0
LOS ANGELES, July 30: Top seed Lleyton Hewitt opened his U.S. hardcou rt season with a 6-0 7-5 victory over American Cecil Mamiit in the first round of the Mercedes-Benz Cup on Tuesday.
But former U.S. Open champion Marat Safin’s comeback from injury was short-lived as he was forced to retire against India’s Prakash Amritraj midway through the first set.
Hewitt looked sharp in his first singles appearance since his shock first-round loss to Croatian qualifier Ivo Karlovic when he was attempting to defend his Wimbledon crown last month.
The Australian, who slumped to five in the world after his All England Club humiliation, stunned a hapless Mamiit in the first set with his fierce groundstrokes.
Mamiit came out of his stupor in the second to put up a fight but the Hewitt was simply
too strong and booked his place in the second round against another American, Michael Joyce.
Sixth-seeded Safin, who has been out of action since April with a left wrist injury, was clearly in discomfort from the start of his match against Amritraj and finally threw in the towel when trailing 5-3.
Having first picked up the injury during January’s Australian Open, Safin indicated this latest setback could stop him from playing the rest of the year.
Fifth seed Mark Philippoussis defeated fellow Australian Adam Kennedy 6-3 6-2 in his first singles match since losing the Wimbledon final to Roger Federer.
Results
First round: Lleyton Hewitt bt Cecil Mamiit 6-0 7-5; Sebastien Grosjean bt Xavier Malisse 4-6 7-5 6-3; Sjeng Schalken bt Denis Golovanov 6-4 6-4; Gustavo Kuerten bt Frederic Niemeyer 2-6 7-6 6-4; Mark Philippoussis bt Adam Kennedy 6-3 6-2; Prakash Amritraj bt Marat Safin 5-3 retired; Wayne Ferreira bt Robert Yim 6-4 6-4; Vincent Spadea bt Justin Gimelstob 6-4 6-3; Nicolas Kiefer bt Nicolas Thomann 6-1 6-3; Michael Joyce bt Jan-Michael Gambill 7-6 (7-5) 2-6 7-6 (7-4); Robby Ginepri bt Andrew Ilie 6-1 6-1; Michael Chang bt Zack Fleishman 6-1 6-1
WASHINGTON: World number one Andre Agassi strolled into the third round of the $600,000 Washington Classic with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Switzerland’s Ivo Heuberger on Tuesday.
Agassi, playing his first match since his fourth-round exit at Wimbledon last month, needed only one hour to dispatch Heuberger, 27, who is ranked 123rd in the world.
Agassi, a five times champion here, broke serve in the opening game even though the 6-foot-2, 170-pound Swiss began with two blistering aces.
Agassi began his preparations for next month’s U.S. Open less than two weeks ago and said it would take time to work himself into shape on the hard courts.
In other second-round matches, sixth seed James Blake of the U.S. put out Frenchman Gregory Carraz 7-6 6-4 while number seven Max Mirnyi of Belarus shrugged off an early fright to dispose of American Alex Kim 4-6 6-3 6-4.
ATP Second round
Andre Agassi bt Ivo Heuberger 6-2 6-2; Lars Burgsmuller bt Arnaud Clement 3-6 7-5 6-1; Mardy Fish bt Scott Draper 6-2 7-5; Greg Rusedski bt Ivan Miranda 6-2 6-4; James Blake bt Gregory Carraz 7-6 (8-6) 6-4; Max Mirnyi bt Alex Kim 4-6 6-3 6-4 3-6 7-5 6-1.
First round
Julien Benneteau bt Ramon Delgado 2-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3; Sergio Roitman bt Peter Luczak 6-3 7-5; Paul Goldstein bt Brian Baker 6-2 6-2; Thomas Enqvist bt Jaymon Crabb 6-4 6-3; Cyril Saulnier bt Wesley Moodie 7-6 4-6 7-5; Jeff Morrison bt Gilles Elseneer 6-3 7-6.—Agencies
