CINCINNATI, Aug 5: Andre Agassi continued to confound those who believe his 18-year career is almost over, by beating former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson to reach the last 16 of the Masters Series on Wednesday.
The American showed a fair deal of patience to register a 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 success in a match completed close to midnight after an hour-long rain delay during the knock-up and two further interruptions once the contest was underway.
It was only the second time that Agassi, 34, had won two successive matches since March and it earned him a third round match against Juan Ignacio Chela, the 17th seed from Argentina.
In the same half of the draw, defending champion Andy Roddick beat Germany's Nicolas Kiefer for the third time in ten days. Halfway through the second set of his 6-4, 6-4 defeat, Kiefer launched a vicious slash at the net with his racket that gave Roddick a psychological boost.
The second-seeded American next plays Paradorn Srichaphan, the 15th seed from Thailand, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Sjeng Schalken. Earlier, Lleyton Hewitt signalled his belief that he is building up for his most convincing Grand Slam challenge for a couple of years when he enjoyed an emphatic win in a battle of former world number ones against Gustavo Kuerten.
The battling Australian's 6-3, 6-4 victory over the popular Brazilian carried him into the last 16 and suggested that he has a good chance to push on to his first Masters Series final for 17 months.
In other matches, Britain's Greg Rusedski rallied to defeat French Open champion Gaston Gaudio 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, Marat Safin eased past Jeff Morrison 6-4, 6-4, and Spaniard Tommy Robredo upset his seventh seeded compatriot Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-6, 4-6, 6-4.
In the final match of the day, fifth-seeded Briton Tim Henman rallied past Moroccan Hicham Arazi 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 to advance in a contest that ended in the early hours of the morning.
WEDNESDAY'S RESULTS (PREFIX NUMBER DENOTES SEEDING):
SECOND ROUND: 5-Tim Henman (Britain) beat Hicham Arazi (Morocco) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5; 11-Andre Agassi (US) beat Thomas Johansson (Sweden) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1; 17-Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) beat Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2; 15-Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) beat Sjeng Schalken (Netherlands) 6-3, 6-4; Tommy Robredo (Spain) beat 7-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-4; 14-Marat Safin (Russia) beat Jeff Morrison (US) 6-4, 6-4; 2-Andy Roddick (US) beat Nicolas Kiefer (Germnay) 6-4, 6-4; 4-Carlos Moya (Spain) beat Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; Greg Rusedski (Britain) beat 9-Gaston Gaudio (Argentina) 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4; 10-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) beat Gustavo Kuerten (Brazil) 6-3, 6-4; Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) beat Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) 6-7 (8-6), 6-3, 6-3; Tommy Haas (Germnay) beat Sargis Sargsian (Armenia) 6-3, 6-3; Wayne Arthurs (Australia) beat Mariano Zabaleta (Argentina) 6-2, 7-6 (8-6); Ivo Karlovic (Coatia) beat Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 7-6 (9-7), 6-4; Fabrice Santoro (France) beat Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 7-5, 6-3; Robin Soderling (Sweden) beat Luis Horna (Peru) 6-2, 6-3.
SHARAPOVA SAILS
MONTREAL: Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova had little difficulty in her first match at the $1.3 million Montreal Cup on Wednesday, downing Kristina Brandi of Puerto Rico 6-1, 6-4.
However, fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva and eight-seeded compatriot Nadia Petrova were second-round upset victims on the third full day of competition at the event.
Dementieva became the first major upset victim of the week, losing to Argentina's Gisela Dulko 6-1, 6-4. Petrova was also knocked out of the tournament, dropping a 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 decision to fellow Russian Elena Likhovtseva.
Third-seeded Anastasia Myskina, the French Open champion, moved on with an easy 6-0, 6-4 win over Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain. Other winners included ninth-seeded Paola Suarez of Argentina, number 10 seed Vera Zvonareva and Francesca Schiavone of Italy, the 11th-seed, who all recorded straight set victories.
In other matches involving seeded players, 13th-seeded Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria defeated Martina Sucha of Slovakia 6-3, 6-7, 6-4, 14th - seeded Elena Bovina of Russia stopped Lilia Osterloh 7-6, 6-4 and 15th-seed Chanda Rubin of the US was a 6-4, 6-3 winner over compatriot Mashona Washington.
