A baffled Andre Agassi was bundled out of the US$5.27 million Pacific Life Open 7-5, 6-2 on Monday by Germany's Tommy Haas.
Despite his status as the Masters Series event's eighth seed, Agassi clearly had his work cut out for him against Haas, who has already won titles this year in Delray Beach and Memphis and reached the semi-finals in Doha.
Two of the 27-year-old German's three defeats this year have come to world number one Roger Federer, including a fourth-round loss in the Australian Open.
Agassi, in contrast, was playing in just his third tournament of the year after being sidelined by injury late last year.
Still, it was unlike the 35-year-old veteran to squander two set points on his own serve in the opening set, which he led 5-4 and 40-15 before Haas roared back.
"I just couldn't get my teeth back in the match," Agassi said. "I started second-guessing my shots. I never found the pace I was looking for. I played too big some points and some points I would try to control a bit more. Then I'd give him too good of a look."
Despite his lack of tournament play, Agassi acknowledged that he had hoped for more here, where after a first-round bye he needed three sets to beat 63rd-ranked Paul Goldstein.
"I've had a few tournaments to see improvements," he said. "I definitely expected more."
Haas booked a meeting with American James Blake, who beat Spain's Tommy Robredo 6-2, 7-5.
"You know, serving at 40-15 [Agassi] probably should have won the first set," Haas said. "But I didn't let go. He came up with some loose shots. I came up with some good ones."
Third-seeded Andy Roddick, another American who has been trying to turn around an indifferent early season, maintained his momentum with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Spain's Fernando Verdasco.
Roddick, who powered through a rain-delayed second-round match against Jose Acasuso on Sunday night, was delighted to back up that victory with another solid display.
"It's good," said Roddick, whose four match defeats this year have come against players outside the top 50. "I feel like I played well two matches in a row here against pretty good players. I haven't done that probably since last fall."
Fourth-seeded Argentinian David Nalbandian also reached the round of 16, beating French qualifier Julien Benneteau 6-4, 6-1.
But fifth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko fell 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-4 to unseeded compatriot Marat Safin, a former world number one who is working his way back from a career-threatening knee injury.
Two time Indian Wells champion Lleyton Hewitt launched his campaign with a 7-6 (7/3), 2-6, 6-4 second-round victory over Germany's Rainer Schuettler.
"It wasn't the prettiest tennis," said Hewitt, who is seeking his first tournament title since January last year. "Hopefully I can pick up on it."
Despite his title drought, and a disappointing second-round exit at the Australian Open left him nursing a sore ankle, Hewitt has been knocking on the door in recent weeks, reaching finals in San Jose in February and Las Vegas last week.
On the women's side, top seed Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium crushed Japan's Aiko Nakamura 6-0, 6-0. Henin-Hardenne, who won the title in her last appearance at Indian Wells in 2004, needed just 55 minutes to dispatch 66th-ranked Nakamura, who was making her first appearance.
Fourth-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva also reached the round of 16, defying an upset bid by tenacious Indian teenager Sania Mirza.
Dementieva let early leads slip in all three set before emerging with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory over the feisty Mirza, who made the most of Dementieva's characteristically inconsistent serve.
Sixth-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta literally tumbled out of the tournament, spraining her right ankle in the opening game of her third-round match against Emma Laine. After Laine won the game, Pennetta retired, sending the unseeded Finn into the fourth round.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but