Agassi Rolls Malisse, Serena Serves Up Some Bagels at French Open

ATP REVIEW/PREVIEW
Thirteen American men took to the red clay last Monday, and by Friday only one remained: Andre Agassi. It was the 50th win for The Boss at Roland Garros, and things are looking up as he is 4-0 head-to-head versus the other three players in his quarter of the draw. Agassi beat No. 26-seeded Xavier "X-Man" Malisse in a deceptively difficult straight-set match. Andre was the lone American left in the draw after No. 29 Vince Spadea went out to the big-serving Dutchman Martin Verkerk in four. No. 23 seed Younes El Aynaoui was the other upset victim on the day, losing in four to the hot-handed Mariano "I Used to Be a New Ball" Zabaleta (who brought the waterworks after the win). Other seeds advancing were (4)Moya (d. Chela in five, Chela up a break in the fifth), (7)Coria (d. (Q)Savolt), (11)Schuettler (d. (22)Ferreira with Wayne injuring the groin and being hauled off the court on a stretcher), and (13)Novak (d. Ljubicic). There were four doubles upsets in Arnold/Hood over (4)Bjorkman/Woodbridge, Bertolini/Prieto over (7)Damm/Suk, Lopez/Sanguinetti over (12)Haggard/Koenig, and Clement/Escude over (15)Johnson/Zimonjic.
Seeds in action Saturday at Roland Garros are (32)Clement vs. Coutelot in an all-French affair, (3)Ferrero vs. (25)Henman (look for The Mosquito to slap the pasty Brit), (12)Schalken vs. (19)Gonzalez (first clay meeting), (1)Hewitt vs. (28)Robredo (first meeting, huge opportunity for the Spaniard),(30)Nieminen vs. Hanescu, (9)Costa vs. Lapentti (Costa leads 5-2, but has lost to Lapentti on clay), (15)Kuerten vs. (21)Gaudio (tied 2-2, with Gaudio beating Guga on clay this year at Rome), and (20)Mantilla vs. Vicente (Mantilla leads 5-0).

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
Those that said Serena Williams, with two losses during the claycourt season leading to the French, was not the favorite are feeling like dumb-asses. The defending champion humiliated Barbara Schett 6-0, 6-0 Friday in just 40 minutes Friday. To put into context the distance between the sisters now, Schett had upset Venus in the first round two years ago. "When I stepped out there and I lost the first couple of games, I thought, 'This is a difficult day,'" Schett said, putting it mildly. The win was the 31st in a row at a slam for Serena, who has won the last four slams beginning last year at Roland Garros. "Today was just my day," Serena said. "Hopefully I can keep it up." No. 4 seed Justine Henin-Hardenne was equally brutal in dispatching of "Don't" Dally Randriantefy 6-1, 6-1. Other seeded winners on the day were (5)Mauresmo (d. Zuluaga), (8)Rubin (d. (31)Granville in three), (19)Schnyder (d. (14)Daniilidou), (16)Sugiyama (d. (18)Shaughnessy with ease), with unseeded winners Serna (d. Ashley "Don't Cry for Me Paris" Harkleroad, dropshotting the American to death), and Mandula (d. Flavia "Of Earlier This Week" Pennetta). Keep an eye on Mauresmo and H-H, who have the only wins over Serena this year. There was only one doubles upset on the day, with Bovina/Molik ousting Japan's (14)Asagoe/"Mr." Miyagi in straights.
Saturday in Paris features (2)Clijsters vs. (30)Suarez, (6)Davenport vs. (25)Dechy, (22)Zvonareva vs. Sanchez Lorenzo, (24)Martinez vs. Pisnik, (7)Capriati vs. Vakulenko, (3)Venus vs. (26)Farina Elia, and (15)Maleeva vs. Grande.

TOUR NEWS, NOTES, AND BARBS
Yesterday's Roland Garros website headline: "Agassi Crossed Ut the X-Man" -- stone!...Andre Agassi says he will leave Davis Cup and the Olympics to the "younger guys"...Amelie Mauresmo is nice, but Tennis-X could sit through 50 of her post-match interviews without getting an interesting quote; mix some hot lesbian references in, ANYTHING Amelie, TALK TO US...Doesn't Amelie's game resemble Kuerten's game?...Pualo Suarez is one of just four players to hold a winning record against Serena, can you name the others?...Agassi has won his last 43 third round grand slam matches...Justine Henin-Hardenne has added three kilos of muscle to her tiny frame over the last year in an effort to keep up with the Williams sisters...Best media question, asked of Guillermo Coria: "From Chile, we follow your career very closely, but it seems that you have an acceleration in this career. Do you intend to continue to advance?"...Xavier Malisse: the hair-pulled-back-on-the-lightbulb-head and chin-only goatee is a horrible Euro look; c'mon X-Man, you've spent time in the States, went to Bolletieri, you know the score, lose the Euro-look. Soon you'll be wearing black socks...Serena won her 31st consecutive Grand Slam match yesterday, and earned her second career double bagel -- Larissa Nieland being the first in 1998 in L.A....Venus could go out today, facing grinder Farina Elia with the pulled ab muscle. Venus is 8-0 against FE...Nice clip on ESPN yesterday of Agassi dragging his own practice court (did he do the lines too?)...Carlos Moya, after eking out the five-set win over Chela yesterday, complained of foot pain, uh oh...Venus and Serena's bodygaurd team won't let fans videotape their practices. Nice....Forecast for Saturday calls for rain in the afternoon, and more heat...Johnny Mac is in town with his racket bag and NBC crew...NBC will show Capriati and Venus, while...ESPN gets second pick with Clijsters/Davenport/Hewitt.