TORONTO, July 27: Andre Agassi overcame a sluggish start to oust Tommy Haas 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round of the $2.5 million Toronto Masters on Monday.
Haas, who defeated Agassi in the quarter-finals at Los Angeles two weeks ago, took the first set before the eight-time Grand Slam winner rallied to beat the German for the fifth time in eight career meetings.
After two evenly-matched sets that featured several momentum changes, Haas double-faulted in the ninth game of the third to hand Agassi a 5-4 lead before the American held serve to clinch the win.
Agassi last week became only the sixth man to claim 800 career victories. Still searching for his first title of the season, Agassi's ranking has slipped. The 34-year-old is seeded 10 this week, his lowest in the tournament since 1998.
But Agassi, who has won the event three times, remains the favourite of the fans. He was greeted by a standing ovation as he walked on to the main court for the first time at the new $38 million Rexall Centre tennis facility.
In other first-round matches, seventh seed Juan Carlos Ferrero was forced to retire against France's Fabrice Santoro. Trailing 3-2 in the opening set, Spaniard Ferrero received treatment for back spasms from an ATP trainer but was unable to continue, saying he was in too much pain.
It has been a frustrating year for the former French Open champion, who has been plagued by injuries and is without a title win in 2004. Ferrero, who missed a month of competition after being diagnosed with chicken pox in March, did not know how serious his injury was.
Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina, the 16th seed, was hard pressed but finally tamed Xavier Malisse of Belgium 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. Paradorn Srichaphan, the 14th seed from Thailand, defeated Romanian Andrei Pavel 7-5, 6-2 in the only other match involving a seeded player.
MONDAY'S RESULTS (prefix number denotes seeding):
First Round: Fabrice Santoro (France) beat 7-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) 3-2 - retired; Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) beat Xavier Malisse (Belgium) 6-3, 5-7, 6-3; David Ferrer (Spain) beat Simon Larose (Canada) 7-5, 6-2; Joachim Johansson (Sweden) beat Michael Llodra (France) 1-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1; Max Mirnyi (Belarus) beat Michel Kratochvil (Switzerland) 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (11-9); Cyril Saulnier (France) beat Daniel Nestor (Canada) 6-3, 6-4; Igor Andreev (Russia) beat Sargis Sargsian (Armenia) 7-5, 6-7 (1-7), 6-2; Jan Hernych (Czech Republic) beat Irakli Labadze (Georgia) 6-1, 6-4; Alex Bogomolov (US) beat Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) 6-4, 7-6 (8-6); 10-Andre Agassi (US) beat Tommy Haas (Germany) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4; 14-Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) beat Andrei Pavel (Romania) 7-5, 6-2; Rolf Soderling (Sweden) beat Thomas Enqvist (Sweden) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3; Igor Andreev (Russia) beat Sargis Sargsian (Armenia) 7-5, 6-7 (1-7), 6-2; Gustavo Kuerten (Brazil) beat Robby Ginepri (US) 6-1, 6-4; Tommy Robredo (Spain) beat Hyung-Taik Lee (South Korea) 7-6 (7-3), 6-1.
SEEDS TUMBLE
CARLSBAD: Twelfth seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia powered past France's Nathalie Dechy 6-4, 7-6 in the first round of the $1.3 million Acura Classic on Monday. However, three seeds fell by the wayside. American teenager Ashley Harkleroad upset 13th-seeded Swiss Patty Schnyder 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 and Russia's Elena Bovina defeated No 15 Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
In the night match, American Chanda Rubin crushed 14th seed Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi of Israel 6-0, 6-3. The 19-year-old Zvonareva came back from a 5-2 deficit in the second set to down Dechy, who had difficulty dealing with her opponent's searing pace.
Croatian teenager Karolina Sprem progressed with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Spain's Marta Marrero. Sprem, who beat Venus Williams at Wimbledon, will on Wednesday face fourth seed Lindsay Davenport, who is coming off back-to-back title triumphs at Stanford and Carson.
