MELBOURNE, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Andre Agassi looks to become the first man from another country to capture four Australian Open titles Sunday when he faces underdog Rainer Schuettler.
Agassi is one win away from becoming just the fourth man to win the Australian Open at least four times and the first non-Australian. Roy Emerson won a record six crowns (1961, 1963-67), and Jack Crawford (1931-33, 1935) and Ken Rosewall (1953, 1955, 1971-72) each captured four.
With a win Sunday, the second-seeded American will hold the record for the most consecutive match victories at this event. He tied Ivan Lendl with 20 in a row Thursday with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 triumph over Wayne Ferreira in the semifinals.
After capturing the title here in 2000 and 2001, Agassi withdrew from last year's event due to a wrist injury. He also won the tournament in 1995.
Bidding for his eighth Grand Slam crown, the 32-year-old American has dropped just one set and yielded only 43 games - 15 of those in his four-set fourth-round win over Frenchman Nicolas Escude.
Agassi is the obvious favorite against Schuettler, the 31st seed. He will be appearing in his 14th career Grand Slam final while his opponent has reached a major final for the first time.
His eighth career Grand Slam triumph would tie him for sixth on the all-time list and be his 55th title overall. Schuettler has won just two tournaments since turning professional in 1995.
But last year's champion, Thomas Johansson, was not expected to beat Marat Safin, nor was 1998 winner Peter Korda, the underdog vs. Marcelo Rios.
Agassi routed Schuettler, 6-1, 6-4, in their only career meeting in the second round at the 1998 BMW Open and has won 11 straight matches against German players.
Schuettler became only the second German in the event's 98-year history to advance to the men's championship match here with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over ninth-seeded Andy Roddick.
The 26-year-old, whose path to the final was eased when Safin - the third seed and last year's runner-up
- withdrew from their third-round encounter with a wrist injury, joined 1991 and 1996 winner Boris Becker as the only German men to reach the finals at the Australian Open.
Schuettler previously had never gotten past the fourth round at any major.
Also Sunday, Martina Navratilova will try to make history when she teams with India's Leander Paes against Australian Todd Woodbridge and Greece's Eleni Daniilidou in the mixed doubles final.
Navratilova, 46 and playing at this event after a 14-year absence, will try to become the oldest Grand Slam champion in the history of tennis. A win here also will give her a career sweep of all three titles - singles, doubles and mixed - at all four majors.
The Australian mixed doubles crown is the only major title missing from Navratilova's career, which boasts 18 Grand Slam singles crowns, 31 major doubles championships and seven mixed doubles titles.
