[naught33]

I just read he lost in 5 and that he was hurt and didn't run in the last 2 sets? What happened?

[hnyloc]

Hip injury.. ongoing battle for him.. he said the pain shot he took wore off.. he was just wanting to finish the match, did not want to quit..

[Tommy]

Thanks Hynloc


Hobbled Agassi loses; Roddick rolls in Paris
Paris, France (Sports Network) - Former champion Andre Agassi was unable to overcome Finnish lefthander Jarkko Nieminen and a painful lower back in Tuesday's first-round action at the French Open. Agassi's fellow American Andy Roddick avoided an upset in the bottom half of the men's draw by advancing in straight sets on Day 2.

The sixth-seeded Agassi led two-sets-to-one before a back problem slowed his progress mightily amid chilly and windy conditions on Court Chatrier.

Nieminen won 12 of the final 13 games to post a 7-5, 4-6, 6-7 (6-8), 6-1, 6-0 decision. It appeared as though Agassi might retire from the match, but the American star decided to play it out and give Nieminen the clean victory.

After the match, Agassi said he "just couldn't walk off the court." He's never retired in 263 Grand Slam matches and has only retired 11 times in 1,106 career bouts.

Agassi said he had a cortisone shot to relieve a painful nerve situation in his back a few months ago, but the pain was just too much for him to overcome on Tuesday.

"The nerve in my back started getting inflamed and sending pain all the way down my leg, and it was getting worse by the minute," Agassi said. "Something tells me I'm at the stage of my career where I'm going to be living with these injections."

It marked the 35-year-old Agassi's second straight opening-round loss against a qualifier at Roland Garros, as the legendary American bowed out at the hands of little-known Frenchman Jerome Haehnel here a year ago.

Agassi suffered his third career first-round loss in Paris, with the first one coming in 1998. It was his ninth first-round setback in his new Open Era- record 58 Grand Slam appearances.

The eight-time major champion Agassi completed his career Grand Slam with a victory here in Paris in 1999. He joined Don Budge, Fred Perry, Rod Laver and Roy Emerson as one of only five men to win all four majors.

Agassi was the back-to-back French Open runner-up in 1990 and 1991.

The second-seeded Roddick, a second-round loser here in 2004, easily handled French youngster Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, setting up a second-round match with capable Argentine clay-courter Jose Acasuso.

The former world No. 1 Roddick was last year's Wimbledon runner-up to Roger Federer and captured the U.S. Open in 2003.

Australian Open champion Marat Safin, last year's French Open runner-up Guillermo Coria and former Roland Garros titlist Juan Carlos Ferrero also managed to record wins here on Day 2.

The third-seeded Safin overpowered Dutchman Raemon Sluiter 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to improve to 8-0 in Grand Slam action this year. The big Russian shocked the mighty Federer in the Aussie Open semifinals and topped Lleyton Hewitt in the final in Melbourne back in January.

Safin's second-round opponent will be Czech qualifier Lukas Dlouhy.

The eighth-seeded Coria whipped Denmark's Kenneth Carlsen 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 to improve to 7-1 in his last eight matches here. Coria gave way to fellow Argentine Gaston Gaudio in last year's Roland Garros finale.

Coria recently reached clay-court Masters Series finals in Monte-Carlo and Rome, losing to high-flying Spaniard Rafael Nadal in both matches.

Coria's second-round opponent will be Serbian Novak Djokovic.

The 32nd-seeded Ferrero whipped Slovakian Karol Beck 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. The former world No. 1 titled here in 2003 and was the 2002 runner-up to fellow Spaniard Albert Costa.

Ferrero will face Czech Jan Hernych in the round of 64.

Dangerous ninth-seeded Argentine Guillermo Canas cruised to a 6-3, 6-1, 6-0 victory against promising Frenchman Gael Monfils.

In other top-16 action, No. 12 Russian Nikolay Davydenko drubbed Croat Sasa Tuksar 6-2, 6-4, 6-3, No. 15 Spaniard Tommy Robredo overcame Aussie Peter Luczak 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 and Argentine Mariano Puerta leveled No. 15 Croat Ivan Ljubicic 7-5, 7-5, 6-2. Davydenko is fresh off his clay-court title in Austria last week.

Other seeded winners on Day 2 were No. 19 Swede Thomas Johansson, No. 21 German Tommy Haas, No. 27 Italian Filippo Volandri, No. 28 German Nicolas Kiefer and No. 29 Russian Mikhail Youzhny.

Additional upsets came when Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka took out 22nd-seeded Chilean Nicolas Massu 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 and French favorite Paul-Henri Mathieu topped 24th-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-2, 6-0, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4.

Other Day-2 wins came for Djokovic, Hernych, Dlouhy, Acasuso, Korean Hyung- Taik Lee, Austrian Jurgen Melzer, Americans James Blake and Vincent Spadea, Belgians Kristof Vliegen, Dick Norman and Olivier Rochus, Spaniards Albert Montanes and David Sanchez, Russian Igor Andreev, Frenchman Arnaud Clement, Aussie Chris Guccione, and Brazilian Flavio Saretta. Spadea handled the former Paris champion Costa in straight sets, while Sanchez eliminated former No. 1 and three-time French Open titlist Gustavo Kuerten in four.

The second round will commence here on Wednesday, including matches for the top-seeded Federer, a fourth-seeded Nadal and the reigning French Open champ Gaudio.

Federer will encounter Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, while Nadal will meet Belgian Xavier Malisse and the fifth-seeded Gaudio will battle Russian Dmitry Tursunov.

The reigning U.S. Open and two-time Wimbledon champion Federer is 10-1 on clay this year, including a Masters Series shield in Hamburg just two weeks ago. Nadal has won his last 18 matches, all on clay, and recently pocketed the Masters Series titles in Monte-Carlo and Rome.

Other stars on the Day-3 schedule will be last year's French Open semifinal losers Tim Henman and David Nalbandian, as well as 1998 French Open winner Carlos Moya and French crowd favorites Sebastien Grosjean and Richard Gasquet.



05/24 15:46:41 ET

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[naught33]

damn, i hope he can recover in time for wimbledon...i think he can still make a good run there and at the open