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Close call Davenport survives scare; Agassi, Venus untroubledPosted: Wednesday January 15, 2003 12:58 AMUpdated: Wednesday January 15, 2003 7:31 AM
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Three-time champion Andre Agassi took the simplest path to the third round, losing just one game in his second match at this Australian Open and giving his performance an "A". Second-seeding Venus Williams was getting back on her game Wednesday, regularly unleashing blistering winners off her backhand in her 6-3, 6-0 over 21-year-old Ansley Cargill, who'd never gone past the first round at four previous majors. Venus, who lost the finals at the French, Wimbledon and U.S. Open to younger sister Serena last year, started slowly in her opening round at Melbourne Park. Against Cargill, ranked No. 118, she was never in trouble. Lindsay Davenport, one of the few women capable of matching the Williams sisters for power or big-match experience, made more unforced errors (43-34) and less winners (39-43), than Uzbekistan's Iroda Tulyaganova but still advanced on a 6-7 (7), 6-4, 7-5 win. "Sometimes you're definitely lucky to be in the tournament when you don't play your best," Davenport said. "I'm definitely happy to still be around when some others are not." Lee Hyung-taik threatened Agassi for about three minutes, winning his first serve at love and holding three break points in the next. Agassi rallied and won 18 consecutive games for a 6-1, 6-0, 6-0 in 80 minutes. Lee upset Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final of the Sydney tournament, the first ATP Tour title for a Korean, and had a four-set win over David Ferrer in the first round. But he was no match for Agassi, a winner of seven Grand Slam titles. The 32-year-old American didn't pity his rival for the lopsided scoreline. "I have way too much respect for my opponent to feel bad for him," he said. "I know how things can change out there, how quickly. My sign of respect is putting my head down and trying to go to work." Asked if he could grade his game, Agassi didn't flinch at giving himself 10-out-of-10. "How could you not really?" he said. "When you play a guy of Lee's ability, playing as well as he's been playing, to go out there and have a scoreline like that doesn't happen too often. "Needless to say, I felt great about everything." Agassi faces left-handed Frenchman Nicolas Escude, seeded 29th, in the third round. Escude, a semifinalist here in '98, rallied for a 1-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 win over Belgian Christophe Rochus. Speaking through coach Choi Hee-june, Lee said he'd been on a high until "Andre took me to school." "I almost felt like I was hitting against a wall," Lee said. Venus was also relentless, winning 27 of 33 points at the net. She tested her full arsenal, mixing 39 winners with 28 errors as she went for every shot. Cargill had to duck for cover at the baseline to avoid an overhead smash at 1-0 and 30-15 in the second. Venus set up match point with a winning first serve and sealed it in 52 minutes with her fourth ace. Davenport gave up so many chances. She rebounded from a disastrous first-set tiebreaker, when she led 6-3 and lost, and was 1-3 in the deciding set. She leveled at 3-all in the final set when her 57th-ranked opponent squandered a 40-15 lead. In the last game, Tulyaganova netted an easy smash, hit two shots long and then rushed the net on match point, allowing Davenport an easy forehand crosscourt pass. Davenport, winner of the 1998 U.S. Open, '99 Wimbledon and the 2000 Australian Open, was recovering from an operation on her right knee last January and missed three majors. On her comeback, she reached last year's U.S. Open semifinals. She's seeded ninth here. "I was frustrated with the way I was hitting the ball," she said. "A lot of the problems I was having were from poor serving or starting out a rally on the wrong foot." Fifth-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne needed only 48 minutes to beat former top 10 player Anna Kournikova 6-0, 6-1. Henin-Hardenne, the Wimbledon runner-up in 2001 and a semifinalist last year, next meets No. 32 Katarina Srebotnik, a 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-3 winner over Virginie Razzano. She said she tried to forget everything about former Wimbledon semifinalist Kournikova, a crowd favorite Down Under. Kournikova served six double faults, struggling with range, consistency and didn't generate any power. "I played really well in the first set," she said. "I didn't make a lot of mistakes. But it was hard to stay focused because there were not a lot of rallies." After the stunning first-round loss by defending champion Jennifer Capriati, nine other women's seeds have been ousted. No. 13 Silvia Farina Elia of Italy became the next highest player to go out, losing 6-3, 6-2 to Australian Nicole Pratt. No. 15 Alexandra Stevenson, a 1999 Wimbledon semifinalist, lost 6-2, 6-2 to Denisa Chladkova, No. 21 Ai Sugiyama fell 6-4, 6-4 to Russian Nadia Petrova, and No. 27 Lisa Raymond lost 6-3, 6-1 to Germany's Anca Barna. After pulling the upset of the tournament, Weingartner moved a step closer to emulating her fourth-round appearence of last year with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Stephanie Foretz earning her a place in the third round. No. 7 Daniela Hantuchova struggled to a 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3) victory over Italy's Adriana Serra Zanetti, and No. 12 Patty Schnyder beat Spain's Marta Marrero 6-3, 6-1. No. 23 Paola Suarez, leading 6-0, 3-0, advanced when Italy's Tathiana Garbin retired with a right shoulder strain. After his loss to Lee in Sydney, No. 4 Ferrero, last year's French Open runner-up, reached the third round here with a straight sets win over Jean-Rene Lisnard. Yevgeny Kafelnikov, besides Agassi the only former men's champion in the field, slumped out 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-1 to Finland's Jarkko Nieminen. Kafelnikov won the Australian in 1999 and was runner-up in 2000. Kafelnikov didn't advance beyond the third round at a major last year and slipped to No. 27 in the rankings. Struggling with blisters on his toes in the third set, he rallied to level at two sets apiece. But the fifth set proved too much for him. French Open champion Albert Costa, seeded eighth, had a 6-4, 6-7 (9), 6-2, 6-3 win over local favorite Scott Draper, an Australian wildcard. He next plays Spain's Felix Mantilla, who ousted No. 27 Jan-Michael Gambill. No. 12 Sebastien Grosjean, a semifinalist here in 2001, beat Karol Kucera 7-6 (2), 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1). Wayne Ferreira beat Michel Kratochvil 6-2, 6-2, 7-5.
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