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Agassi survives US Open epic
29/08/2006 07:49 - (SA)
New York - Andre Agassi's retirement will
have to wait a little longer after the eight-time grand slam
winner battled to a 6-7 7-6 7-6 6-2 victory over Romania's
Andrei Pavel in the US Open first round on Monday.
At times looking like a maestro and others like the
36-year-old he is, Agassi needed three hours and 31 minutes to
clinch victory in front of an adoring capacity crowd of nearly
24 000 at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
While the unseeded Agassi struggled, a parade of seeded
players won easily on the opening day of the tournament,
including number nine Andy Roddick who overwhelmed Italy's
Florent Serra 6-2 6-1 6-3 in just 75 minutes.
On the women's side, number two seed Justine
Henin-Hardenne, number four Elena Dementieva and 10th-seeded
Lindsay Davenport advanced to the second round.
There were few upsets at the National Tennis Centre, with
the notable exception of third seed Ivan Ljubicic who was
ousted by Spain's Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-3 6-3.
Regardless of how Agassi fares in the rest of the
tournament, his match against Pavel will surely be among the
highlights of the 2006 Open.
Seized momentum
After capturing the second-set tiebreaker 10-8 to level the
match, Agassi seized the momentum and looked to be well on his
way toward a second-round meeting with Cypriot Marcos
Baghdatis.
But the 32-year-old Pavel, who had an 11-17 record in 2006
and had not played a hardcourt match since March, silenced the
crowd by breaking Agassi's serve in the opening game of the
third set and racing into a 4-0 lead.
Agassi, however, refused to quit and reeled off the next
five games before forcing a tiebreaker which he won 8-6.
With the record night-time crowd cheering his every shot,
Agassi easily rolled over a battle-weary Pavel in the fourth
set to win his sixth career match over the Romanian in seven
meetings.
Agassi, the double US Open champion who will retire after
the tournament, will have time off to prepare to play the
eighth-seeded Baghdatis on Thursday.
Roddick, the 2003 Open champion, served notice that he is
primed for a run at another title by whipping Serra under the
watchful eye of new coach Jimmy Connors.
Inconsistent summer
The 23-year-old Roddick, who rebounded from an inconsistent
summer by winning the Masters Series event in Cincinnati, kept
Serra off-balance by firing 10 aces and getting 70% of
his first serves in.
Henin-Hardenne overwhelmed Italy's Maria Elena Camerin 6-2
6-1 in 74 minutes, just two days after capturing the New Haven
title in her only tournament since Wimbledon.
The injury-prone Belgian blasted 24 winners past her
bewildered opponent and looked in form despite recent problems
with a nagging knee injury.
Advancing along with Henin-Hardenne was Davenport, who
showed no signs of the shoulder injury that forced her to
retire from the New Haven final.
The 1998 champion needed just 52 minutes to stop Czech
Klara Zakopalova 6-1 6-4.
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