Agassi Humbled by Andreev in Opener at ATP Queen's

Posted on June 9, 2004

The tournament titles are looking fewer and farther between for Andre Agassi at the ripe old age of 34. Forget titles, at this point the former No. 1 would take just a match win.

On Tuesday at Queen's, the former Wimbledon champ was ousted in the first round 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(3) by unheralded Russian Igor Andreev. For Agassi it was the third consecutive opening-round loss after St. Poelten and Roland Garros, both on clay. Agassi had not lost three opening-round matches in a row since 1997.

Adding insult to injury for Agassi was the fact that Andreev was playing his career-first tour event on grass, after beating an ailing Juan Carlos Ferrero at the French Open.

"You have to come out and forget about everything, not think about who you are playing and just try to play your game," Andreev said. "Sooner or later you have to start to beat these guys and compete with them."

Agassi's 1992 Wimbledon title remains the only time he has reached a tournament final on grass. Last year Agassi won four titles during the first four months of the year, but his current title drought extends to almost 14 months.

Another shocker was served up by British qualifier and No. 866-ranked Ian Flanagan, who gave the home-crowd fans a glimpse of the future by knocking out last year's Wimbledon finalist and No. 9 seed Mark Philippoussis 7-6, 7-6.

Seeded winners on the day were (1)Andy Roddick (d. Kucera), (8Sjeng Schalken (d. (Q)Whitehouse), (12)Robby Ginepri (d. Saulnier), (15)Radek Stepanek (d. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter 7-6 in the third), and (16)Todd Martin (d. O.Rochus).

Other unseeded winners were Olivier "All We Need is Just a Little" Patience (d. (WC)Dancevic), Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic (d. (Q)Morrison), Slovak Karol Beck (d. Elseneer), Romanian Victor Hanescu (d. Ivanisevic in three, not a good sign for the Wimbledon send-off), Swedish veteran Thomas Enqvist (d. (Q)Suzuki), and South African Weslie Moodie (d. Bogomolov).

On court Wednesday are (5)Grosjean d. (Q)Reid, M.Lopez vs. (6)Hewitt, Beck vs. (4)Henman, (Q)Moodie vs. (7)Srichaphan, Hanescu vs. (Q)Flanagan, (Q)Delgado vs. (WC)Marray in an all-Brit encounter, Lu vs. (2)Coria, Americans Agassi/Roddick vs. Aussies (3)Arthurs/Hanley, Frenchmen Gasquet/Grosjean vs. (2)Knowles/Nestor, Mahut vs. Dupuis in an all-French, (15)Stepanek vs. Sanguinetti, (Q)Lee vs. Ginepri, Ancic vs. T.Martin (winner to face Roddick Thursday), "Dr." Ivo Karlovic vs. Enqvist, and (1)Bryan/Bryan vs. Croats Ancic/Ivanisevic.

Two former slam finalists went down on unfamiliar turf Tuesday at Halle, with No. 5 seed Marat Safin edged 7-6 in the third by veteran Swede Jonas Bjorkman who saved a match point, and No. 4 Martin Verkerk showing how green he is on the grass with a straight-set dismissal at the hands of Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.

The top two seeds cruised, with No. 1 Roger Federer pummeling former Halle champ Thomas Johansson, and No. 2 Rainer Schuettler easing past qualifier Jan Hernych.

Other unseeded winners were Russian Mikhail Youzhny (d. Mayer 7-6 in the third), Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi (d. Davydenko in three), Swedish serving cannon Joachim Johansson (d. countryman Soderling in three), and former Halle champ Nicolas Kiefer (d. German countryman Burgsmuller).

On court Wednesday are four matches in Clement vs. Popp, (1)Federer vs. Youzhny, Carlsen vs. (WC)Haas, and (3)Novak vs. (LL)Chiudinelli.

WTA REVIEW/PREVIEW
No Belgians, no Williams', no excitement in Birmingham this week where on Tuesday four of the seven seeds in action advanced. On the winner's side were (2)Patty Schnyder (d. Parra Santonja 6-1 in the third), (3)Maria "Grunt-tastic" Sharapova (d. Jackson), (8)Alicia Molik (d. Pennetta), and (16)Maria Sanchez Lorenzo (d. Callens in three), while the losers were (10)Maria Vento-Kabchi (l. to Ruano Pascual), (13)Claudine Schaul (l. to Craybas 6-1 in the third), and (15)Elena Likhovtseva (l. to Golovin, retiring in the second with injury).

Unseeded winners were Anne "Cosmo" Kremer (d. Mikaelian, who retired in the second), Daniela "The Walking Stick" Hantuchova (d. Cho), Japan's Akiko Morigami (d. (LL)Cohen-Aloro), (Q)Roberta Vinci (d. (Q)Kirilenko), and Zimbabwe's Cara "Back In" Black on her home surface (d. Grande 7-6 in the third).

Today's schedule lines up as Maleeva vs. Barna, Dokic vs. Perry, Sanchez Lorenzo vs. Keothavong, Petrova vs. Asagoe, Obata vs. McCain, Morigami vs. Daniilidou, Tanasugarn vs. Craybas, Sequera vs. Stosur, Hantuchova vs. Golovin, Jankovic vs. Ruano Pascual, Loit vs. Black, and Vinci vs. Dechy.

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