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| Agassi Bids Farewell to Wimbledon |
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American tennis legend Andre Agassi had his final Wimbledon dream smashed and bade farewell to the All England lawn tennis championships on Saturday after losing to a ruthless Rafael Nadal in the third round. Agassi, 36, was joined by two other Americans, women's champion Venus Williams and men's third seed Andy Roddick who also suffered exit in Wimbledon. Williams lost in three sets to Serbian Jelena Jankovic and Roddick, the runner-up in 2004 and 2005, and Roddic was beaten in three sets by unseeded British teenager Andy Murray in the two biggest shocks of the tournament so far. Double French Open champion Nadal made no allowance for sentiment in a 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory on the Center Court where Agassi won the first of his eight grand slam titles 14 years ago. The Las Vegan retires from tennis after the U.S. Open and he said, "To say goodbye, for me, this means as much as winning. Jankovic, the 26th seed, reached the fourth round of a grand slam for the first time with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 victory over three-times champion Williams on court two. Murray, the 19-year-old who is shouldering British hopes of a first men's champion in 70 years, outplayed Roddick in a 7-6, 6-4,6-4 victory on Center Court. Roddick's defeat meant there are no Americans left in the fourth round of the men's singles for only the second time in the professional era. On a scorching day in southwest London men's fifth seed Ivan Ljubicic and number 10 Fernando Gonzalez both suffered five-set defeats. Russian Dmitry Tursunov recovered to win from two sets down for the first time in his career when he upset Ljubicic 5-7, 4-6, 6-1,7-6, 6-2. Tursunov, who reached the fourth round last year, also saved a match point in the fourth set tiebreak. Seventh seed Mario Ancic kept Croatian interest alive when he completed a four-set win over Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka in a match that started on Center Court on Friday and finished on court one on Saturday. Spain's David Ferrer reached his first Wimbledon fourth round when he too fought back from two sets down to beat Gonzalez 4-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4. Ferrer next faces Australian sixth seed Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 champion who swept through with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Belgian Olivier Rochus. Women's top seed Amelie Mauresmo and Russia's Maria Sharapova, the 2004 champion, are yet to drop a set after easy wins on Saturday. France's Mauresmo demolished 33-year-old Australian Nicole Pratt 6-1, 6-2 and Sharapova was an assured 6-3, 6-2 winner over American Amy Frazier. Her compatriot, seventh seed Elena Dementieva, equalled her best Wimbledon performance by reaching round four with a 7-5, 6-3 win over fellow Russian Elena Likhovtseva. Chinese player Peng Shuai lost to 16th seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy 6-2, 6-3. (Xinhua News Agency?July 3, 2006) |
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