Spanish qualifier Nicolas Almagro upset Australian Open champion Marat Safin 6-4, 6-3 on Wednesday in the second round of the Rome Masters.
The 19-year-old Almagro matched the Russian’s heavy groundstrokes in long baseline rallies and chased down Safin’s drop shots throughout the match.
Safin also struggled in the first round before beating Jiri Novak in three sets.
”I really better start thinking about the next couple of tournaments because the way I’m playing now, I can’t get any good results,” Safin said. ”I didn’t have any chance to win today.”
The 101st-ranked Almagro, who had never won a Masters Series match until he beat Igor Andreev in the first round, broke Safin’s serve to win the first set and then converted three more breaks in the second.
”It was a tough match, but I worked hard and kept my head in it the entire time,” Almagro said.
Safin slammed his racket at one point in the second set to show his frustration. He converted only two of 11 break points and made 41 unforced errors to Almagro’s 28.
”He played solidly. He had nothing to lose. He played decent tennis, but nothing spectacular,” Safin said.
Safin is now 14-6 this season and 3-3 on clay. He has never made it past the third round in Rome.
”It’s just me. I’m playing really bad,” Safin said.
Earlier, Andre Agassi managed a routine 6-2, 6-3 win over French teenager Richard Gasquet, taking just 64 minutes to defeat his 18-year-old opponent.
Gasquet made many more unforced errors — and double faults — than the eight-time Grand Slam winner.
Agassi likened the match to his 6-3, 6-3 quarterfinal loss to John McEnroe at Stratton, Vermont, in 1986.
”I was pretty nervous,” Agassi said of that match. ”I never felt like I relaxed on the court.”
Gasquet, who ended Roger Federer’s 25-match winning streak in the Monte Carlo Masters quarterfinals last month, kept a picture of Agassi on his wall growing up.
”I never got into the match because Agassi never let me,” Gasquet said. ”I was on the run all the time. I served poorly but he didn’t allow me anything.”
Other winners included top-seeded Andy Roddick, third-seeded Gaston Gaudio, fourth-seeded Tim Henman and Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal.
Roddick improved to 7-0 on clay this season with a 6-4, 7-5 win over 2002 French Open champion Albert Costa. Defending French Open champion Gaudio, who won his third title of the season on Sunday in Estoril, beat Filippo Volandri 6-4, 6-2 to improve his record to 22-3 on clay this year.
Nadal, who beat Gasquet en route to the Monte Carlo title, improved to a tour-best 27-2 on clay this season with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Romanian qualifier Victor Hanescu, and Henman topped Nicolas Massu 6-3, 6-2.
Against Gasquet, Agassi faced an opponent 17 years his junior.
He does not hold the record for age difference in a victory, though. In 1995, 42-year-old Jimmy Connors beat Alex O’Brien, who was 20 years younger.
”I just tried to play well and make him play a great match to win,” Agassi said of Gasquet. ”As young as he is, he has a lot to look forward to.
”There was a lot of unforced errors that he had and some important double faults. That’s free points. I did this too a long time ago.”
When the match ended, Gasquet whispered a few words in Agassi’s ear as the two players shook hands at the net.
”He said it was a privilege to play against me,” Agassi said, adding — with a laugh — that he made no such gesture when he first met McEnroe.
Roddick converted the only two breaks of his match against Costa, using one to close out each set.
”He’s been one of the best clay-court players the last 10 years and he’s won Roland Garros, so this is big for my confidence,” Roddick said.
In the third game of the match, Roddick unleashed a 240kph ace.
”I felt good. I served well and controlled the match, and maybe that put more pressure on his serve,” Roddick said.
Last month, Roddick won the United States Men’s Clay-Court Championships title in Houston. The American is now 25-4 overall this season.
Costa has not won a title since his Paris triumph and has dropped to 50th in the world rankings.
Also on Tuesday, French Open runner-up Guillermo Coria breezed past Nicolas Kiefer 6-1, 6-1, showing no effects from Tuesday’s three-set win over Fernando Gonzalez, and Guillermo Canas routed Juan Monaco 6-0, 6-0.
The €2-million Rome Masters is a major clay-court tune-up for the French Open, which begins on May 23. — Sapa-AP