Andre Agassi, the son of an Olympic boxer from Iran, played his first competitive match in the Middle East when he beat Radek Stepanek 6-4, 7-5 in the first round of the Dubai Open.
Agassi found it hard to experience this as a return to near his roots, but certainly felt a strong rapport with an enthusiastic first-day full house, something which helped lift him to his most encouraging performance of the year so far.
PHOTO: EPA
The 34-year-old moved with remarkable nimbleness, despite the hip problem which has required an injection straight into the nerve. He also served superbly, winning 80 percent of his first delivery points and 76 percent of those on his second.
PHOTO: AP
It was this, at least as much as his famous return of serve, which enabled him to stoke up the pressure upon an opponent who has been in some of the best form of his life, and who played another good match here.
But Agassi probably will not yet be dreaming of a semifinal rematch with world No. 1 Roger Federer, his quarterfinal conqueror at the Australian Open last month.
Despite an encouraging performance, it was not until the final game of the first set that he managed to break Stepanek, and in the second set he had to make a break back after losing his service game to go 3-4 down.
Both times he owed something to errors from his opponent, albeit under cumulative pressure, and Agassi may need to raise his standard still higher even to reach the last four.
The dangers in his section are Feliciano Lopez, last year's runner-up from Spain, and Nikolay Davydenko, the sixth-seeded Russian, who has reached a career-high world No. 16 but who has a tricky start against France's Fabrice Santoro, a memorable champion here three years ago.
Other first-day winners included Juan Carlos Ferrero, the former world No. 1 from Spain, who overcame Florian Mayer of Germany 6-3, 6-4 and whose next opponent is likely to be Federer.
The defending champion starts today against Ivo Minar, a qualifier from the Czech republic.
Ferrero was joined in the second round by his compatriot Tommy Robredo, who had to fight hard to beat Olivier Rochus of Belgium, losing a first set lead of 5-0, and three times going within a point of losing the second set before surviving in two tie-breaks.
WTA Qatar Open
Sixth-seeded Elena Bovina of Russia survived a scare before advancing to the second round of the US$600,000 WTA Qatar Open on Monday.
The tall Russian overcame a spirited resistance from Japan's Shinobu Asagoe in an embarrassingly error-strewn match, winning 7-5, 7-6 (8/6) in almost two hours.
There was no luck, however, for the seventh-seeded Silvia Farina Elia of Italy who fell to compatriot Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 6-3.
Eighth seeded Paola Suarez of Argentina also failed to get beyond the first round after she was beaten by France's Marion Bartoli 6-1, 6-1.
"It was a tough match first up," said Bovina who has won three titles on the WTA Tour and is ranked 16th in the world. "Shinobu kept coming at me and never gave up."
Asagoe, the world No. 25, made the quarterfinals of last year's US Open but has yet to win a title since turning pro in 1997.
On Monday, she just couldn't come up with that extra bit of firepower needed to quell the powerful Bovina who she had beaten in both their previous encounters.
Asagoe was off to a cracking start, breaking Bovina in the very first game of the match, but the Russian returned the favor with a break of her in the next.
French star Amelie Mauresmo is the top seed in Doha, followed by Russians Maria Sharapova and Anastasia Myskina and Australia's Alicia Molik.
All four have been given first round byes. Myskina is bidding for her third straight Qatar Open title.
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