[naught33]

Hail, thunder disrupt Hamburg as Nalbandian falls

Associated Press


HAMBURG, Germany -- Andre Agassi struggled in cold, wet weather Tuesday, losing 6-2, 7-6 (5) to Feliciano Lopez in the first round of the Hamburg Masters.

Agassi was unable to impose his game on the left-handed Spaniard in this clay-court tuneup for the French Open, which begins May 23. Lopez beat Agassi for the first time in three attempts.

"My body doesn't respond well to these temperatures," said Agassi, seeded eighth. "The conditions are not good for my game. I feel pretty ordinary."

Also ousted was ninth-seeded David Nalbandian, who lost to Robin Soderling 7-6 (8), 7-5 in a first-round match interrupted by thunder and a hail storm, forcing organizers to close the roof over center court.

Agassi tried to keep Lopez off balance with drop shots, but the change of pace didn't work for him. When Agassi broke serve for a 3-2 lead in the second set, he appeared to have turned the match. But, as he served for the set, he double-faulted and Lopez pulled even.

"He got a second life then," Agassi said.

With Lopez up 6-5, Agassi saved one match point with an ace and then forced a tiebreaker with two straight drop-shot winners.

An Agassi error gave Lopez three more match points. Agassi saved two, but then Lopez hit a volley winner off a good serve to win.

"It was one of my best matches on clay," Lopez said.

Nalbandian was looking for his second clay-court title of the year. The Argentine is ranked 11th and reached the Australian Open quarterfinals.

"When they closed the roof it was better for me because I like playing indoors," said Soderling, a Swede ranked 37th. "It speeded up the conditions a little bit."

Fickle weather delayed matches on other courts, which do not have roofs.

Other clay-court specialists had a better day. Fourth-seeded Gaston Gaudio beat David Sanchez 6-2, 6-2, and 10th-seeded Guillermo Coria routed Vincent Spadea 6-0, 6-2. Coria was runner-up in Monte Carlo and last week in Rome, the two previous Masters Series clay-court events. He won in Hamburg two years ago.

Dominik Hrbaty defeated local favorite Tommy Haas 6-4, 7-5 to advance to the second round.

Fernando Gonzalez beat Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-4; Tomas Berdych stopped David Ferrer 6-2, 2-6, 6-3; Mariano Puerta rallied past Olivier Rochus 4-6, 6-1, 6-3; Juan Monaco outlasted Igor Andreev 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-1; and Albert Costa topped Max Mirnyi 7-6 (3), 7-5.