INDIANAPOLIS, Aug 12: Andre Agassi overcame a three-game deficit in the final set to beat Davide Sanguinetti of Spain 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round of the $ 1 million RCA Championships last night.

Coming into the match, Agassi was 6-9 in 97 and hadn't won since April, including first-round losses in three straight tournaments. His ranking slipping to 74th.

It looked like Agassi was going to extend his streak of first-round losses to four. He trailed 3-0 in the third set before winning six of the next seven games to win the match against the 93rd-ranked.

Agassi, seeded 14th, was making his return to center court at the Indianapolis Tennis Center, where he was ejected last year during his first-round match for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Earlier yesterday, former champion Wayne Ferreira, seeded 10th this year, used his serve to dominate Australian Michael Tebbutt 6-4, 6-3.

Ferreira, who had won the tournament in 1994, had lost four of his last six opening-round matches after an arthroscopic knee surgery, slipping to 30 in the ATP Rankings.

In other matches yesterday, ninth-seeded Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden dispatched Luke Smith of Australia 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) No.13 Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic defeated Doug Flach 6-4, 7-5 and No.16 Magnus Larsson of Sweden advanced with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Daniel Nestor of Canada.

Defending champion Pete Sampras, who turns 26 today, is the top seed and is ranked No.1 in the World for the 70th consecutive week. Fresh from his victory in the ATP Championships, Sampras will play later in the week and will be seeking to win the tournament for the fourth time. He's 25-4 on the Indianapolis hardcourts.

O'brien, Medvedev advance NEW HAVEN: ALEX O'BRIEN made a no-nonsense return to the site of his only singles title, easily beating Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 6-3, 6-1 in the $1.04 million Pilot Pen International last night.

The 14th-seeded O'brien found the Connecticut Tennis Center hardcourts nearly as accommodating as last year when he upset four seeds enroute to the championship. He had six aces and kept Ljubicic off balance for most of the 59-minute match.

Still, the 27-year-old Texan admitted he was a little shaky at the start of his defence, calling his performance average.

The 18-year-old Ljubicic, the youngest player in the draw, said the lights gave him problems early in the match and that several close calls didn't fall his way were another distraction. In a few cases, he was overruled by the chair umpire.

This year's field has 10 of the top 25 players, including Yevgeny Kafelnikov (6) and Sergi Bruguera (7), who both drew first-round byes. Kafelnikov and Bruguera are the first and second seeds, respectively.

Two seeds lost Monday as No.12 Magnus Norman of Sweden was upset by Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-2, and No.15 Karol Kucera of Britain lost 6-3, 6-2 to Vince Spadea.

Two seeds who advanced were Andre Medvedev of the Ukraine, who beat Nir Welgreen of Israel 6-3, 6-3, and No.16 Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands, who advanced with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-1 victory over Oleg Ogorodov of Uzbekistan.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.