American Andre Agassi's preparations for the U.S. Open were continuing on a positive note at the Legg-Mason Classic here in Washington DC. Agassi was one of the few higher-seeded players to avoid the upset bug Thursday.
The top-seeded Agassi had an easy time in his stadium court match Thursday night, advancing to the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over number 15 Fernando Vicente of Spain. Agassi said he played a good match. "Vicente hits a lot of balls, moves really well and forces me to hit my targets well," he said. "I felt like I was picking up the ball early and executing."
Fourth-seeded Fabrice Santoro of France beat Ramon Delgado of Spain, 6-3, 7-5, but upsets were the main order of the day. Marcelo Rios of Chile surprised second-seeded Alex Corretja of Spain 7-6, 6-3; Number-16 Jerome Golmard of France defeated third-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany, 6-4, 6-4; and Number-12 Greg Rusedski of Britain dispatched seventh-seeded Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador, 7-6, 6-3.
Earlier, ninth-seeded American Andy Roddick made it into the round-of-eight with a 6-2, 7-5 win over number-five Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia, and 10th-seeded Scheng Schalken of the Netherlands advanced with a walkover past Number six-Jan-Michael Gambill of the United States.