Agassi eases past Rusedski to reach quarters
Top-seed Andre Agassi tempered the booming serves of Greg Rusedski on his way to a 6-4 6-4 win on Wednesday night, to reach the quarter-finals of the $400,000 Scottsdale Classic.
Agassi, who defeated the defending champion Francisco Clavet of Spain on Tuesday, relied on his punishing signature ground game, along with a service break in each set to wrap up the contest in 65 minutes.
"I felt very sharp out there tonight," said Agassi who improved to 5-2 against the big-serving Briton.
"I'm feeling good about my game," he added.
"I'm moving well, and I'm making my opponents hit a lot of balls on the offence. When I get my opportunities, I'm taking them, and I'm hitting with conviction."
Rusedski has had his lefthanded serve clocked at an ATP Tour high 149 mph.
However, Agassi found a way to tame it even though 10 whizzed by him, including four straight in the ninth game of the opening set.
"Greg is a dangerous player," Agassi said. "He doesn't give you much rhythm, and you can go on long streaks where you don't get a sniff at his serve.
"He's going to make those and you can't worry about that," he added.
"You just need to make sure you take care of your opportunities when you do get them, and make him play on the second serves. If you miss your serve, you have to play your second. If you make it, it's hard to go a whole lot with that."
LONE BREAK
Rusedski wasn't too disappointed in falling to the seven-time Grand Slam champion.
"I didn't play badly tonight," Rusedski said. "Andre has adjusted very well to the desert conditions the last two matches, a little bit better than most of us."
Agassi utilised a lone service break in the fifth game to take the opener and broke immediately in the next set, and never looked back.
Rusedski saved a match point at 5-3 and held two break points in the next game but Agassi survived before cracking a 102 mph ace to close out the match.
Agassi now faces unseeded Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela, who ousted rusty fifth seed Alex Corretja of Spain 6-4 7-5.
"My serve was great today and Alex didn't play very well," said Chela after the one-hour, 40-minute win put the Argentine player into his third quarterfinal in as many weeks.
"I'm really comfortable with my game the last two weeks. I'm confident and playing very well."
Earlier, Israel's Noam Okun copied Chela to score an upset victory over a Spanish seed to beat Albert Portas 6-4 7-5 in their second round match.
Okun was a late entry into the tournament but became the first player to reach the quarterfinals after fashioning the day's first surprise when Portas committed his only double fault of the contest on match point to end his involvement in the tournament.
"It's the best win if my career," said the Israeli who won the tiebreaker 7-4 en route to beating the world number 26 on the ATP Entry System.
"It's great a great feeling to be in my first ATP quarterfinal. I hope it doesn't stop here."
Okun now meets Juan Balcells for a place in the semifinals. Balcells was the only Spanish player to win on Wednesday after he defeated Switzerland's Michel Kratochvil 6-3 6-4.
