LONDON, 11 June 2003 — Andre Agassi celebrated his personal millennium yesterday with victory at the Stella Artois Championships in his 1,000th professional match.
The 33-year-old juggled swirling winds and a lively Peter Luczak to win 7-6, 6-4.
It was a fitting milestone wins on Queen’s Club’s grass Centre Court, mirroring the success he enjoyed in his first match 17 years ago.
Then, with flowing blonde hair and bucket-loads of attitude, he beat John Austin in the first round of an event in La Quinta, California. The 998 matches in between have featured some of the most scintillating tennis, earning Agassi the world number one spot and eight Grand Slam titles.
Seeded second here and ranked two in the world, Agassi could next face a fellow former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek in the third round. Krajicek plays Jan Vacek today.
Earlier Tim Henman’s Wimbledon preparations got off to a hesitant start when the British number one squeezed past Davide Sanguinetti 3-6 6-3 7-6. Four times a Wimbledon semifinalist, Henman struggled with his serve throughout the match and was fortunate to survive a match point while trailing 6-5 in the third set. Third seed Andy Roddick made light work of his first foray on to grass this season, thrashing Rik De Voest 6-3 6-2 in the second round.
The American, a first-round loser at the French Open two weeks ago, never looked bothered at the 800,000 Euro ($936,500) championships, advancing in just 51 minutes. He will next face either Britain’s Greg Rusedski or Hicham Arazi in the third round. Compatriot Taylor Dent, the 11th seed, beat American Robert Kendrik 6-2, 7-5, while 12th seeded Max Mirnyi derailed Swiss George Bastl, winner over Pete Sampras at Wimbledon last summer 6-3, 6-4.
Swiss veteran Marc Rosset, now his country’s Davis Cup coach with a September semifinal in Melbourne looming, beat John Van Lottum of the Netherlands 7-6 (7-3), 7-5. Compatriot Michel Kratochvil won his first match since spring knee surgery, ousting France’s Gregory Carraz 6-3, 7-5.
Federer Begins to
Rebuild Confidence
In Halle, Germany, Roger Federer took the first step toward rebuilding his shattered confidence with victory over Sargis Sargsian at the Gerry Weber Open yesterday.
The top-seeded Swiss, who suffered another Grand Slam disappointment when he was beaten in the first round at the French Open, struggled early but grew in confidence to beat the Armenian 7-5, 6-1 and reach the second round.
One of the most naturally talented players in the game, Federer has been accused of mental frailty, something that cropped up again in Paris when he was beaten by Peruvian Luis Horna.
Earlier, Mikhail Youzhny revived memories of his Davis Cup final heroics, recovering from a nightmare start against French teenager Paul-Henri Mathieu.
The Russian sixth seed, who came from two sets down to beat Mathieu in the deciding rubber of the Davis Cup final in December, lost the first five games but stormed back and was leading 1-6, 6-1, 5-2 when Mathieu retired, citing ‘flu.’
Eighth seed Arnaud Clement, also from France, secured his place in the second round with a 50-minute 6-3, 6-0 win over Canadian qualifier Frederic Niemeyer.
Clement will now play Ivan Ljubicic for a place in the quarterfinals after the big-serving Croat disappointed the home crowd by beating former champion David Prinosil 7-6, 6-2. There was better fortune for another German though, Nicolas Kiefer, also a former Halle winner, continuing his comeback from injury with an easy 6-3, 6-0 victory over Belgian Olivier Rochus.
