Agassi Passes Milestone With Win - 網球

Agassi Passes Milestone With Win


Andre Agassi made sure that the 1000th match of his career was a victorious
one as he moved through to the third round of the Stella Artois Championships
with a 7-6(5), 6-4 win against Australian Peter Luczak.

Agassi, the No. 2 seed who is making his second appearance at The Queen's Club
and first since 2000, now has a 766-234 career record on the ATP
circuit and is 43-13 on grass.

"When I first started playing I wouldn't have thought any of my 1000
matches would have been on grass," joked Agassi. "But it's amazing. I have
never been a fan of quantity, it's more about quality. For me to be 33 years
old and get to No. 1 in the world is a great achievement. I'm proud that
I'm still out here, but I don't just want to be out here, I want to doit well.

"As you get older you appreciate how few opportunities you have. I'm here
and ready to go and once the path gets determined, I can put my head down
as well as the rest of them."

Time

Agassi, a quarterfinalist on the clay courts of Roland Garros last week,
took a little time to get used to the grass courts and his opponent before
booking his place in the last 16.

The 33-year-old American, who will meet either Richard Krajicek or Jan Vacek
in the next round, raced out to a 3-0 lead in the opening set before Luczak,
the 23-year-old who was born in Poland, made some blistering returns to level
the set and force a tie-break.

Agassi then gained a vital mini-break at 5-5 and finished the set with a
trademark backhand winner.

The Australian Open champion, who has won four titles this year and led
the ATP Champions Race 2003 for 20 weeks before being overtaken by newly
crowned Roland Garros champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, took the momentum
with him into the second set, breaking Luczak in the opening game before
serving out the match.


Difficult

"The first one is always difficult to find your range, to find your rhythm,"
said Agassi. "Today was exactly that. I started playing better as the match
went on, which is always a good sign, and it's good to get through it.

He played better than I would have wanted. The first set I got off to a good
start but he played some good returns and got back into the set. I was
having trouble picking up his ball and it wasn't until I got my nose out
in front that I started to pick up his ball and give him some trouble from
there."



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