Roddick, Agassi Lead American Advance at Masters Series Cincinnati

Posted on August 5, 2004

Fans at the Masters Series-Cincinnati eventually got their money's worth Wednesday when, after roughly a seven-hour rain delay, seven former No. 1 players took to the court in a full evening session.

Into the third round were former No. 1s (2)Andy Roddick (d. Kiefer), (4)Carlos "Gun Show" Moya (d. Ljubicic in three), (10)Lleyton Hewitt (d. former No. 1 Kuerten), (11)Andre Agassi (d. T.Johansson 6-1 in the third), and (14)Marat Safin (d. (WC)Jeff "The Lizard King" Morrison).

"You get more experienced at not getting overly concerned about things you can't control," said the 34-year-old Agassi on dealing with three rain delays. "The good news is that both guys have to deal with it."

Roddick brought the crowd to its feet in his match with a trick shot while retrieving a lob in the back court.

"I was going to go between my legs, but I couldn't get there in time. So I just flailed at it," Roddick said. "I didn't really see it, but I saw people clapping. It was probably the best shot I ever hit, or the luckiest. It felt pretty cool, but I didn't realize it was that drastic."

Other seeds in the winner's circle were (5)Tim Henman (d. Arazi in three) and (15)Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan (d. Schalken).

On the poor end of the upset tip were (7)Juan Carlos Ferrero (l. to Spanish countryman Robredo in three), and French Open winner and non-hardcourt aficionado (9)Gaston Gaudio (l. to (Q)"Grinning" Greg Rusedski in three).

Other un-seeds into the third round were (LL)Wayne Arthurs (d. Zabaleta), France's Fabrice "The Original Wizard" Santoro (d. Youzhny), Swedes Robin Soderling (d. Luis "Me So" Horna) and Jonas Bjorkman (d. Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty in three, which nulls that Federer win), German former No. 2 (WC)Tommy Haas (d. Sargsian), Croatian qualifier "Dr." Ivo Karlovic (d. Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez), and Argentina's Juan Ignacio "Just Say No" Chela (d. Fernando "The Flayin' Chilean" Gonzalez in three).

On court Thursday are Bjorkman vs. The Original Wizard, (LL)Arthurs vs. (4)Gun Show, (15)The Thai Fighter vs. (2)Roddick, Chela vs. (11)Agassi, (Q)"Dr." Ivo vs. (14)Safin, (Q)Grinning Greg vs. Robredo, (10)Hewitt vs. (5)Henman, and (WC)Haas vs. Soderling.