Keyword
MEN'S TENNIS
Schedules
ATP Rankings
Players
Message Board
Tenis en Español
WOMEN'S TENNIS
Schedules
WTA Rankings
Players
Message Board
Tenis en Español
SPORT SECTIONS
Tuesday, July 23
 
Top seed Haas upset; Kuerten, Agassi roll

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -- Qualifier Alex Bogomolov Jr. stunned top seed Tommy Haas 6-4, 6-4, in the first round of the Mercedes-Benz Cup on Tuesday night.

Bogomolov, ranked No. 278 and playing in his first tour event, said he had been waiting for such a win his entire career.

"When it was 5-4 in the second set, I started thinking about it, I had a backflash of my whole life. I will dream about it tonight and wake up tomorrow and hope it's real.''

Haas, ranked No. 3 by the ATP, said he had been distracted from training by caring for his parents, who were in a motorbike accident.

Also late Tuesday, No. 2 seed and defending champion Andre Agassi beat Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark 6-3, 6-1. Agassi went down a service break in the third game but stormed back to win 11 of the next 13 games.

Agassi said he had trained hard for his first match since losing to Paradorn Srichiphan in the second round at Wimbledon.

"I feel like I've got to make up for a little lost ground the last couple of months,'' Agassi said. "I tried to take my frustrations out in my preparation'' for the hard court season, he said.

In other matches featuring seeded players, Sebastien Grosjean, the No. 3 seed from France, rolled to a 6-1, 6-2 win over American qualifier Jack Brasington.

No. 5 seed Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil defeated George Bastl of Switzerland 7-5, 7-6 (7); No. 7 seed Xavier Malisse, a Wimbledon semifinalist, ousted left-hander Scott Draper of Australia 6-4, 7-6 (4) and No. 8 Max Mirnyi, of Belarus, beat former NCAA champion Cecil Mamiit of Los Angeles 6-4, 6-4.

Israel's Noam Okun, ranked No. 122, upset No. 6 seed Sjeng Schalken 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) earlier Tuesday.

Okun survived two tiebreakers to beat the 23rd-ranked Schalken, taking both the first set and the match on service doublefaults by Schalken.

"I played him before -- at Indianapolis (in 1999) -- and lost 6-4 in the third set,'' said Okun, 24, who broke into the top 100 in the rankings for the first time in late April.

"And I've watched him, so I pretty much knew what he would do on the court,'' Okun said. "I pretty much knew what was going to happen. But I didn't know it would be two tiebreakers.''

Schalken, playing in his 19th tournament this year, made lots of errors. The Wimbledon quarterfinalist's biggest problem was his serve, as he had 13 total doublefaults -- 11 in the first set.

The Dutchman led the opening set tiebreaker 5-3, then had two doublefaults to help Okun win the final four points.

Kuerten, making a comeback after right hip surgery in February, was playing his first match on a hard court since losing in the first round of the Australian Open in January. He fought off two set points in the second set tiebreaker against Bastl to win.

Grosjean was playing for the first time since the French Open after taking time off to rest a sore right leg muscle, and said he didn't feel like he was moving too well on the court.

Mirnyi's didn't lose serve in his win to move into the second round against Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand. Srichiphan, who upset Andre Agassi in the second round at Wimbledon, beat American Vince Spadea 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-6 (2).




 More from ESPN...
Tuesday's results
Tuesday's major tennis results

Roddick, Gambill rally to advance at Mercedes-Benz Cup
Andy Roddick led a trio of ...

 ESPN Tools
Email story
 
Most sent
 
Print story