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WASHINGTON D.C. Aug 16: Top seed, and five times champion, Andre Agassi cruised through to the quarterfinals of the Legg Mason Classic with a comfortable 6-1 7-6 victory over wildcard Brian Vahaly on Thursday.
The home town fans, looking forward to the prospect of an Agassi-Andy Roddick final, were disappointed when Roddick was upset by 16th seed Fernando Meligeni of Brazil 6-4 6-4 in the final match of the day.
In other matches, Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan, who upset Agassi in the second round at Wimbledon earlier this year, overcame the hot conditions to upset last year’s beaten finalist Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands 4-6 6-2 6-4.
Results (prefix denotes seedings):
Third round: 7-Thomas Enqvist (Sweden) beat Lars Burgsmuller (Germaany) 6-3 7-5; 8-Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) beat Alex Kim (U.S.) 0-6 6-4 6-3; 16-Fernando Meligeni (Brazil) beat 2-Andy Roddick (U.S.) 6-4 6-4; 4-Alex Corretja (Spain) beat Karol Kucera (Slovakia) 6-1 6-1; 1-Andre Agassi (U.S.) beat Brian Vahaly (U.S.) 6-1 7-6 (7-3); 6-James Blake (U.S.) beat Guillermo Coria (Argentina) 6-3 7-5; 14-Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) beat 3-Sjeng Schalken (Netherlands) 4-6 6-2 6-4; 5-Marcelo Rios (Chile) beat Jerome Golmard (France) 6-3 6-1
INDIANAPOLIS (Indiana): Lleyton Hewitt’s preparations for the defence of his U.S. Open title were dealt a blow on Thursday when he was knocked out of the Indianapolis Open by Britain’s Greg Rusedski.
Hewitt, who will not play again before the U.S. Open begins on August 26, was stunned by the big-serving 14th seed who ran out a 7-6 6-4 winner.
Third seed Tommy Haas was also stretched to three sets by Michel Kratochvil before advancing 4-6 7-5 6-1 while fifth seed Tim Henman withdrew with an inflamed right shoulder.
But it was the Hewitt-Rusedski match which proved to be the match of the day.
The first set was so closely contested that neither player earned a break point, although Hewitt was twice taken to deuce before Rusedski won the tiebreak.
In the second set, Hewitt led 40-0 on Rusedski’s serve in the second game but failed to take his chance, and he paid the price at 4-4 when Rusedski broke by forcing a forehand error.
Hewitt had a chance to break straight back and led 30-0 as Rusedski served for the match, but the ball just clipped the net to deny him a potential match-saving three break points.
Rusedski had to fight off one break point as Hewitt made a desperate last stand, before he closed out the match with a 136mph (218kph) ace.
Haas came close to defeat against Kratochvil before taking charge in the final set.
He double-faulted three times on the way to dropping his serve at 3-3 in the first set, and the match remained in the balance until he broke serve at 6-5 to take the second set.
In the final set, Haas fired three aces in the opening game, and Kratochvil dropped his first two service games with double-faults to leave Haas firmly in control.
Results
(Third round): 14-Greg Rusedski (Britain) beat 1-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) 7-6 (7-3) 6-4; 6-Sebastien Grosjean (France) beat Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) 7-6 (7-4) 6-3; 15-Arnaud Clement (France) beat Mario Ancic (Croatia) 6-3 6-4; Felix Mantilla (Spain) beat 11-Andrei Pavel (Romania) 2-6 6-4 6-1; Arnaud DiPasquale (France) beat 16-Fabrice Santoro (France) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2; Martin Verkerk (Netherlands) beat 5-Tim Henman (Britain) (walkover - shoulder injury); 3-Tommy Haas (Germany) beat 13-Michel Kratochvil (Switzerland) 4-6 7-5 6-1; 9-Rainer Schuettler (Germany) beat 8-Xavier Malisse (Belgium) 6-3 6-2
MONTREAL: Former world number one Martina Hingis advanced to the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open Thursday, cementing her comeback from an injury with a decisive 6-4 6-2 win over Argentina’s Clarisa Fernandez.
The $1.2 million Canadian Open is the first tournament Hingis has played in three months, having undergone surgery to repair ligaments in her left ankle in May.
Results:
(Third round): 6-Martina Hingis (Switzerland) beat Clarissa Fernandez (Argentina) 6-4 6-2; 5-Justine Henin (Belgium) beat Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-3 7-6 (7-2); 3-Jelena Dokic (Yugolasvia) beat Alexandra Stevenson (U.S.) 1-6 7-5 6-1; Fabiola Zuluaga (Colombia) beat Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spain) 6-3 6-2; 2-Jennifer Capriati (U.S.) beat Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-1 7-5; Barbara Schett (Austria) beat 4-Kim Clijsters (Belgium) 6-4 6-4; 7-Amelie Mauresmo (France) beat Laura Granville (U.S.) 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-5); 8-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat Amanda Coetzer (South Africa) 6-1 6-3—Reuters
