Agassi proving unstoppable at Open
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Andre Agassi advances to the next round of the Australian Open.
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MELBOURNE, Australia -- Defending champion Andre Agassi has advanced to the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-0, 6-2, 6-4 win over Czech Tomas Berdych.
Agassi, 33, an eight-time Grand Slam titlist, closed with an ace and has still not dropped a set in the tournament.
He converted six of eight break point chances and didn't concede one against the Zech teenager on Tuesday.
Agassi took the first set in 18 minutes and Berdych didn't win a game for 27 minutes.
"Today felt really good. There was a lot of quality ball-striking going on from both sides," said Agassi, who has won his last 23 matches at Melbourne Park, home of the Australian Open.
Frenchman Nicolas Escude had a 6-3 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over Robin Soderling to extend his stretch to seven matches without dropping a set.
Soderling beat sixth-seeded Rainer Schuettler, runner-up here last year, in the first round.
In other men's matches, 16th-seeded Sjeng Schalken beat David Ferrer in four sets, Austria's Jurgen Melzer beat Spaniard Galo Blanco in three and veteran American Todd Martin -- who rallied from two sets down to win in the first round – out-slugged Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7).
Martin withstood 33 aces from the big-serving Croatian and fired 11 of his own.
In the women's tournament, fourth-seeded Amelie Mauresmo beat 64-ranked Ludmila Cervanova of Slovakia 6-0, 6-2 in 44 minutes.
France's Mauresmo lost the final of a tune-up tournament to No.1-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne in Sydney on the weekend and said she didn't mind cruising for a while.
"I take it as it comes. I played tough matches in Sydney last week," said Mauresmo, who will play Anabel Medina Garrigues in the next round.
Mauresmo thinks she has a good chance of making a second Grand Slam final with defending champion Serena Williams and 2002 champion Jennifer Capriati sidelined with injuries and No. 2-ranked Kim Clijsters and No. 3-seed Venus Williams coming back from injury.
"Probably there is an opportunity of taking this tournament, not just because players are absent but because I'm feeling good," said Mauresmo, a finalist in 1999.
Seeded women's players into the third round were Eleni Daniilidou of Greece (19) and Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova (30).
Daniilidou beat Zimbabwe's Cara Black 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 and Kuznetsova beat Italian Antonella Serra Zanetti 7-6 (0), 6-4.
Hungarians Petra Mandula and Aniko Kapros also went through. Mandula overcame 24th-seeded Magdalena Maleeva 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3 and Kapros beat Australian Samantha Stosur 6-3, 6-1.
Early Tuesday, Venus Williams returned after an absence of more than six months because of an abdominal injury, showing little rust and a lot of composure in a 6-2, 6-1 win over Ashley Harkleroad.
Belgian Kim Clijsters had no trouble in beating Germany's Marlene Weingartner 6-3, 6-2. Other women advancing were No. 6 Anastasia Myskina, No. 8 Ai Sugiyama and No. 9 Chanda Rubin.
Among the men, No. 5 Guillermo Coria was beaten, but moving on were No. 2 Roger Federer, No. 3 Juan Carlos Ferrero, No. 8 David Nalbandian and No. 10 Mark Philippoussis.
Copyright 2004
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
