Blake Edges Through, Agassi Bombs at ATP Washington
Posted on August 2, 2006
Top-seeded James Blake avoided the rash of upsets and overcame the oppressive heat Tuesday at the ATP stop in Washington, defeating American countryman Kevin Kim 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 in his opening round.
No. 4 seed Andre Agassi, in the midst of his farewell tour, made an early exit in his Washington opener with a straight-set loss to an unheralded Italian qualifier, No. 246-ranked Andrea Stoppini.
"I was very frustrated," said the five-time Washington champion Agassi. "I wanted it really bad to get out there and be comfortable and hit my shots. But I felt with every point the court got smaller and smaller. I had a harder time keeping the ball in the court. I never found my rhythm."
Other upset victims Tuesday were No. 6 seed and ATP blogger Sebastien Grosjean (l. to Moodie in three), No. 9 Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan (l. to Carlsen in three), and No. 15 Nicolas Mahut (l. to Safin).
FOLDHERE
Other seeded winners on the day were (11) Arnaud Clement (d. (Q) Sweeting), and (14) Tim Henman (d. (Q) P.King from a set down).
Unseeded players into the second round were American Vince Spadea (d. Karanusic who retired with heat exhaustion), Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili (d. Faurel), Argentine Edgardo Massa (d. (WC) Dev Varman, bagel in the second), Paraguay's Ramon Delgado (d. Luczak), Czech Tomas Zib (d. Lisnard), Luxembourg's Gilles Muller (d. Capdeville who retired with respiratory distress), and Korea's Hyung-Taik Lee (d. Dancevic in three).
Highlights of Wednesday play in Washington are Murray vs. R.Delgado, Fish vs. Zib, Hewitt vs. Spadea, Tursunov vs. Massa, Muller vs. Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, Tipsarevic vs. Gambill, and Gabashvili vs. Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez.
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