Andre Agassi narrowly avoided a humiliating defeat at the French Open today, fighting back from two sets down to beat Croatian Mario Ancic 5-7 1-6 6-4 6-2 7-5 in the second round.
Andre Agassi narrowly avoided a humiliating defeat at theThe Australian Open champion was leading 5-4 in the firstset when his game suddenly fell apart and Ancic won 10 of thefollowing 11 games.
The second seed also found himself a break down in the thirdset but suddenly picked himself up and broke back to eventuallywin the set 6-4.
The third set lost, Ancic cracked and finally bowed outafter three hours and 13 minutes of play, despite saving threematch points and taking Agassi's serve in a vain last-gaspeffort.
Despite winning the French Open in 1999, Agassi has anerratic record in Paris, having been beaten in or before thesecond round five times in the past.
In the women's draw defending champion Serena Williams buried the hopes of Marie-Gaiane Mikaelian with a ruthless 6-3 6-2 to reach the third round today.
The inexperienced Swiss was shell-shocked in the first set as the American world number one raced to a 4-0 lead.
Although Mikaelian managed to register on the scoreboard in the fifth game, the result never looked in doubt.
Williams wasted one match point before ending the 19-year-old's ordeal with an unreturnable serve on her second.