By now you probably know the score and whether Andre Agassi, the most charismatic and beloved tennis player of his or any generation, has lived to play another day.

Before the 36-year-old Agassi’s match last night against Marcos Baghdatis, fans at the U.S. Open said goodbye, just in case. When Agassi emerged on the practice court farthest from Arthur Ashe Stadium, two-dozen men, women, and children walked briskly over to the fence surrounding it and pressed their faces to the dark windscreens in hope of one last glimpse. No one was playing on Court 4, but half its bleachers were full because a portion of them offered a bird’s eye view of Agassi trading strokes with his coach, Darren Cahill.

The workout was brief — so much the better for Agassi’s balky, cortisonefilled back.As he walked off the court, calls of “Thank you, Andre!” and “Go, Andre!” rang out. “Do you have a marker?” one man asked his son as the boy scrambled for an autograph.

Agassi signed and signed, and then shuffled off to the locker room. Inside the player’s lounge, the strongman who has been both Agassi’s trainer and spiritual adviser over the years, Gil Reyes, was cautious about Agassi’s chances. The cortisone shot that Agassi received the day before had kicked in immediately, as it always does. But drugs could only do so much, Reyes said.

“We’re concerned but not surprised,” he said. “It’s like a bad tattoo, it won’t go away. We were not under any illusions.”

Agassi’s doctor, Rick Delamarter of Santa Monica, Calif., has compared Agassi’s sciatic nerve and disc condition to a “railroad train with the wheels off the track,” Reyes said. With enough force, you can move that train forward, but not too well. Cortisone is nothing more than a little grease.

“It doesn’t fix the problem,” Reyes said.

As Agassi took a break and chatted with Cahill on the last court, Baghdatis, 21, loosened up on the first. There were no shortage of fans there — the view is better, and Baghdatis is worth watching, even if he’s just fiddling with his backhand. As he slugged ball after ball with ease, and obviously without pain, it was clear that Agassi’s chances were not good. Even so, Reyes remained hopeful.

“Everything this summer has been about the U.S.Open,” he said. With that, he prepared for another night in the player’s box, hoping for one more round.

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It was an upset considering the opponent, but it was no surprise that a powerful player knocked Martina Hingis out of the U.S. Open last night.

For Virginie Razzano, the 6-2, 6-4 win was the best of her career. She suffered five consecutive first-round losses this summer, lost eight of nine matches, and had fallen, from a high of no. 35 in the rankings last year to 112. Last night, she could hardly miss.

For the rest of the top seeds, it was business as usual: lots of drubbings on the women’s side, and a few close matches among the men.

Serena Williams and Daniela Hantuchova at least put up a competitive score, if not a compelling match. Williams, the most dangerous of the wild cards, recovered from a 5-2 deficit in the first set to win 7-5, 6-3.