Andre Agassi defeated Alberto Martin of Spain 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of the Rogers Cup on Monday.
The fourth-seeded Agassi finessed his way from the baseline with steady groundstrokes, capitalizing on mistakes by his 26-year-old opponent.
Agassi's next opponent will be fellow thirtysomething Jonas Bjorkman. The 33-year-old Swede easily beat Vincent Spadea in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.
PHOTO: AP
The 35-year-old Agassi said Bjorkman won't be easy, but he joked "I'm the best over-30 player, so it doesn't matter."
Fifth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia defeated Frederic Niemeyer of Canada 6-2, 6-1, while Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia rallied to upset 10th-seeded Tim Henman 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.
In other matches, a trio of Argentines advanced. Sixth-seeded Gaston Gaudio defeated Davide Sanguinetti of Italy 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5, eighth-seeded Mariano Puerta outlasted Luis Horna of Peru 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3), and ninth-seeded David Nalbandian beat countryman Juan Ignacio Chela 6-4, 6-1.
PHOTO: AFP
Eleventh-seeded Tommy Robredo needed three sets to beat Kevin Kim 7-5, 3-6, 6-1, 15th-seeded Richard Gasquet beat Russia's Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 7-6 (3), and 16th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile lost to Max Mirnyi of Belarus 6-7 (5), 4-6.
Henman used a combination of tough serves and net play to take the first set from Hrbaty, but a lapse in the second set continued into the third. Henman even shot a ball into the stands after being broken to trail 3-1.
"It's frustrating. I haven't played that much tennis and that many matches. I'd love to be winning and getting on a roll, but I'm not putting any extra pressure on myself," Henman said.
JP Morgan Chase Open
Jie Zheng of China upset 11th-seeded Shinobu Asagoe of Japan 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-0 Monday in the first round of the JP Morgan Chase Open.
Francesca Schiavone of Italy, the 13th seed, beat Dally Randriantefy of Madagascar 7-5, 6-3, 14th-seeded Gisela Dulko of Argentina defeated Fabiola Zuluaga of Colombia 6-3, 6-3, and 16th-seeded Anna Chakvetadze of Russia eliminated Li Na of China 7-5, 6-4.
Also, Russia's Maria Kirilenko ousted American Marissa Irvin 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, while Amy Frazier beat Abigail Spears 7-6 (6), 6-0 in an all-American match.
Kirilenko will play top-seeded Maria Sharapova on Tuesday. The 18-year-old Sharapova will become the first Russian player to reach No. 1 in the WTA rankings if she wins three matches here, the third stop in the women's U.S. Open Series.
World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport withdrew for the second week in a row due to back problems. Serena Williams and Vera Zvonareva also backed out this week because of ankle problems.
Tenth-ranked Guillermo Canas of Argentina has been suspended from tennis for two years for testing positive for a banned diuretic, the ATP announced on Monday.
The 27-year-old Canas, winner of six ATP tour events in his career, tested positive in February at the Mexican Open in Acapulco.
Canas, who reached the quarterfinals of the French Open earlier this year, protested his innocence in an interview with the Argentine newspaper Clarin in June, saying he never knowingly ingested any banned substance.
An independent Tennis Anti-Doping Program tribunal heard Canas' appeal in the case in July.
The panel confirmed the test results, ordered him to repay US$276,070 in prize money and deducted singles and doubles rankings points.
He will be eligible to return to tennis on June 11, 2007, the ATP said.
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
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