Andre Agassi said he might surprise us, and he did. All afternoon yesterday, there were minor miracles on display at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Agassi sliced deft drop shots, smacked forehands that darted into corners. The 35-year-old with an ailing back squeaked and huffed and scrapped and nearly won two sets in the U.S. Open final before coming face to face with reality – an opponent so good, so confident, so routinely spectacular, that no amount of Agassi could have stopped him.

At times, it is difficult to imagine that Roger Federer, now the U.S. Open champion for the second straight year, is real, but he is. He proved it again yesterday, absorbing the best Agassi had to offer and winning with energy to spare, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-1. In the final set, the champion who had traded jabs with Agassi all day landed one haymaker after another, losing just 12 points in a furious ending to a contest that, for nearly two hours, had a crowd of 24,000-plus wondering if Agassi could pull off what would have been one of the most astonishing upsets in the sport’s history.

The world no. 1 hardly played his best these past two weeks, yet dropped just three sets in taking his second major title of 2005.On the year, his record stands at 71-3, and in two of those losses he held match points.

But those are just the facts and figures of the present, the most recent accomplishments of a man who has carved his place in history at the age of 24. Yesterday he became the first man in the Open Era to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in consecutive seasons. He is the first player in the Open Era to win his first six Grand Slam finals. He also has won his last 23 finals, an all-time record.

Agassi, the oldest finalist here since 1974,put to rest any doubts about where Federer stands among the greats.

“He’s the best I’ve ever played against,” he said. “There’s nowhere to go. There’s nothing to do except hit fairways, hit greens, and make putts. I mean, every shot has that sort of urgency on it.”

Agassi did not sound frustrated; he was simply stating facts. Against Federer, there is no margin for error. No matter the score, no matter how many routine rallies or mishit backhands, the explosive Federer – the one who can knock off 10 points in 20 seconds – lurks.

Trailing 4-2 in the third set, Federer unleashed the firepower Agassi had feared. He broke serve on a forehand winner on the line and a backhand crosscourt after Agassi unluckily clipped the tape. Then, after nearly breaking Agassi at 5-5 – Agassi swept aside three chances – Federer claimed 11 of the next 13 points for the set.

Despite playing his best tennis of the tournament, Agassi, so close to a two-sets-to-one lead, was on the verge of defeat. The final set lasted 23 minutes. As Agassi’s last return sailed long, Federer released a scream and hurled his arm forward in celebration.

“He got me a few times early in my career where he made me look like a little schoolboy,” said Federer, who has now defeated Agassi eight straight. “Now that I could turn it around, it’s for me fantastic.”

For Agassi, playing in his sixth U.S. Open final and the 15th Grand Slam final of his career, the loss was bitter, but the journey fulfilling. For two weeks, he captivated a city during his improbable run, winning three straight five-set matches to reach the final. Against James Blake, Agassi provided memories of a lifetime by charging back from two sets down to win in the first fifth-set tie breaker of his 20-year U.S. Open career. Even then, against a young, hard-luck American, the crowd was overwhelmingly for the man who has thrilled them since he was 15 years old.

“To be here at an age where I can take in that sort of love and be at an age where I can embrace it is a tremendous feeling,” Agassi said. “I’ll never forget it.”

Early on, Agassi had reason to hope. After losing the first set, he jumped on Federer in the second, scoring a break in the second game. Agassi saved three break points in the next game and pumped his fist after he broke Federer again to take the set.

The match was an hour and 29 minutes old when disbelief began to take hold. Could Agassi really do it? He was not pitter-pattering balls over the net, a la Arthur Ashe in perhaps the game’s greatest upset, a victory in the 1975 Wimbledon final against a seemingly indestructible Jimmy Connors. Still, the aging champ showed great variety, slicing frequently, changing the pace of rallies, and even charging the net.

When Agassi broke for a 4-2 lead in the third set – and then took a 30-0 lead in the next game – one had the faint feeling that something extraordinary might be in the offing.

As is so often the case with Federer, it was gone in no time at all.While all else in tennis is variable, Federer is constant. In a year when many expected him to win all four majors, Federer disappointed us with a mere two. He was asked bluntly: Is he the greatest?

“The best player of this generation, yes,” he said. “But not – nowhere close to ever, because, yeah, just look at the records that some guys have. I’m a little cookie.”

Federer will go on challenging those records, setting his sights on Sampras’s all-time mark of 14 Grand Slam titles. As for Agassi, one never knows what this aging genius might do next. The inflamed sciatic nerve in his back held up well enough at this tournament, though he has needed four cortisone shots this year. As unclear as the future might be at the moment, Agassi – now a father of two and a spokesman for the sport – was not about to let his loss yesterday drive him from the game. One needed only to see him greet his children and wife, Steffi Graf, to understand.

“Daddy who did you play with?” Jaden Gil, Agassi’s 3-year-old son, asked as his father left Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“Somebody with long hair,” Agassi said.

If only it were that simple.