Agassi Loses His Pace

Andre Agassi’s strangely puzzled expression might have had more to do with how he unraveled against Tommy Haas of Germany at the Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells, not just the mere fact he lost Monday’s match.

On another chilly night, the eighth-seeded Agassi squandered two set points serving at 5-4 in the 10th game of the opening set, and momentum seemingly switched in an Indian Wells minute. Haas wiggled out of the jam, taking five straight games on his way to a 7-5, 6-2 victory in the third round.

Haas admitted the obvious afterward, saying: “He probably should have won the first set.”

Said Agassi, ripping himself: “Never underestimate my ability to drop my standard. I’ve gotten pretty good at it lately. But the first set was key. I started second-guessing my shots. I never found the pace I was looking for. I played too big some points and some points I would try to control a little bit more.”

Almost any Agassi loss these days raises questions about his future, considering he will turn 36 next month. How close is he to joining his rival Pete Sampras -- who showed up here on Monday to watch Tim Henman play and lose -- in retirement?

Agassi hasn’t played well since losing in the U.S. Open final in September, in part because of injuries and an inability to put together a substantial winning streak in 2006.

The months of struggle are starting to take a mental toll.

“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” Agassi said. “You know, it’s been a long time since I’ve felt good on the court. It’s just getting tiring, that’s all.”

Even a match-sharp Agassi would have had problems against Haas, who has been one of the hottest players this side of Roger Federer. In fact, Haas nearly beat Federer at the Australian Open in January, losing in five sets in the fourth round.

Here, in the fourth round, Haas will play No. 12 James Blake, who avenged his Australian Open loss to Tommy Robredo, beating the Spaniard, 6-2, 7-5. Blake is one of three American men remaining in the draw. Mardy Fish will play second-seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain tonight in the third round.

Third-seeded Andy Roddick earlier reached the fourth round with a straightforward 6-3, 6-4 victory against Fernando Verdasco of Spain.

“I feel like I played well two matches in a row here against pretty good players,” Roddick said. “I haven’t done that probably since last fall, you know, in Lyon and Paris. I played pretty well.

“It’s good. But it’s still a long way from where I want to be right now.”

Escapes dotted the men’s draw. At front and center was Igor Andreev of Russia, who saved nine match points against Sweden’s Robin Soderling in their third-round match, winning 3-6, 7-6 (14), 6-4. All nine match points came in the tiebreak.

The reward for Andreev’s considerable survival skills? Getting to play Roddick in the fourth round.

Escape No. 2 came from another Russian. Marat Safin was down a service break in the third set, trailing 2-4, against his countryman, fifth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko, before winning, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4. While technically an upset, that’s only on paper. Safin, who has won two Grand Slam titles, has now beaten Davydenko twice this year.

“I was very close to losing this match,” Safin said. “I got lucky a little bit. I didn’t really feel very comfortable today on the court because I was kind of tired. I was feeling very slow on the court.”

He thought Davydenko may have carried some additional baggage.

“Well, for sure, because he’s No. 1 in Russia,” Safin said. “He doesn’t want to play against the guy who is out [injured] for seven months, and he comes back and basically he has nothing to lose, and he has to face it.”