Born baseliner Andre Agassi broke the mold with a sustained attack at the net to post a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 comeback win on Monday night in a grudge match against Tommy Haas at the $2,56-million Masters Series.
Just 10 days earlier, Germany’s Haas had mowed down the 34-year-old American Idol in a Los Angeles quarterfinal on the way to his second title of the season.
But on a cool Canadian evening in a first-round contest interrupted for 23 minutes in the second set by drizzle, three-time champion Agassi got his own back in just more than two hours of battle.
The match inaugurated a new stadium that will serve as the home of Canadian tennis for decades to come.
The unseeded Haas put the 10th seed on his back foot in the opening set. But the setback only made Agassi even more determined to show off his game.
Uncharacteristically racing to the net on repeated occasions to knock off winning volleys, the eight-time Grand Slam champion moved into the second round and showed that resting last week instead of playing in Indianapolis may have made all the difference.
”I won 15 of 16 coming to the net, I closed off a lot of his floating points,” said Agassi, now 17-8 this season. ”I had to show him I was more committed and that he had to more than float them over the net.
”I picked some real good moments to do it. You can make him think that you might come in. I thought of this strategy before the match — right after my second beer following the Los Angeles loss.”
Agassi broke for 5-4 in the third on a Haas double-fault and served out the victory a game later on the first of three chances.
Agassi, who lifted titles in Canada in 1992, 1994 and 1995 and is playing here for the 13th time, was joined as a winner by Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan.
The 14th seed recovered from an early break to roll past Romanian Andrei Pavel 7-5, 6-2. Argentine 16th seed Juan Chela also opened with a victory, defeating Belgian Xavier Malisse 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.
But there was an injury setback for seventh seed Juan Carlos Ferrero with the Spaniard retiring after five games with back pain against Frenchman Fabrice Santoro.
After suffering from chicken pox and various other ailments, Ferrero now has to battle another setback after his 37-minute outing.
The Spaniard is without a trophy this season after winning Roland Garros and Monte Carlo in 2003 and reaching the US Open final against Andy Roddick.
”I hit a return and I started to feel it,” said Ferrero, who hopes to be ready for next week’s Masters Series event in Cincinnati. ”When I was serving I felt I couldn’t still play.”
Both Canadians on court — wild cards both — went down, with Spain’s David Ferrer stopping Simon Larose 7-5, 6-2 and France’s Cyril Saulnier accounting for veteran doubles ace Daniel Nestor 6-3, 6-4. — Sapa-AFP