Paris, May 25: Former champion Andre Agassi suffered one of the most crushing defeats of his legendary career on Monday when he crashed out of the French Open at the hands of French qualifier Jerome Haehnel, ranked a lowly 271 in the world.
Sixth seed Agassi, the oldest man in the draw at 34, lost his first round encounter 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 in just over two hours on the Philippe Chatrier Court against a man playing his first ever match on tour.
However, there were no such problems for second seed, and US Open champion, Andy Roddick or third-seeded Argentinian Guillermo Coria, who both eased into the next round.

The opening day in the women's singles progressed smoothly with defending champion Justine Henin-Hardenne enjoying a 6-4, 6-4 win over France's Sandrine Testud while third seeded Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo also moved into the next round.

Agassi, the champion here in 1999, was looking to win his 800th career match but his campaign was sabotaged, both by an opponent more used to playing satellite tours, as well as his poor preparation which had seen him play just once in the last two months.

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That outing too had ended in defeat in St Polten last week at the hands of another qualifier, Serbia's Nenad Zimonjic, ranked 339.

Agassi, one of only five men to have won all four Grand Slams, was playing in his 16th Roland Garros tournament having made his debut back in 1987 but he admitted that he was completely outplayed by the 23-year-old Frenchman. "I never got comfortable out there, I couldn't control the ball, couldn't put it where I wanted and found myself in the wrong parts of the court," admitted Agassi who managed just one break of serve in the entire match.

"I wish I could give you an excuse. There is no explanation for hitting the ball that way. Usually, shot selection is not a problem for me. Today I got what I deserved."

It was the American's earliest Grand Slam exit since 1998 when he also lost here in the first round; that too was against a qualifier, the then-unknown Marat Safin of Russia.

Haehnel's reward is a second round match against fellow Frenchman Michael Llodra.

"I was very nervous," said Haehnel. "I tried to keep the ball in and take my time because the courts were very fast and by the third set I was suffering from cramps.

"It's amazing. Two weeks ago, I was playing Futures events in Germany earning one point if I won one match. Now I've beaten Andre Agassi," said the man from Alsace who has earned just 68,000 dollars from his six-year career compared to Agassi's whopping 28 million.

Chilean Fernando Gonzalez was another seeded casualty, the number 16 losing to highy-rated German qualifier Florian Mayer 6-7 (6/8), 6-1, 6-0, 7-6 (7/5).

Mayer, who reached the third round of the Hamburg Masters earlier this month, now faces France's Nicolas Escude.

Also going out was Australian 18th seed Mark Philippoussis, last year's Wimbledon runner-up, who was beaten by Peru's Luis Horna 6-1, 7-6 (11/9), 6-3.

Roddick, beaten here in the first round for the last two years, saw off fellow American Todd Martin 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 7-5, despite suffering from a virus, and next meets Frenchman Olivier Mutis.

"I got the virus on Sunday night but they say it's not contagious," said Roddick.

Coria, one of the favourites for the title having gone into the tournament having lost just once in 32 clay court matches, cruised into the next stage with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-0 win over Russia's Nikolay Davydenko.

He will face countryman Juan Monaco who beat Alex Bogomolov Jnr of the United States 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.

The 1998 champion Carlos Moya of Spain, seeded five, defeated John van Lottum of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 while Thai 13th seed Paradorn Srichaphan saw off Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

Moya now faces fellow Spaniard Fernando Vicente while Paradorn, who has never got beyond the third round, takes on veteran Spaniard Alex Corretja, twice a runner-up.

Britain's Tim Henman, seeded nine, endured a marathon battle over 3hr 47min to defeat Cyril Saulnier of France coming from two sets down to win 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-3 and now meets Lars Burgsmuller of Germany.

Henin-Hardenne, out of action for six weeks because of a virus, shrugged off the loss of her first service game to secure victory over Testud after 87 minutes to set up a second round clash against Tathiana Garbin of Italy.

Mauresmo saw off Slovakia's Ludmila Cervanova 6-3, 6-3 while fifth-seeded American Lindsay Davenport was too good for France's Virginie Pichet winning 6-4, 6-2.

Ukraine's Tatiana Perebiynis knocked out Serbia's 24th seed Jelena Dokic 6-4, 6-1.

Bureau Report