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 Angry and out: Agassi ousted at Wimbledon French champ Moya upset; Hingis unimpressive in win
Posted: Thursday June 25, 1998 03:23 PM
WIMBLEDON, England (AP) -- Angry at the officiating and hurt by double faults, Andre Agassi is gone from Wimbledon. Agassi, the 1992 champion and No. 13 seed, became the eighth men's seed eliminated Thursday when he lost in four sets today to Germany's Tommy Haas. Agassi trailed two sets to one when the second-round match was suspended because of darkness Wednesday. Haas won the fourth set Thursday to win 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. Haas, 20, has been billed as Germany's successor to Boris Becker. He is a product of the Nick Bollettieri academy in Florida, where Agassi also got his start. "I used to see him practice there," Haas said. "I used to sit on the sideline when he was playing. ... This is a very special win for me. I can say I beat Andre Agassi, a former No. 1 who won a couple of Grand Slams." Earlier, No. 5 seed Carlos Moya, the French Open champion, was ousted in four sets by Morocco's Hicham Arazi. In a Centre Court match between two players more accomplished on clay than grass, Arazi rallied to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. The exits of Agassi and Moya mean that half the 16 men's seeds have been ousted in the first two rounds. The others are No. 2 Marcelo Rios, No. 4 Greg Rusedski, No. 7 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, No. 8 Cedric Pioline, No. 10 Alex Corretja and No. 15 Karol Kucera. Agassi broke in the first game of the fourth set and held for a 2-0 lead. But he double faulted on break point in the sixth game to let Haas even the set at 3-3. The two remained on serve until the 10th game when another double fault by Agassi gave Haas a match point. Agassi saved that one, but Haas converted his second match point with a forehand return. In the final game, leading 40-30, Agassi was upset when at least one groundstroke by Haas appeared long but drew no call. He approached chair umpire John Frame, who refused to overrule. Agassi had been furious with Frame over another line call Wednesday that helped Haas win the third set. A forehand by Haas was ruled good, even though replays showed it was clearly out. "It was nearly six inches [out]," Agassi protested. "It was out both ways. It was wide and it was long." Frame shook his head and the call stood, giving Haas a 6-3 lead in the tiebreaker. Agassi saved one set point, but succumbed on the next. Play was then suspended, and Agassi resumed his protest. "In 12 years, I've never seen it miss that much," he said to Frame. The Centre Court crowd jeered the umpire and linesmen as they left the court. Today, Haas acknowledged the ball had been out. Of all the Spanish clay-court experts, Moya was considered the player with the best chance of excelling at Wimbledon. But he was thoroughly outplayed by Arazi, a clay-court master who reached the French Open quarters the last two years. The left-hander, who plays in France, is considered one of the best shotmakers in the game. But the match, delayed twice by rain, never lived up to expectations. "I don't think we played good tennis. It's not easy to play here on grass," Arazi said. "It takes time to get used to it. He was playing better than me in the beginning, but after the rain, he started to make a lot of mistakes." Jennifer Capriati, who won her first Grand Slam match in five years Wednesday, failed to keep her momentum, losing 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to fellow American wild card Lori McNeil. Martina Hingis hardly looked like a Wimbledon champion as she struggled to a 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 victory over Elena Makarova, a Russian ranked 79th in the world. "I made it tough on myself," Hingis said. "It wasn't an outstanding performance, I must say. Maybe tomorrow's a better day." Lisa Raymond, who lost to Hingis in a tight, first-round match, had said the Swiss teen-ager was "vulnerable" to an upset. And that seemed true Wednesday, with Hingis facing a player who had won only four matches all year. When the match started after a half-hour rain delay, Hingis made uncharacteristic unforced errors and seemed to rush her shots. "I was a little bit surprised by the way she played," Hingis said. "She served very well, played very fast. I tried to force it more and more and made more and more mistakes." Makarova was poised to win the first set when she broke for a 5-4 lead. But the Russian double faulted to lose serve, then Hingis held at love in the next game and dominated the tiebreaker. Play was stopped because of showers at the start of the second set. When the match resumed 30 minutes later, Hingis raced to a 4-1 lead. But she faltered again as Makarova won three straight games to tie the set at 4-4. When Makarova broke in the eighth game, Hingis slammed the grass with her racket and grimaced. Hingis broke back in the next game and then served out the match, closing with a backhand winner. Hingis, who last year at 16 became the youngest woman in 110 years to win Wimbledon, suspects it will be tougher to repeat. "Last year I didn't really expect myself doing so well," she said. "Now, because I know I can play on grass, there's probably a little more pressure on myself. I want to do really well and sometimes it doesn't work that well."
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