Enqvist spoils Agassi’s best start in 8 years

Mel Reisner

Tuesday, March 4, 2003 | 10 a.m.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Las Vegan Andre Agassi almost forgot what it was like to lose. Thomas Enqvist helped him remember.

Enqvist, a wild-card entry, knocked the defending champion out of the Franklin Templeton Tennis Classic in the first round, beating Agassi 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-1 on Monday.

"It just reminds me how much I dislike it," said Agassi, who was 12-0 after winning the Australian Open and in San Jose.

"You never like the feeling of losing," Agassi said. "But I guess if you do lose, you hope they're not the most important ones."

Agassi's start was his best since winning his first 15 matches in 1995. Enqvist, 5-4 in his career against Agassi, snapped that run as well by winning in three sets in Philadelphia.

"I've played him a few times, too, when he killed me," Enqvist said. "But I think I like to play when the ball comes fast to me, and Andre has been hitting the ball extremely hard."

Enqvist confessed to some misgivings about the draw before the match, but Agassi, the world's No. 2 player, never expected to get the week off after winning Scottsdale titles in 1993, '94, '98 and 2002. He wasn't sure how to spend the extra time before traveling to Indian Wells for the Tennis Masters Series event next week.

Enqvist hurt his right shoulder last year and wasn't able to play a match after the U.S. Open. He came to Scottsdale ranked 73rd after winning just one of seven matches this year.

But the 28-year-old Swede has regained his powerful serve and showed it by serving 18 aces - three times as many as Agassi.

Agassi went ahead 6-0 in the tiebreaker. But Enqvist stormed back to tie it, only to double-fault on his last serve before Agassi hit a backhand cross-court winner to end the first set.

Enqvist recovered to break Agassi in the first and fifth games of the second set. Agassi broke back to cut his deficit to 4-2. On set point, Enqvist blasted a hard serve that Agassi hit into the net.

Enqvist also broke Agassi three times in the third set to pick up his best win since defeating then-No. 2 Pete Sampras in the 2000 quarterfinals at Indian Wells.

"You try not to have expectations of somebody missing shots but don't expect somebody to make everything," Agassi said.