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Agassi quieted Top-ranked player upset, blows off media
Posted: Monday March 13, 2000 11:22 PM
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) -- His winning ways left on the other side of the world, Andre Agassi was silenced Monday by Hicham Arazi of Morocco in the first round of the Tennis Masters Series-Indian Wells. After falling to Arazi 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, Agassi left the new Indian Wells Tennis Garden site, skipping a mandatory post-match news conference. The world's top-ranked player, who has won only once in three matches on American soil after beginning the year by winning the Australian Open and two Davis Cup matches in Zimbabwe, was fined $1,000 by the ATP Tour. "This is definitely my best win," Arazi said. "I played exactly the same as I did in the Australian Open where he beat me. Today, he was missing a lot. I had my chances and I took them." Arazi used his quickness and variety of shots to outplay Agassi in a match that took close to two hours. After they split sets, Arazi broke Agassi in the eighth game of the final set when Agassi hit a forehand long. In the final game, Arazi held at 15 when Agassi sailed a service return long. Agassi committed 57 unforced errors, including 11 double faults, while Arazi finished with only 31 errors and four double faults. Agassi, who has won three of the last four Grand Slam tournament crowns, has never won the title in 12 tries at Indian Wells, falling in the final in both 1990 and 1995. Last week, Agassi lost a second-round match in Scottsdale, Ariz., to Francisco Clavet of Spain. Third-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov had no such problems as he romped past Vincent Spadea 6-1, 6-1 Monday.
In women's fourth-round matches in the hardcourt tournament, top-seeded Martina Hingis crushed No. 10 Barbara Schett of Austria 6-1, 6-1; No. 2 Lindsay Davenport beat No. 9 Julie Halard-Decugis of France 6-2, 6-2; No. 3 Serena Williams defeated Belgium's Kim Clijsters 6-4, 6-4; No. 5 Mary Pierce ousted No. 16 Elena Likhovtseva of Russwia 6-3, 5-7, 7-5; No. 6 Conchita Martina beat Belgium's Dominique Van Roost 6-0, 3-0, retired; and No. 7 Monica Seles rallied to down Sabine Appelmans of Belgium 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
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