AN ATP MASTERS SERIES EVENT
11th - 19th OCTOBER
ATP News : 2006
Agassi Sets Nadal Third-Round Showdown
Andre Agassi claimed his 50th career match win on grass when he defeated Italian Andreas Seppi 6-4, 7-6(2) 6-4
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Agassi, who needed four sets to defeat Boris Pashanski in the first round on Tuesday, is playing his 14th and final Wimbledon, and his first in three years. Agassi has set up a blockbuster third-round meeting with second seed Rafael Nadal. The Roland Garros champion rallied from two sets down for just the second time in his career to defeat American qualifier Robert Kendrick 6-7(4), 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-5, 6-4. Nadal, who also reached the Wimbledon third round on debut as a 17-year-old, did not break the Kendrick serve until 5-5 in the fourth set. Agassi won the title in 1992, was runner-up to Pete Sampras in 1999 and reached the semifinals on three other occasions. He has his lowest Wimbledon seeding, No. 25, since he was unseeded when he made his debut here in 1987. Agassi is contesting his first Grand Slam event of 2006. Due to ongoing back problems he had only played eight matches before arriving here during the year. Agassi’s last Grand Slam event was the 2005 US Open, where he lost to Roger Federer in four sets. Fast-rising Serb Novak Djokovic took out 11th-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo 7-6(5), 6-2, 6-4. Czech Tomas Berdych, seeded 13th, won a five-set battle with Fabrice Santoro 6-4, 6-7(6), 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4. American Mardy Fish, who before Wimbledon had won just one ATP-level match since winning Houston on clay in April, crushed Dutchman Melle Van Gemerden 6-2, 6-0, 6-1. Fish advanced to his first Grand Slam third round since Wimbledon 2003. Georgia's Irakli Labadze upset 16th seed and former Roland Garros champion Gaston Gaudio 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. |