Arazi arrests Agassi ascend

Arazi arrests Agassi ascend
Agence France Presse

Indian wells (USA), March 14: Hicham Arazi claimed the biggest upset of his career here on Tuesday evening when he ousted an out-of-sorts Andre Agassi in the first round of the elite Masters Series tennis tournament here.

Agassi, winner of three of the last four Grand Slams, holder of the coveted year-end world number one ranking in 1999 and current leader of the ATP championship points race, suffered his second early exit in as many weeks after losing in the second round in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Agassi was fined $³1,000 for skipping the post-match press conference, a sum that no doubt didn't cross his mind as he headed home to Las Vegas in the wake of Arazi's 6-3 3-6 6-3 victory.

Agassi's match was marred by 11 double faults and 57 unforced errors. He pulled himself together to win the second set, but Arazi needed just one service break to claim both of the other sets, each time in the penultimate game. Arazi, who will face either Felix Mantilla or Slava Dosedel in the second round, admitted his task now will be to stay on an even keel emotionally.

Third-seeded Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov advanced without incident, defeating Vince Spadea 6-1 6-1. Defending champion Mark Philippoussis of Australia, the 12th seed, defeated US Davis Cup hero Chris Woodruff 6-3 6-4 under the floodlights of the number one stadium court.

Greg Rusedski, who like Agassi had a rude welcome to the desert when he fell in the first round to Pete Sampras in Scottsdale, seemed to have solved some of his problems in California. ``It's always tough to play a first round match, new facility, new courts, an opponent I don't really know that well. To come out and win 6-2 6-0 in about an hour, I can't ask for more,'' he said.

As the $³2.95 million men's event got underway, the quarter-final match-ups were determined in the $³2 million women's tournament that started on Friday. Top seed Martina Hingis had an easier than expected time against 10th seed Barbara Schett, defeating the big-hitting Austrian 6-1 6-1.

In the quarter-finals, Hingis will meet seventh-seeded American Monica Seles, who defeated Belgian Sabine Appelmans 3-6 6-2 6-3.

Defending champion and third seed Serena Williams blasted a 121 mph ace past 16-year-old Kim Clijsters en route to a 6-4 6-4 victory.

Williams earned a match with fifth seed mary pierce ofFrance, who struggled to a 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 victory over 16th-seeded Russian elena likhovtseva.

Second seed Lindsay Davenport will race for the semi-finals when she takes on sixth-seeded Spaniard Conchita Martinez. Davenport, who captured her third Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open in January, downed ninth-seeded Frenchwoman Julie Halard-Decugis 6-2 6-1. Martinez was leading Dominique Van Roost 6-0 3-0 when the Belgian retired due to injury.

The remaining quarter-final pits unseeded Chanda Rubin, a 6-0, 6-1 winner over Karina Habsudova, against unseeded Russian Elena Dementieva. Dementieva downed France's Nathalie Dechy 7-6 (7-2) 6-2.

On the men's side, second seed Sampras launches his campaign against Ukrainian Andrei Medvedev. Sampras, too, is trying to recover from a disappointing Scottsdale outing. After beating Rusedski in the first round, Sampras withdrew with a strained back ligament.

Two-time US Open champion Patrick Rafter, seeded 13th, takes on South African Marcos Ondruska, 11th-seeded Briton Tim Henman plays Moroccan Karim Alami, and Germany's Nicolas Kiefer -- at number four the highest seed left in the top half of the draw -- plays France's Fabrice Santoro.