February 3, 2006	Friday	Muharram 4, 1427

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NEW YORK, Feb 2: A rusty Andre Agassi fought off two match points to claim a gritty 4-6 7-6 6-0 second round win over Paraguay’s Ramon Delgado at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships on Wednesday.

Playing his first tournament since November, Agassi got off to a strong start recording the early break to forge a 4-2 lead before the 129th ranked Delgado claimed the next four games to take the opening set.

Serving at 5-4 down in the second set, Agassi staved off two match points with stinging volleys then went on to win the set and level the match in a tiebreak (7-4).

The 35-year-old eight time grand slam winner quickly took control in the third set, allowing Delgado just eight points to advance through to the quarterfinals, where he will meet Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

The Spaniard moved on with a tidy 6-3 6-2 win over American qualifier Todd Widom.

Also advancing to the final eight were defending champion Xavier Malisse of Belgium with a 6-2 7-5 win over American Justin Gimelstob and sixth seeded German Florian Mayer, a 7-5 6-3 winner over Austria’s Oliver Marach.

Results (second round)

Andre Agassi bt Ramon Delgado 4-6 7-6(4) 6-0; Guillermo Garcia-Lopez bt Todd Widom 6-3 6-2; Xavier Malisse bt Justin Gimelstob 6-2 7-5; Florian Mayer bt Oliver Marach 7-5 6-3.

Zagreb tennis

ZAGREB: Results from the Zagreb International men’s singles matches on Wednesday.

Second round

Tim Henman bt Richard Gasquet 6-4 6-4; Stefan Koubek bt Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4 6-4.

First round

Ivo Karlovic bt Rainer Schuettler 7-6(0) 6-3; Ivan Ljubicic bt Andy Murray 4-6 6-2 6-3; Feliciano Lopez bt Robin Soederling 7-6(4) 4-6 6-1; Mikhail Youzhny bt Tomas Zib 6-4 3-6 6-1.