Agassi survives marathon, Roddick on fire

NEW YORK – Andre Agassi’s retirement will have to wait a little longer after the eight-times 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. 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 the unseeded Agassi fares in the tournament, his match against Pavel will surely be among the highlights of the 2006 Open.”I don’t think I’ve ever played a match point where 20 000 people were just standing,” Agassi told reporters.”That was really cool.”I want to be here really bad for the whole two weeks.Six more (wins).”After capturing the second-set tiebreaker 10-8 to level the match, Agassi had the momentum and looked to be well on his way to 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 raucous crowd cheering his every shot, Agassi rolled over a battle-weary Pavel in the fourth set to win his sixth match over the Romanian in seven career meetings.”It was a really tough match,” Pavel said.”In the end, I was tired.I run left and right, and he did the same.He’s still one of the fittest guys on tour.He’s amazing.”Agassi, the double US Open champion who will retire after the tournament, will have some well-earned time off to prepare for the eighth-seeded Baghdatis tomorrow.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.”I’m really, really confident right now,” said Roddick, who will face Kristian Pless of Denmark or Alberto Martin of Spain in the second round.”It felt clean,” said Roddick, the 2003 Open champion who lost in the first round last year.INCONSISTENT SUMMER 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 percent 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.”The transition from New Haven to here wasn’t very easy because I didn’t hit a single ball here on the U.S.Open courts before my warm-up for my match today but I feel good,” she said.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.Dementieva advanced with a 6-1 6-4 victory over American Laura Granville, while number six seed and 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova stumbled briefly but recovered to beat Germany’s Sandra Kloesel 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.Nampa-ReutersA 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 the unseeded Agassi fares in the tournament, his match against Pavel will surely be among the highlights of the 2006 Open.”I don’t think I’ve ever played a match point where 20 000 people were just standing,” Agassi told reporters.”That was really cool.”I want to be here really bad for the whole two weeks.Six more (wins).”After capturing the second-set tiebreaker 10-8 to level the match, Agassi had the momentum and looked to be well on his way to 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 raucous crowd cheering his every shot, Agassi rolled over a battle-weary Pavel in the fourth set to win his sixth match over the Romanian in seven career meetings.”It was a really tough match,” Pavel said.”In the end, I was tired.I run left and right, and he did the same.He’s still one of the fittest guys on tour.He’s amazing.”Agassi, the double US Open champion who will retire after the tournament, will have some well-earned time off to prepare for the eighth-seeded Baghdatis tomorrow.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.”I’m really, really confident right now,” said Roddick, who will face Kristian Pless of Denmark or Alberto Martin of Spain in the second round.”It felt clean,” said Roddick, the 2003 Open champion who lost in the first round last year.INCONSISTENT SUMMER 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 percent 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.”The transition from New Haven to here wasn’t very easy because I didn’t hit a single ball here on the U.S.Open courts before my warm-up for my match today but I feel good,” she said.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.Dementieva advanced with a 6-1 6-4 victory over American Laura Granville, while number six seed and 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova stumbled briefly but recovered to beat Germany’s Sandra Kloesel 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.Nampa-Reuters