2005 Italian Open News
By Eleanor Preston | May 05, 2005

Revenge is a dish best served on clay if you are Andre Agassi. Agassi beat Ivan Ljubicic 7-6, 6-3 in the third round of the Rome Masters on Thursday, finally getting the better of the man who ruined his Davis Cup comeback by beating him in Carson during Croatia’s first round win over the USA in March.
 
Andy Roddick looked on course to give Fernando Verdasco a similar form of payback in their third round match until the Spaniard effected a remarkable momentum change, partly with Roddick’s help.
 
Having played the kind of intelligent, patient tennis that got him through his first two matches, Roddick found himself in a winning position up a set and 5-3, with Verdasco serving. On match-point – the first of four he held in that game – he showed admirable sportsmanship by reversing a call of out on a Verdasco second serve, which would otherwise have been a double fault and thus game, set and match to the American.
 
Verdasco, who pushed Roddick hard in Indian Wells in March and again in Miami before Roddick was forced to retire with a wrist injury, made the most of his reprieve.
 
It might be overstating the case to say that it cost Roddick the match but the loss of that game and the next when he attempted to serve it out at 5-4 were followed by a sharp decline in the standard of Roddick’s play. He was petulant and profligate in the tiebreaker and with the Verdasco forehand firing, Roddick seemed incapable of wrestling the momentum back and subsequently lost 6-7, 7-6 6-4.

For both Americans it was a chance not only to cast serious doubt on the widely-held assumption that USA players cannot cope with European clay, but to redress desperately disappointing losses. While the jury is still out on Roddick, Agassi did that in some style, brushing aside a threatening opponent as though erasing a ball mark from the red dust beneath his feet.
 
Despite the apparent ease of Agassi’s win he still found it difficult to dismiss his unpleasant Davis Cup memories quite as easily as he got past Ljubicic.
 
“It always feels good to beat somebody who is playing well and he’s been doing that the whole year,” said Agassi. “It’s not even close which one is more important though. To get through the Davis Cup would have been special not just for me but for the whole team and the country so I would trade with him if he wanted to.”
 
He refused to confirm whether he will play against Belgium in September to help the USA stave off relegation from the World Group, though perhaps USA team captain Patrick McEnroe shouldn’t get his hopes up.
 
“I don’t know the schedule,” Agassi flannelled. “It’s something that hasn’t been easy for me all along, getting back into it all. We’ll have a good talk about it and see what happens.”
 
He may be tempted to take a leaf from Tim Henman’s book. The Briton, who retired from Davis Cup at the start of this year, didn’t seem remotely tempted to re-enter the fray even though his team have been drawn against Switzerland in their World Group play-off. “I’m switching my phone off,” said Henman, with a smile.
 
Henman, incidentally, did not feel quite so cheerful after losing 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to Dominik Hrbaty in the third round of the Rome Masters on Thursday.
 
Agassi is a former French Open champion and a former champion in Rome so perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised to see him find a high gear at the Foro Italico, even this early in the clay court season. Ljubicic, though, has enjoyed such a ferociously strong showing this year – he would surely have won more than one title had he not had the misfortune to face Roger Federer in three of the finals he has played this year – that he probably is the last person Agassi wanted to find on the other side of the net from him on a breezy, overcast Rome afternoon.
 
“Those were difficult conditions,” said Agassi. “The wind was always moving and changing, sometimes you have to pick room to miss your shot and then just try to hit it as good as possible. Today I was very happy with what I did well. I did most things pretty well. Hitting the ball with confidence and returning and serving smart.”
 
“Some days you get through matches, other times you earn them. Today I had to earn it.”
 
Roddick earned respect for his sportsmanship but little else.

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