The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Agassi avenges a defeat

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 28, 2004

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Sport - Tennis

Agassi avenges a defeat

TORONTO, JULY 27. Andre Agassi overcame a sluggish start to oust Tommy Haas 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round of the $2.5 million Toronto Masters.

Haas, who defeated Agassi in the quarterfinals at Los Angeles two weeks ago, took the first set on Monday before the eight-times Grand Slam winner rallied to beat the German for the fifth time in eight career meetings.

After two evenly-matched sets that featured several momentum changes, Haas double-faulted in the ninth game of the third to hand Agassi a 5-4 lead before the American held serve to clinch the win.

``I felt good tonight, I was running well,'' said Agassi, who last week became only the sixth man to claim 800 career victories.

``I'm trusting my legs out there, which is a good feeling again,'' he told reporters.In other first-round matches, seventh seed Juan Carlos Ferrero was forced to retire against France's Fabrice Santoro.

Trailing 3-2 in the opening set, Spaniard Ferrero received treatment for back spasms from an ATP trainer but was unable to continue, saying he was in too much pain. Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina, the 16th seed, was hard pressed but finally tamed Xavier Malisse of Belgium 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

Paradorn Srichaphan, the 14th seed from Thailand, defeated Romanian Andrei Pavel 7-5, 6-2 in the only other match involving a seeded player.

Schnyder upset

Ashley Harkleroad of the United States upset 13th-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 on Monday in the opening round of the $1.3 million Acura Classic.

Harkleroad, ranked 109th in the world, came from behind in the third set to win the final two games and surprise Schnyder.

Only three seeded players were in action Monday. Joining Schnyder as a seeded loser was No. 15 Francesca Schiavone of Italy, who dropped a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 decision to Elena Bovina of Russia. No. 12 Vera Zvonareva of Russia had a tough time before defeating Nathalie Dechy of France 6-4, 7-6 (5).

The results:

At Toronto (Toronto Masters): Andre Agassi bt Tommy Haas 4-6,6-4,6-4; Juan Ignacio Chela bt Xavier Malisse 6-3,5-7,6-3.

At Carlsbad (Acura Classic): Vera Zvonareva bt Nathalie Dechy 6-4, 7-6 (5); Alicia Molik bt Nicole Pratt 6-3, 6-4; Kristina Brandi bt Akiko Morigami 6-3, 1-6, 7-5; Ashley Harkleroad bt Patty Schnyder 6-4, 3-6, 7-5; Marion Bartoli bt Fabiola Zuluaga 6-3, 6-4; Elena Bovina bt Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; Daniela Hantuchova bt Marissa Irvin 7-6 (3), 6-3; Lilia Osterloh bt Maria Vento-Kabchi 7-6 (5), 6-2; Barbara Schett bt Jill Craybas 7-5, 6-7 (8), 6-2; Karolina Sprem bt Marta Marrero 6-3, 6-2; Eleni Daniilidou bt Lisa Raymond 7-5, 6-0; Chanda Rubin bt Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi 6-0, 6-3. — Agencies

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