阿格西尋求800勝 - 網球

Agassi shoots for 800th career victory

July 12, 2004


LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Andre Agassi will try to become the sixth player
in ATP Tour history to reach 800 career wins Tuesday night in the
first round of the Mercedes Benz Cup.

The first U.S. hardcourt event of the summer began Monday with
Jeff Morrison, Glenn Weiner, Kenneth Carlsen, Karol Beck and
Gilles Elseneer winning first-round matches.

The top-seeded Agassi will face Alex Bogomolov Jr. in his first
match since withdrawing from Wimbledon with a strained right hip.

A three-time winner of the Mercedes-Benz Cup and former No. 1,
Agassi went into his layoff after losing in the first round of
three straight tournaments for the first time since 1997.

``Any match I play is a challenge for me, and an opportunity for
me to take a step forward,'' he said.

Should Agassi win, he will join on joining Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl,
Guillermo Vilas, John McEnroe and Stefan Edberg as the only players
to reach the mark.

He said the milestone is one of the statistics that
``reflect -- or highlight -- how long you've been doing this.''

In Monday's early play, Morrison beat Lester Cook 6-2, 6-2;
Weiner rallied to defeat Hyung-Taik Lee 3-6, 7-5, 6-3; Carlsen
topped Wayne Arthurs 7-6 (3), 6-3; Beck outlasted Andy Ram 3-6,
7-6 (1), 6-3, and Elseneer eliminated Brian Vahaly, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.

The only seed playing Monday was No. 4 Dominik Hrbaty, who met
Nicolas Kiefer in a night match.

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