Agassi Run Ragged by Santoro : Tennis: His comeback bid takes day off in two-set loss to Frenchman. He says long layoff has taken toll.

Seven matches into his comeback, Andre Agassi hit the wall.

Calling himself physically, mentally and emotionally drained after unexpectedly winning a tournament at Scottsdale, Ariz., last week and playing here Tuesday night, Agassi was eliminated from the Newsweek Champions Cup on Wednesday by Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).

Agassi wasn’t the least bit discouraged.

“This isn’t about tennis,” said Agassi, who won at Scottsdale after being sidelined for five months because of a wrist injury that required surgery in December. “From my wrist to my body, I’m just not fresh right now. It’s not easy when you go five months without playing and all of a sudden you’re playing all these matches in a row. . . .

“I’m not concerned about this. Had I gone out there and felt ready and felt fresh and didn’t feel any problems, then I’d say this is just where I am. But I don’t think today is a clear reflection of that.

“I’m still positive.”

Agassi was in good company Wednesday:

--Fourth-seeded Sergi Bruguera, who won the French Open last year, was defeated by Aaron Krickstein, 6-7 (7-2), 7-5, 6-4.

--Fifth-seeded Goran Ivanisevic squandered a 5-2 lead in the third-set tiebreaker and was a 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5) loser against Darren Cahill of Australia, who is ranked 1,013th, has had seven knee operations and hadn’t won a match other than by default in nearly three years.

Ivanisevic hasn’t won a match in four appearances here.

Agassi, who had won the night before, saw this day coming.

“In my mind, it was a matter of time before the odds started getting (to be) too much against me,” he said. “I felt like I toughed it out as much as I could out there, but it just wasn’t in me.

“I’ve got to take a little time off and give my wrist a chance to feel fresh again and give my body and mind a few days (off), then come back at it strong. I feel like I’ve made some big steps forward.”

Before the Scottsdale tournament, Agassi hadn’t played since Sept. 24, when he defeated Roger Smith of the Bahamas in a Davis Cup match.

Agassi is ranked 31st in the world.

“Obviously, I wouldn’t be playing if it wasn’t OK,” said Agassi, who wore a brace on his right wrist. “But nevertheless, there’s a certain fatigue factor involved with the wrist when it’s been off for so long and when it’s undergone what it’s had to go through. Nobody expected me to win Scottsdale, so I’ve played a lot more than I was anticipating.”

Santoro, who held serve throughout the match, didn’t help by running down and returning almost all of Agassi’s shots.

“Considering my circumstance, he’s one of the tougher players to play against because he moves well, hits well off both sides and is going to make me hit a lot of balls,” Agassi said. “That’s a tough player to play against when you’re not 100% there.”

Santoro reached a career-high No. 24 in the rankings last March before a thumb injury cut short his season. Ranked 99th this week, he twice watched Agassi play at Scottsdale and said he was amazed by Agassi’s concentration.

“When you stop for a few months and then you come back, for me it was like I never played any matches in my life,” Santoro said. “It’s like you don’t know how to practice for your match. You’re not concentrating, you are looking everywhere. You forget your socks. . . .”

For Agassi, it’s a matter of not forgetting where he’s headed.

Or how to get there.

“I didn’t come back thinking it was all going to happen right away, and it’s happened a lot quicker than I thought,” he said. “But it’s going to be a long road, there’s no question.

“I knew that before I won Scottsdale, and I knew that after I won Scottsdale. And I know that after getting beat. It hasn’t changed.”

Tennis Notes

Third-seeded Stefan Edberg advanced with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over former USC All-American Byron Black. . . . Other seeded players advancing included No. 6 Michael Chang, No. 8 Thomas Muster, No. 10 Petr Korda, No. 11 Marc Rosset, No. 15 MaliVai Washington and No. 16 Carlos Costa. . . . Patrick McEnroe defeated No. 13 Wayne Ferreira, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4. . . . Goran Ivanisevic was fined $1,000 by the ATP for failing to attend a postmatch news conference.