Agassi Fails to Weather Hamburg; Sharapova Wins in Rome; Hewitt Cracks Ribs

For Agassi it was only his fifth time playing in Hamburg, and by the sounds of it, his last.

“Every week I feel like I’m not sure for the next year,” Agassi said. “I’ll discuss it (returning next year) with the family. My body doesn’t respond well in these temperatures. It’s not the same, the movements, the work that goes into the shot. Everything is much more difficult. So, in one sense it’s great preparation because it’s so difficult but in another sense it’s discouraging because it’s not easy. I’ll see next year.”

Also in action on Tuesday, Marat Safin posted an unusual win thumping Alberto Martin 6-1, 6-0. Safin, who has yet to reach a tour quarterfinal since his Australian Open title, says he’s in good shape. For what, we don’t know nor wish to speculate.

“I’ve been working hard,” said the third-seeded Safin. “The week after Barcelona, I had 1 ½ weeks. I was working a lot for my fitness, but then my knee started to hurt a little bit. In Rome, I had to withdraw from the doubles. So, I was coming here without any expectations. But I’m in pretty good shape. I’m moving pretty well which is very important. I felt comfortable on this court which his strange because it’s slow and a lot of bad bounces.”

The only shocker of the day came as No. 9 seed David Nalbandian was sent packing by Robin Soderling.

Other seeded winners included (10) Guillermo “El Fragile” Coria (d. Spadea), (4) Gaston Gaudio (d. Sanchez), (12) Guillermo Canas (d. Santoro) and (15) Nikolay Davydeno (d. Llodra).

German favorites Tommy Haas and Rainer “Shine” Schuettler each bit the dust.

In action on Wednesday will be (1) Roger Federer (v. Berdych), (3) Safin (v. Ferrero), (10) Coria (v. Youhzny), (14) Tommy Robredo (v. Kuerten) and the not-to-be-missed Tim Henman vs. Greg Rusedski clash.

Sharapova Wins; Kuznetsova Falls in Rome

Maria Sharapova’s second attempt at grabbing the No. 1 Ranking away from Lindsay Davenport got off to a promising start on Tuesday as the Russian pounded Anabel “Funky Cold” Medina Garrisues 6-4, 6-2 in the first round at Rome. Sharapova, who needs to win the title to overtake Davenport at the top spot, wasn’t exactly pleased with the effort.

"Overall, I don't think I played great tennis," the top-seeded Sharapova said. "I was making too many errors in the beginning of the match. As the match went on, I was feeling a little bit better with my strokes."

Also not pleased with her effort was her countrywoman and No. 5 seed Svetlana “The Kewz” Kuznetsova, who was ushered out by veteran Argentine Paulo Suarez 6-2, 6-4. Suarez missed the start of the season due to a leg injury and then missed four more weeks due to a neck sprain in April.

In the “all future” teen match-up, Ana Ivanovic defeated No.12 seed Tatiana Golovin, 6-3, 6-4.

"I played against her already twice before, so I know a little bit about how she plays," Ivanovic said of this budding rivalry. "I just had to play my game, try to do the best."

Also posting wins on Tuesday were Conchita Martinez, who put an absolute hurt on Angela Haynes 6-0, 6-1; plus, No.15 seed Ai Sugiyama, Anna Smashnova and Maria Vento-Kabchi.

The Wednesday line-up features Amelia Mauresmo (v. Stosur), Serena Williams (v. Schiavone), Elena Dementieva (d. Dulko), Vera “Warren” Zvonareva (v. Jankovic).

Top Seeded Safina Wins in Three at Prague

Top seeds Dinara “Lil Sis” Safina and Klara “Kooky” Koukalova won their first round matches Tuesday in Prague. The top-seeded Safina edged Czech qualifier Libuse Prusova 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, while No. 2 seed Koukalova advanced over Shahar Peer, 6-3, 7-5.

Other seeds did not fare as well on the day as No.7 seed Marlene Weingartner, No.8 Martina Sucha and No.9 Arantxa Parra Santonja were all bounced from the event.

Also posting day two wins were Anne Kremer, Kristina Brandi, Nicole Pratt, Zuzana Ondraskova and qualifier Laura Pous Tio.

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