US OPEN 2002

It’s now really over for Anna Kournikova.

Playing doubles with Martina Hingis, they were bounced in the quarterfinals by Virginia Ruano Pascual and Paola Suarez yesterday 6-3, 6-3.

Kournikova, at this juncture a much better doubles player, was wiped out in the first round of the singles event at Armstrong Stadium. She will have all the time in the world to spend with Enrique Inglesias.

It’s not that Lleyton Hewitt’s four-set win over unknown Morrocan Younes El Ayneaoui was a sleeper, but USA Network knew this would be the last chance to get to see Kournikova’s teal tank-top and skirt ensemble that she’s worn across the fortnight.

So it wasn’t surprising the network switched from the defending-champion Hewitt’s 6-1, 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 6-2 victory to Kournikova’s women’s doubles loss.

Hewitt advanced to the semifinals and likely will get Andre Agassi – an intriguing battle since they both have the same baseline, track-every-ball-down style. When he came up a few years ago, Hewitt was called “The Australian Agassi.”

Hewitt needed a tense 8-6 tiebreaker win in the second set to take a 2-0 lead. A backhand winner closed out the pivotal second set.

“It’s going to be a tough match,” Hewitt said. “I have to play as well as I can to beat [Agassi]. We’ve never played in a Slam so it will be interesting.”

Hewitt beat Agassi three weeks ago in Cincinnati 7-5, 6-3.

“You can throw those past matches out the window, this is a Slam,” Hewitt said.

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Tennis academy guru Nick Bolletieri, who played along with Sports Illustrated’s fictional piece on 17-year-old junior tennis sensation Simonya Popova, was surprised the WTA took issue. Bolletieri was quoted in the story predicting the fake Popova would be No. 1.

“They have more to worry about – like finding a new sponsor,” Bolletieri said. (Sanex is pulling out).

Queens native Art Garfunkel will sing “America the Beautiful” and “Bridge over Troubled Water” before the men’s final.