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Agassi Back with Win at ATP Dubai
Posted on February 28, 2006
Andre Agassi renewed a 14-year rivalry with Britain's Greg Rusedski Monday at the ATP stop in Dubai, with the American legend rebounding from a back injury in his previous outing and a tight first set to eventually run away with the match 7-6(4), 6-0.
"I made a few good shots at the right time early in the second set, I relaxed and maybe the edge came off his game too," Agassi told Reuters. "Obviously, when you can get up a break it helps you relax a little more. And he didn't serve as high a percentage of first serves and I was returning pretty well."
The two had previously met 10 times since 1992, with Rusedski winning only two encounters, both in San Jose in 1997 then in 2001.
In his last appearance on tour Agassi withdrew from the San Jose event after his chronic back injury flared up during a practice session before his opening-round match.
The only other seed in action Monday, No. 5 Dave Ferrer, was outlasted in three sets by another former Top 10er in Germany's No. 98-ranked Rainer Schuettler.
Other unseeded players into the second round were wildcard Tim Henman (d. F.Lopez), Czech Robin Vik (d. (Q) Tipsarevic), Belgian Olivier Rochus (d. Santoro), Russian Igor Andreev (d. Seppi in three), Slovak qualifier Ivo Klec (d. Bracciali), and Kuwaiti wildcard Mohammed Al Ghareeb (d. (WC) Bahrouzyan).
"The first set I played very solidly but he was making so many unforced errors," Henman said. "Then I played one or two loose points on the 1-1 game in the second set and that gave him a lot of confidence. It was amazing how much better he played from then, from playing ordinary to playing some pretty good stuff."
In doubles highlights Monday, world No. 1 Roger Federer and Swiss Davis Cup partner Yves Allegro were edged 10-6 in a third-set match tiebreak by top seeds Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor, and Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Rafael Nadal advanced with a straight-set win over Ferrer/Seppi.
Scheduled for Tuesday in singles are (3) Davydenko vs. Safin in an all-Russian, Youzhny vs. (6) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, (1) Federer vs. Wawrinka in an all-Swiss, Mathieu vs. (2) Nadal, Moodie vs. (Q) El Aynaoui, (LL) Galimberti vs. Phau, Christophe "Coch-" Rochus vs. (8) Berdych, Rotterdam winner (7) Stepanek vs. (Q) Van Lottum, and in doubles highlights (3) Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro/Zimonjic vs. (WC) El Aynaoui/Safin, and Bhupathi/Moodie vs. (2) Hanley/Ullyett.
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