Agassi Cruises, Henman Bruised at ATP Montreal

Posted on August 9, 2005

Tim Henman's malaise continued Monday at the Masters Series-Canada in Montreal where the No. 10-seeded Brit blew a set and a break lead in a 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 opening-round loss to Dominik Hrbaty at the Rogers Cup.

"It's frustrating," said Henman, who is 0-2 since losing in the second round at Wimbledon. "I haven't played that much tennis and that many matches. I'd love to be winning and getting on a roll, but I'm not putting any extra pressure on myself."

Also sent home early was (16) Fernando Gonzalez, serve-and-volleyed off in straight sets by unseeded Max "The Beast" Mirnyi.

Seeded players safely into the second round Monday were (4) Andre Agassi (d. A.Martin), (5) Nikolay Davydenko (d. (WC) Niemeyer), (6) Gaston Gaudio (d. (Q) Sanguinetti from a set down), (8) Mariano Puerta (d. Horna in two tiebreaks), (9) David Nalbandian (d. Chela), (11) Tommy Robredo (d. (Q) K.Kim in three), and (15) Richard Gasquet (d. Youzhny).
FOLDHERE

"I was pleased with the way I improved over the course of the match," said Agassi, showing the even veteran champions get nervous with a 6-4, 6-2 win. "By the end of the match, I was much more comfortable. But I was a little nervous in the beginning and the ball was really flying. I was trying to go after the ball so it didn't play me, but I wasn't quite committed to letting my swing go, so I was sort of moving forward and not finishing my swing, and I was losing control of a few shots."

Other un-seeds into round two were Brazil's Ricardo Mello (d. (WC) Bester), Brit Greg Rusedski (d. (Q) Wawrinka from a set down), Croat Mario Ancic (d. Saulnier), Slovak Karol Beck (d. (Q) Okun), Romania's Andrei Pavel (d. C.Rochus), Belgian Olivier Rochus (d. (Q) Mahut), and Swedish veteran qualifier Jonas Bjorkman (d. Spadea).

On tap for Tuesday are (Q) Serra vs. (2) Hewitt, (1) Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal vs. the former No. 1 Moya in an all-Spanish, (7) Guillermo "El Mago" Coria vs. Ferrero, (3) Roddick vs. Mathieu, Kiefer vs. Massu, (13) Ljubicic vs. Taylor "Acci-" Dent, Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan vs. Grosjean, Xavier "X-Man" Malisse vs. (WC) Frank "You Can" Dancevic, (WC) Steckley vs. Carlsen, Soderling vs. (14) Stepanek, Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer vs. Berdych, (12) T.Johansson vs. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic, (Q) Clement vs. Acasuso, Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez vs. El Aynaoui, Novak vs. Andreev, and Ferrer vs. Fabrice "The Original Magician" Santoro.