Agassi Rolls in Return at ATP Los Angeles

Andre Agassi made his triumphant return from injury Tuesday at the ATP stop in L.A., destroying French lucky loser Jean-Rene Lisnard 6-1, 6-0 in 47 minutes to advance into the second round at the Mercedes-Benz Cup.

"Certainly coming out here for the first match in such a long time, I couldn't have expected that standard, to be that comfortable," said Agassi, who missed the entire grasscourt season and pulled from Indianapolis last week with his chronic nerve/back issue. "I just settled in early. Sometimes you can really get too anxious and never find your rhythm and fight yourself a little bit. I trusted my legs and found a nice rhythm with my shots. Six days of practice, I'd advise it for anybody."

The win ended a two-match losing streak for the former No. 1 who was coming off claycourt losses at the Masters Series-Hamburg and the French Open.

"I feel like I missed Wimbledon two years in a row, and I feel I've missed the French two years in a row," Agassi said. "I was out on the court in Paris and I literally couldn't move. Everything was hurting me...to sit down, it was hurting me to stand, it was hurting me to walk. And it was just helpless. I don't like that feeling."

After losing top draw Andy Roddick ("sore knee"), the tournament took another blow Tuesday when two other American fan favorites pulled from the event, No. 5 Taylor Dent out with illness after wilting in Sunday's Indy final, and Mardy Fish out with his ongoing wrist injury.

"I am extremely disappointed to still feel the affects of the final match in Indianapolis," said Dent, in some serious trouble being out of shape in the midst of the grueling heat of the U.S. summer circuit. "I'd be doing the tournament and myself a disservice to go out there at 50 percent. I'm going to take a few days to recover and prepare for the ATP Masters Series events."

Other seeded winners on the day were (2) Dominik Hrbaty (d. Beck) and (4) Tommy Haas (d. Karlovic), while two seeds were uprooted in (3) Nicolas Kiefer (l. to (WC) Blake, retiring in the first set with illness), and (9) Vince Spadea (l. to (Q) Fleishman in three).

Other un-seeds into the second round on the hardcourts were the pride of Luxembourg Gilles Muller (d. (Q) De Chaunac, saving four match points), Czech Jan Hernych (d. (Q) Bjorkman), Israeli qualifier Amir Hadad (d. (WC) Mamiit from a set down), Indy winner Robby Ginepri (d. Arthurs), and Russian (LL) Dmitry Tursunov (d. (LL) Okun).

Scheduled for Wednesday on a star-challenged day in L.A. are Hernych vs. (2) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, Juan Ignacio "The Spitting Snake" Chela vs. (LL) Tursunov, (4) Haas vs. Xavier "X-Man" Malisse, and Ricardo Mello "Yello" vs. (Q) Hadad.