Top seed Andre Agassi’s warm-up for next week’s French Open ended in a first-round elimination at the hands of lowly Serb Nenad Zimonjic in the $375 000 ATP clay-court tournament in St Polten, Austria, on Monday.
The 34-year-old American, winner of 58 titles in his 18-year career, fell 6-2, 7-6 (8/6) to 339th-ranked Zimonjic (27), who has never won a tournament since turning professional nine years ago.
Former world number one Agassi, who has not played in six weeks, pulled out of the Italian Open and the Masters Series event in Hamburg, after earlier missing the Monte Carlo Masters.
The St Polten tournament was intended to be eight-time Grand Slam winner Agassi’s clay-court warm-up for Roland Garros, which he won in 1999.
The French Open, second Grand Slam event of the season, begins in Paris on May 24.
Agassi has not played since Argentina’s Agustin Calleri denied him his 800th career victory in the Key Biscayne hard-court event on March 30. — Sapa-AFP