The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Winning start for Agassi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 26, 2006

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Sport - Tennis

Winning start for Agassi

LOS ANGELES: Andre Agassi opened his final summer hardcourt tennis season Monday with a 7-6(10), 6-0 victory over Xavier Malisse in the opening round of the Countrywide Classic.

The 36-year-old Agassi has announced that he would retire following this year's U.S. Open.

But in beating Malisse in a match played in 110-degree heat, the eight-time Grand Slam champion showed that his appearances between now and the Open won't be merely ceremonial.

``I'm still out there with a competitive spirit,'' Agassi said. ``I'm looking forward to this summer and in some regards I'm in denial about it being my last summer out here.''

``I'm aware of how life's going to change and I'm out there wanting it to last as long and as good as possible,'' he said.

Agassi trailed Malisse 3-1 in the first set, then rallied to force the tiebreaker and fought off three set points before winning 12-10. The long tie-breaker and its outcome took more of a toll on the 26-year-old Malisse, of Belgium, and he offered only token resistance in the second set.

``I was too tired, I think,'' Malisse said.

Agassi, the No. 5 seed, is the defending champion of this $500,000 event and has won it four times.

``My commitment was always to do this as long and as hard and as well as possible,'' he said. ``In some cases, I wasn't sure if my body was going to give out or my mind or my heart. You wake up one day and maybe you don't quite feel the same. I didn't know how it was going to go.''

Earlier in the day, No. 3 seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile and No. 8 Dmitry Tursunov of Russia both moved into the second round by winning a pair of tiebreakers. Gonzalez beat Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) and Tursunov defeated Thailand's Danai Udomchoke, 7-6(5), 7-6(4).

Muller lost to Agassi in last year's final.

Peer overcomes Liu

In Stanford seventh-seed Shahar Peer overcame a shaky start to beat Amber Liu 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic.

The 19-year-old Israeli is ranked a career-high 26th after winning three tournaments this year and reaching the fourth round of the French Open.

``She played really well in the first set but then I began to mix it up more and find my game,'' said Peer.

She recently hired Jose Higueras as a coaching consultant and has been reaping the benefits. A former coach of Michael Chang and Jim Courier, Higueras also helps Guillermo Coria and Dmitry Tursunov.

Tatiana Golovin of France beat Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko 7-5, 6-2 to record her first win on tour since tearing ankle ligaments in March in the Miami semifinals against Maria Sharapova.

``I'm starting to feel better now,'' the 18-year-old said. ``I haven't had a lot of matches on hardcourt so I'm taking it little by little and trying to regain my confidence.''

Portas downs Ferrero

At Umag, Albert Portas eliminated second-seeded and fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero on Monday, prevailing 7-6(4) 6-7(5), 7-5 on the opening day of the Croatia Open.

Portas was only 56 per cent on his first serve but had 15 aces and finally triumphed after two hours and 48 minutes.

The results:

At Los Angeles (Countrywide Classic): First round: Igor Kunitsyn bt Janko Tipsarevic 4-6, 6-1, 6-2; Dmitry Tursunov bt Danai Udomchoke 7-6(5), 7-6(4); Fernando Gonzalez br Gilles Muller 7-6(5), 7-6(5).; Paul Capdeville bt Arnaud Clement 6-4, 3-6, 6-4; Andre Agassi bt Xavier Malisse 7-6(10), 6-0; Kenneth Carlsen bt Paradorn Srichaphan 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (3).

At Stanford (Bank of the West Classic): First round: Tatiana Golovin bt Alona Bondarenko 7-5, 6-2; Sybille Bammer bt Marion Bartoli 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

At Umag (Croatia Open): First round: Filippo Volandri bt Marc Gicquel bt 6-1 (retd.); Lukas Dlouhy bt Julien Benneteau 2-6, 6-3, 6-2; Jiri Vanek bt Santiago Ventura 7-5, 6-4; Simon Greul bt Alessio di Mauro 7-5, 7-6(5); Marin Cilic bt Evgeny Korolev 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-3; Albert Portas bt Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 7-5; Jan Hernych bt Flavio Cipolla 6-2, 6-1.

At Kitzbuhel (ATP Kitzbuhel tournament): First round: Peter Luczak bt Ivo Minar 6-1, 3-6, 6-1; Marcos Daniel bt Albert Montanes 6-4, 6-3; Andreas Haider-Maurer bt Damian Patriarca 6-7(5-7), 6-2, 6-3; Dusan Vemic bt Armin Sandbichler 6-3, 6-3; Denis Gremelmayr bt Michael Berrer 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6); Alex Calatrava bt Diego Junqueira 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; Stefan Koubek bt Juan Antonio Marin 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1); Sergio Roitman bt Razvan Sabau 6-4, 6-3; Martin Vassallo Arguello bt Dick Norman 6-4, 6-4.

At Budapest (WTA tournament): First round: Yuliana Fedak bt Julia Schruff 6-2, 6-0; Martina M|ller bt Nathalie Vierin 6-1, 6-2. — Agencies

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