SCOTTSDALE (Arizona), March 7: Top-seed Andre Agassi tempered the booming serves of Greg Rusedski on his way to a 6-4 6-4 win Wednesday night, to reach the quarterfinals of the Scottsdale Classic.

Agassi, who defeated the defending champion Francisco Clavet of Spain Tuesday, relied on his punishing signature ground game, along with a service break in each set to wrap up the contest in 65 minutes.

Agassi now faces unseeded Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela, who ousted rusty fifth seed Alex Corretja of Spain 6-4 7-5.

Earlier, Israel’s Noam Okun copied Chela to score an upset victory over a Spanish seed to beat Albert Portas 6-4 7-5 in their second round match.

Kournikova stumbles out: Anna Kournikova’s hopes of a first career title were dashed when the Russian stumbled out of the Indian Wells Masters with a 6-1 6-4 first-round defeat to American Lilia Osterloh Wednesday.

After enjoying one of her best starts to a season having reached three semifinals, including last weekend in Acapulco, Kournikova appeared tantalisingly close to ending tennis’s most famous title drought.—Reuters