Agassi breezes through

2003-04-25 09:46

Houston - Andre Agassi doesn't give himself many shots at revenge, but he took advantage of one on Thursday.

Agassi rolled into the quarter-finals at the $380 000 US Men's Clay Court Championships with a 6-0 6-2 dismantling of Georgian lefthander Irakli Labadze.

After losing their only previous meeting two years ago in Shanghai, Agassi needed just 51 minutes to record his 20th win of the season.

"Every match is so different," the top-seeded American said. "It was the first round in Shanghai and he was hitting the ball better than I was that day."

Agassi never lost his serve and broke Labadze three times in the opening set and twice in the second. He will face Brazilian qualifier Ricardo Mello, who swept past American Todd Martin 7-6 (8/6) 6-1.

Labadze failed in a bid to reach his second quarter-final and fell to 3-8 this season. "I guess I was a little nervous out there today," he admitted. "I am disappointed because I played well in my first match of the tournament."

American Mardy Fish claimed just his second career ATP claycourt victory, easing past Peruvian claycourt specialist Luis Horna, 6-2 6-4.

"Horna is a claycourter," Fish said. "He is very fast and gets a lot of balls back. Overall, I thought I played pretty solid. I came to the net and put pressure on him."

Making his third quarter-final appearance of the year, Fish will take on Austria's Jurgen Mezler, who rallied for a 5-7 6-3 6-4 triumph over Denmark's Kenneth Carlsen.

- AFX