Agassi cruises to win

John Pye

Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2003 | 8:55 a.m.

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Three-time champion Andre Agassi took the simplest path to the third round, losing just one game in his second match at the Australian Open.

Meanwhile, second-seeded Venus Williams returned to form today, regularly unleashing winners off her backhand to earn a 6-3, 6-0 victory over 21-year-old Ansley Cargill.

Venus, who lost the finals at the French, Wimbledon and U.S. Open to younger sister Serena last year, started slowly in her opening round at Melbourne Park. But against Cargill, ranked No. 118, she was never in trouble.

Lindsay Davenport, one of the few women capable of matching Venus or top-ranked Serena for power or big-match experience, made more unforced errors (43-34) and less winners (39-43), than Uzbekistan's Iroda Tulyaganova but still advanced to the third round with a 6-7 (7), 6-4, 7-5 win.

"Sometimes, you're definitely lucky to be in the tournament when you don't play your best," Davenport said. "I'm definitely happy to still be around when some others are not."

Lee Hyung-taik threatened Agassi for about three minutes, winning his first serve at love and holding three break points in the next. Agassi rallied and won 18 consecutive games for a 6-1, 6-0, 6-0 victory in 80 minutes.

Lee was the first South Korean player to win an ATP Tour title in Sydney last Saturday, but he was no match for Agassi, who had no pity for Lee.

"I have way too much respect for my opponent to feel bad for him," he said. "I know how things can change out there, how quickly. My sign of respect is putting my head down and trying to go to work."

Asked if he could grade his game, Agassi didn't flinch at giving himself an "A."

"How could you not, really?" he said. "When you play a guy of Lee's ability, playing as well as he's been playing, to go out there and have a scoreline like that doesn't happen too often."

Agassi faces left-handed Frenchman Nicolas Escude, seeded 29th, in the third round. Escude, a semifinalist here in 1998, rallied for a 1-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 win over Belgian Christophe Rochus.

Carlos Moya became the highest-ranked man to fall so far, slumping to American Mardy Fish 3-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

Moya, French Open champion in 1998 and the Australian runner-up in '97, was seeded fifth after a resurgent 2002.

The 21-year-old Fish broke Moya in the fifth and seventh games of the deciding set and clinched match point on the Spaniard's feeble backhand.

Fifth-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne needed only 48 minutes to beat Anna Kournikova 6-0, 6-1.