Oldsters Agassi, Henman Exit at ATP Indian Wells

Former No. 2-ranked Tommy Haas continued his career-best start Monday at the ATP Masters Series-Indian Wells, with the No. 26 seed upending a nervous No. 8 Andre Agassi 7-5, 6-2 to move into the fourth round of play.

Agassi was serving at 5-4, 40-15 in the first set when he got the yips, failing to close things out against the German who would not go away during baseline rallies. It was the first time the two had faced each other since 2004. Agassi went into the match winning six of their nine career encounters.

"Yeah, it's frustrating. It's been a long time since I've felt good on the court. It's just getting tiring, that's all," Agassi told reporters. "It's never easy losing. It never feels good when you're losing often. To have a few good wins and have a good tournament would help me, remind me right now, why I'm doing this. But as of right now, it's hard to feel that thrilled about it."

No. 9 seed Lleyton Hewitt avoided an upset Monday with a laborious 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-4 win over former Australian Open runner-up Rainer Schuettler.

"He's extremely quick around the court. He moves really well," Hewitt told reporters. "I just had to hang out there, try and grind him down...It wasn't the prettiest tennis. Hopefully I can pick up on it."

Unseeded Russian Marat Safin continued his comeback run with a brutally hard-hitting three-set upset over countryman (5) Nikolay Davydenko, while Americans (3) Andy Roddick (d. (32) Verdasco) and (12) James Blake (d. (17) Robredo) posted impressively-easy straight-set victories.

"It's good," Roddick told reporters after weathering the giant forehand of Verdasco. "I feel like I played well two matches in a row here against pretty good players. I haven't done that probably since last fall."

Safin posted his second win of the year over Davydenko, who cemented his reputation as a top-level grinder but a big-match loser.

"Because he's No. 1 in Russia, he doesn't want to play against the guy who is out for seven months and basically he has nothing to lose, and he has to face it," Safin told reporters. "It's difficult to deal with the pressure for him."

Other seeds advancing were (4) David Nalbandian (d. (Q) Benneteau), (20) Sebastien Grosjean (d. Vliegen), (21) Mario Ancic (d. Sanguinetti), (22) Jarkko Nieminen (d. Kohlschreiber in three), (23) Tomas Berdych (d. Henman), and (24) Igor Andreev (d. Soderling from a set down, saving nine match points).

Other players on the upset tip were Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, outlasting (11) Nicolas Kiefer 6-2 in the third; Paradorn Srichaphan rolling over (14) Juan Carlos Ferrero 2-and-2; and Belgian Xavier "X-Man" Malisse, strumming (15) Radek Stepanek 1-and-1.

Scheduled for Tuesday at IW are Gaudio vs. Baghdatis, Federer vs. O.Rochus, Fish vs. Nadal, Berdych vs. Hewitt, Hrbaty vs. Gasquet, Monfils vs. Ljubicic, Mathieu vs. Ancic, Malisse vs. Grosjean, and in doubles highlights Bryan/Bryan vs. Bhupathi/Moodie.