Andre Agassi defeated Alberto Martin of Spain 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of the Rogers Cup on Monday.
The fourth-seeded Agassi finessed his way from the baseline with steady groundstrokes, capitalising on mistakes by his 26-year-old opponent.
Agassi’s next opponent will be fellow Jonas Bjorkman. The 33-year-old Swede easily beat Vincent Spadea in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.
The 35-year-old Agassi said Bjorkman won’t be easy, but he joked ”I’m the best over-30 player, so it doesn’t matter.”
Fifth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia defeated Frederic Niemeyer of Canada 6-2, 6-1, while Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia rallied to upset 10th-seeded Tim Henman 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.
In other matches, a trio of Argentines advanced. Sixth-seeded Gaston Gaudio defeated Davide Sanguinetti of Italy 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5, eighth-seeded Mariano Puerta outlasted Luis Horna of Peru 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3), and ninth-seeded David Nalbandian beat countryman Juan Ignacio Chela 6-4, 6-1.
Eleventh-seeded Tommy Robredo needed three sets to beat Kevin Kim 7-5, 3-6, 6-1, 15th-seeded Richard Gasquet beat Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 7-6 (3), and 16th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile lost to Max Mirnyi of Belarus 6-7 (5), 4-6.
Also, Olivier Rochus of Belgium beat Nicolas Mahut of France 6-3, 6-4, Mario Ancic defeated Cyril Saulnier 6-3, 7-6 (8), Karol Beck beat Noam Okun 6-3, 6-2, Andrei Pavel defeated Christophe Rochus 6-1, 7-5, Ricardo Mello of Brazil beat 16-year-old Canadian Philip Bester 6-4, 6-2, and Montreal-born Greg Rusedski, who has
English citizenship, rallied for a 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3 win over Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.
Henman used a combination of tough serves and net play to take the first set from Hrbaty, but a lapse in the second set continued into the third.
Henman even shot a ball into the stands after being broken to trail 3-1.
”It’s frustrating,” he said. ”I haven’t played that much tennis and that many matches. I’d love to be winning and getting on a roll, but I’m not putting any extra pressure on myself.”
After a disappointing early loss at Wimbledon, Henman said he took a couple of weeks off in Italy and came back motivated and refreshed.
”It certainly hasn’t shown in my results yet, but I’m a big believer the hard work you put in will pay off somewhere down the line,” Henman said. – Sapa-AP