The number two seed was well below his best as he lost the first set of his quarter-final to surprise package Nicolas Escude of France on Court One.

But the 1992 champion slowly got back on track and took the next three sets to complete a 6-7 6-3 6-4 6-2 victory in two hours and 40 minutes.

The 31-year-old American will now be hoping to exact revenge over Rafter for his epic five-set defeat at the hands of the Australian 12 months ago, Rafter eventually losing to Pete Sampras in the final.

‘‘I’m really looking forward to it,’’ said Agassi, one of only five men to win all four Grand Slam titles. ‘‘I’ve said many times about Pat that he’s a great player, a great competitor and I’ve had some great matches with him.

‘‘They’re always ones to remember. Win or lose, you really cherish the opportunity to raise your level at the right time.

‘‘I’m certainly going to have to do that. He looked really sharp today in some pretty tough conditions.’’

Agassi had not dropped a set on his way to the quarter-finals and looked determined to maintain that record as he broke a nervous-looking Escude in the opening game of the match and raced into a 3-1 lead.

But he then lost the next four games in a row, losing his serve twice before steadying the ship by breaking back to reduce the gap to 5-4.

Escude was taking advantage of some poor serving from Agassi however, who was lucky to save two set points in the next game courtesy of some questionable line calls.

Agassi had to save another set point to force a tie-break but justice was done as Escude, the 24th seed, romped away with the tie-break 7-3 for a deserved one-set lead.

From then on however, it was Escude having trouble holding his serve and the 25-year-old also needed extensive treatment to his left thigh after the fifth game of the second set.

‘‘He was playing very well, no question about it,’’ Agassi said. ‘‘He still continued to play pretty well after the treatment but from my perspective I’m just out there thinking it can work against me too, and I’m just trying to execute my game, raise my level.

‘‘The first set I was returning well but not serving well, I didn’t find a rhythm on my serve and was forcing it a little bit. So I let him get back into the set and he played a great tie-breaker.

‘‘The second set I started serving better but went through a few games early where I wasn’t quite making him play much on the return. Then all of a sudden I was taking care of my serve and started to make him play more at the net.’’

With his thigh heavily strapped, Escude gamely carried on but one break of serve was enough to give Agassi the second set and the momentum had swung firmly his way.

Another single break was enough to give Agassi the third set and he cruised through the fourth to the delight of his fans, but Rafter’s grass court game will pose more testing questions on Friday.

‘‘There’s no secret approach out there for either of us. We are both too familiar with the other one’s game and are too concerned with what it is we have to do well in order to win.

‘‘He’s going to have to serve well, I’m going to have to return well and serve well also. It’s going to be a day like it always is, who’s executing their game better?

‘‘The fact that he plays the game so differently than I do really lends itself to not just a great variety of tennis, but also level (of tennis).’’

A disappointed Escude later revealed he had picked up his injury in the previous round against Lleyton Hewitt and felt he had been hindered after the first set tie-break.

‘‘I felt the injury at the end of match against Lleyton and had massage on it afterwards but during the tie-break I really felt it very hard. The more I play there was no more power on the leg to push on the first serve. It was very difficult to play like this against Andre.

‘‘I can’t say if I have no injury I would beat Andre but it did affect my game. Andre didn’t play his best tennis today, I was thinking all the time ‘Come on, stay on the court, do your best, maybe you’re going to have your chance.’’’