Give the old man a loosener, but don't threaten his progress towards a mouthwatering match with Rafael Nadal. The support has created a wave that Agassi intends to ride.

"It means the world to me," he said after his 6-4, 7-6, 6-4 win. "I want to get out there and do something special for them. I want to play well. I want to be my best.

"I always want to play well, but especially now. I still want to win. I still want to be out there giving people something to root for." And after a fairly routine win over the talented but outclassed Italian, he was swamped by fans.

"Don't retire is a common one [they say]," said Agassi. "I keep telling them, ‘Talk to my family about that. Talk to my body about that'."

Agassi's deteriorating back, which kept him away from Wimbledon last year, restricted him to eight matches this year before these Championships.

Finding his form has been tortuous – his movement has been restricted by the lack of rotation in his spine – but against Seppi he felt some of the magic return.

"That was a considerable improvement," he said. "I was in a better rhythm. It's always a good sign when you're seeing things unfold and playing at a tempo you feel like you're dictating. It has been too long since I've felt good and been able to enjoy what's going on.

"It has always been about movement. If I don't have that, then not only is it a much lower standard of tennis but the bottom falls out mentally, because I don't have much interest in forcing everything.

"When I can rotate and hit open-stance and generate something on the ball, it allows me to sit on my heels more, have better balance, wait to see what's going to happen. I hope I'm able to make somebody deal with what I can do well. Today was the first sign it could come around."

If it does, Nadal will be reminded just what a fish out of water he remains. The Spanish teenager may be a force of nature on clay, but here is the green, green grass where Agassi has felt at home since he won the title in 1992.

However Agassi has been bitten often enough not to take anyone lightly, and sent his coach, Darren Cahill, to watch Nadal's fightback against Robert Kendrick.

The American added: "If you get one away Rafael is going to track it down. Movement is his greatest asset, and his mind, his concentration and his determination."

They met last year on hardcourt in Montreal, and Agassi admits he found Nadal a handful in a three-set defeat.

"It was a fast, high-bouncing court. His ball was just ugly," he said. "If you weren't stepping forward and timing it well, it was all over you."

But grass tips the scales. "The ball doesn't bounce as high which hopefully will allow me to set my groundstrokes more," the American added.

Against Seppi, Agassi's wise old head afforded the patience to construct the opening rather than force it. He pounds his opponent, stretches him, then lands the killer blow.

Twice Seppi tried to wriggle free, breaking in the second set but being made to pay in a crushing tiebreak, and then recovering the first of a double break in the third set.

But then Agassi could allow attention to wander forward to another young upstart.