Tennis

MERCEDES-BENZ CUP
(Los Angeles)

Andre Agassi won the 800th singles match of his career yesterday, beating fellow American Alex Bogomolov Jnr 6-3, 6-1 in the first round of the Merecedes-Benz Cup.

The 34-year-old was just the sixth player to reach 800 on the ATP Tour since the advent of the Open era in 1968, along with Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Guillermo Vilas, John McEnroe and Stefan Edberg, who joined the group in September 1996.

"That's quite a group of guys to be in there with," said Agassi, whose first win was a 6-4, 6-2 decision over John Austin at La Quinta, California, in 1986, when he was 15.

First round (prefix number denotes seeding): K. Carlsen (Denmark) bt W. Arthurs (Australia) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3, J. Morrison (US) bt L. Cook (US) 6-2 6-2, G. Weiner (US) bt L. Hyung-taik (South Korea) 3-6 7-5 6-3, N. Kiefer (Germany) bt 4-D. Hrbaty (Slovakia) 7-6 (7-0) 4-6 6-2, K. Beck (Slovakia) bt A. Ram (Israel) 4-6 7-6 (7-1) 6-4, G. Elseneer (Belgium) bt B. Vahaly (US) 2-6 6-4 7-5.

2-P. Srichaphan (Tha) bt W. Ferreira (SA) 6-3 7-6 (7-4), 3-M. Fish (US) bt J. Vacek (Cze) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2, 5-S. Schalken (Ned) bt G. Carraz (Fra) 6-4 6-4, C. Saulnier (Fra) bt 6-V. Spadea (US) 6-4, retired, G. Rusedski (GB) bt 7-T. Dent (US) 7-6 (9-7) 3-6 6-2, T. Haas (Ger) bt 8-R. Ginepri (US) 6-4 6-3, J. Hernych (Cze) bt A. Dupuis (Fra) 6-4 6-7 (0-7) 6-4, J. Benneteau (Fra) bt M. Philippoussis (Aus) 6-1 7-5, W. Moodie (RS) bt Z. Fleishman (US) 6-4 6-2, 1-A. Agassi (US) bt A. Bogomolov (US) 6-3 6-1.

STUTTGART OPEN
(Germany)

Last year's finalist, Spaniard Tommy Robredo, yesterday crashed out in the second round 1-6, 4-6 to French qualifier Richard Gasquet.

Sixth-seed Robredo, beaten by Guillermo Coria in the 2003 final, had no answer for the 18-year-old on a bad day for seeds.

Fourth seed Andrei Pavel had an easy victory over Bohdan Ulihrach in the second round, the Romanian brushing aside the Czech 6-1, 6-1, but seventh seed Feliciano Lopez, of Spain, lost 3-6, 4-6 to Austria's Stefan Koubek.

And Argentina's Guillermo Canas ended the hopes of Florian Mayer, the ninth-seeded German, in a marathon battle which ended 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

Spaniard David Ferrer, the No 11 seed, survived a tough test against Arnaud di Pasquale, of France, before triumphing 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.

First round: J. F. Andersen (Norway) bt L. Burgsmueller (Germany) 6-4 6-2, A. Popp (Germany) bt A. Waske (Germany) 6-2 1-6 6-1, F. Mantilla (Spain) bt J. Haehnel (France) 6-7 (1-7) 6-2 6-2, H. Armando (US) bt S. Rieschick (Germany) 6-1 6-4.

Second round: 4-A. Pavel (Romania) bt B. Ulihrach (Czech Republic) 6-1 6-1, S. Koubek (Austria) bt 7-F. Lopez (Spain) 6-3 6-4, 11-D. Ferrer (Spain) bt A. di Pasquale (France) 6-4 1-6 6-1, G. Canas (Argentina) bt 9-F. Mayer (Germany) 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4, R. Gasquet (France) bt 6-T. Robredo (Spain) 6-1 6-4, 15-N. Davydenko (Russia) bt A. Beck (Germany) 6-3 6-3.

AMERSFOORT OPEN

(Netherlands)

First round: A. Falla (Col) bt 3-L. Horna (Per) 6-2 6-1, 1-N. Massu (Chi) bt K. Vliegen (Bel) 6-3 6-4, 2-F. Gonzalez (Chi) bt J. Acasuso (Arg) 4-6 6-4 6-1, A. Garcia (Chi) bt M. Rosset (Sui) 7-5 6-1, 4-M. Verkerk (Ned) bt M. Van Gemerden (Ned) 6-4 3-6 6-1, 5-D. Sanchez (Spain) bt M. Przysiezny (Pol) 6-4 6-4, D. Van Scheppingen (Ned) bt J. Vanek (Cze) 6-3 2-6 6-4, 6-I. Andreev (Rus) bt R. Ramirez Hidalgo (Spain) 6-2 6-2, J-R Lisnard (Fra) bt P. Wessels (Ned) 2-6 6-3 6-3, R. Sluiter (Ned) bt N. Thomann (Fra) 6-1 6-3, P. Luczak (Aus) bt J. Van Lottum (Ned) 6-4 4-6 6-2.