New York ? Maybe it’s time for Andre Agassi to pick on someone his own age. These kids just can’t keep up with him. Fit as a rookie at 34, Agassi advanced at the U.S. Open on Thursday by running ragged a player more than a dozen years younger for the second straight match. Then he made perfectly clear this will not be the final tournament of his career.

Agassi, playing in his 19th straight Open, weathered a one-set blip, regained control, and led 7-5, 2-6, 6-2, 1-0 when Florian Mayer walked to the net to quit because of a left hamstring injury.

Asked Thursday if his post-Open tennis schedule was set, Agassi left zero wiggle room.

“Well,” he responded, “let this be a signal: I’m not considering retiring at the end of this tournament.”

He left the court before a rollicking evening at the National Tennis Center that included Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova’s being extended to three sets again, Venus Williams struggle against a qualifier who hadn’t won a main-draw match until this week, and Olympic double gold medalist Nicolas Massu’s wild 5-hour, 9-minute loss to Sargis Sargsian.

Williams joined sister Serena, No. 20 Chanda Rubin and wild card Angela Haynes to put four black women in the Open’s third round for the first time.

The 10th-seeded Massu was docked a game for smashing his racket so hard off the court it flew over his head, then engaged an official in a 10-minute argument, and wound up getting beaten 6-7 (6), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 in the second-longest match, by time, in Open history.

The two French Open champions bowed out in the second round Thursday at Flushing Meadows: Anastasia Myskina lost to 17-year-old qualifier Anna Chakvetadze, 7-6 (3), 6-3, and Gaston Gaudio was beaten by 2002 Australian Open winner Thomas Johansson, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Myskina’s loss knocks her out of what was a four-way competition for the No. 1 ranking. Still in it: Justine Henin-Hardenne, Amelie Mauresmo and Lindsay Davenport.

Sharapova defeated Jelena Jankovic, 6-0, 6-7 (5), 6-1. Williams looked to be in trouble in the early stages against Shikha Uberoi before winning, 7-5, 6-1.