Agassi loses as Ivanisevic survives heat

For the second week in a row Andre Agassi walked off the court a first round loser after he was beaten by 56th-ranked Gaston Gaudio of Argentina 6-4 7-6 (7-3) in the Cincinnati Masters on Monday.

"This is my best win," Gaudio said. "It was my best match and it gives me a lot of confidence."

It was a tough defeat for Agassi, who won the Los Angeles title over Pete Sampras two weeks ago but lost to qualifier Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in the first round of Montreal last week.

He was, however, more than willing to give Gaudio the credit he deserved.

"He stepped it up and kept me out of my rhythm," Agassi said. "I build a lot of my game around controlling the ball and the balls were not going where I was hitting them.

"He served well, especially serving big at crucial times."

From the outset of the match, it was clear that Gaudio was in no way intimidated by Agassi and bombarded the crowd favourite with sizzling passing shots off of either flank.

Agassi compounded the situation by becoming frustrated and made too many unforced errors.

A service break in the fifth game was enough to ensure that Gaudio took the first set.

In the second set, Agassi raced to a 4-1 lead, but Gaudio won the next three games to even up the score at 4-4 with both players holding thereafter.

The tiebreaker was always in Gaudio's control from when Agassi sent a backhand chip shot wide on serve to fall behind 3-1.

Ivanisevic Returns
Earlier in the day, Goran Ivanisevic struggled in the intense summer heat to beat Spaniard Francisco Clavet in his first match since becoming Wimbledon champion.

The 14th-seeded Ivanisevic held on to post a 6-3 3-6 7-6 (7-5) first-round victory.

But by the end of the match, he was vomiting on the court and had to have cool wet towels applied to his head by ATP tour trainer Doug Spreen.

Officials said the big Croat suffered from heat exhaustion and an upset stomach. After being iced down on the training table he left the tournament grounds.

In another game, world number one Gustavo Kuerten got his revenge over American teenager Andy Roddick, who upset the Brazilian in three sets last week in Montreal.

Kuerten took a tough first set then cruised to a 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 victory over Roddick, who sustained a left ankle sprain while executing a winning backhand volley approach shot at 15-15 in the fifth game of the first set.

"It's not that easy for me to play against a guy that gives me too much problems, and especially in the first round," Kuerten said.

"I thought maybe here I would be able to play a little bit more since (the courts) are not as fast as in Montreal.

"So I thought at least I'll have the chance to do a little bit of different shots, maybe."

Ankle Injury
Roddick, who upset Pete Sampras at the Ericsson Open in March, was disappointed that the ankle injury contributed to his failure to beat the French Open champion twice in as many weeks.

"It was really tough," Roddick said. "I mean, you're playing a guy like Gustavo where you know you're going to have to run and you're going to have to ground out points. Any injury to your legs or anything like that is going to severely hinder your chances."

Ivanisevic raced to a 3-0 lead in his opener, but Clavet countered by winning four of the first five games of the second set to place himself in position to even the match.

The final set stayed on serve for the distance and went into a third set tiebreaker.

Ivanisevic, who now leads Clavet 6-2 in career meetings, captured the minibreak to go ahead 4-2 in the tiebreaker when Clavet netted a shot from the baseline.

On his third match point in the tiebreaker, an ailing Ivanisevic found enough reserve to blast an ace down the middle of the court.

While Roddick was able to hold his own in the first set, saving break points in the first and third games, he was never a factor in the second set.

Kuerten did not offer Roddick a break point in the 77-minute match.

It was a good day for the British contingent as both seventh-seeded Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski secured second round berths.

Henman scored a quick 6-4 6-2 victory over Michael Tabara of the Czech Republic. Rusedski won a 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 over David Prinosil of Germany.