no time but were caught off guard in the next.

The Indo-Australian pair failed to maintain the momentum against their resurgent rivals, who wasted little time in grabbing the opportunity after Paes and Stosur let their guard down for a while.

Having lost their rhythm, Paes and Stosur lacked fire in the third set and surrendered the match in the tie-breaker to make a shocking exit from the event. — Agencies

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