Nadal nails Agassi to seal legend's Wimbledon farewell

By Bill Scott Jul 1, 2006, 18:57 GMT

Andre Agassi of the US bids farewell to the crowd following his straight sets defeat at the hands of Rafael Nadal of Spain in their third round Centre Court match for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Clubs, Saturday 01 July 2006. EPA/KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH

London - Rising tennis power Rafael Nadal overcame a pre-match crisis of confidence to ruthlessly end the Wimbledon career of icon Andre Agassi with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 6-4 third-round victory Saturday.

Nadal, seeded second and playing in only his 12th-ever contest on the lawns, confessed that he entertained serious doubts about his abilities as he went through warmup against the eight-time Grand Slam champion.

'I was thinking I was gonna lose easy,' said the double French Open winner form Majorca. 'Agassi was touching the ball unbelievable, very low, very tough. I (thought) I can't return the ball.'

Those instincts were proved overwhelmingly wrong in little more than two hours as the 20-year-old sent his legendary 36-year-old opponent another step close to a retirement already planned for the US Open later this year.

Nadal was frustrated on three set point chances in a 63-minute opening set before finally winning it in a tiebreaker.

But once that logjam was cleared, the muscular Spaniard took control to claim his best career result on grass.

Agassi exits the All England club with a 46-13 win-loss record at the event.

Nadal finished with an ace and then hugged Agassi at the net.

'Maybe I served the best in my career,' said the young powerhouse, who faces Irakli Labadze after the Georgian advanced after winning the first set 6-2 when his American opponent Mardy Fish quit with a stomach upset.

'I know today I played a very good match. That's important for my confidence for the next match and for belief I can play good here,' said Nadal.

Nadal, who was a year old when Agassi played his first Wimbledon in 1987, called his beaten opponent 'one of the best players in the history.'

'He's a legend player, he's had an unbelievable career.'

Agassi was quick to praise the winner after a long standing ovation form the emotional centre court crowd.

'I went out there today and he just beat me. I was hoping for too much.

'It's been a privilege to be out there again for one last time. I'll look back at this as one of my most memorable experiences.

'To say good bye, for me, this means as much as winning.'

Amid the domination of the Agassi goodbye and the distraction of the England-Portugal World Cup quarter-final, Russian Dmitry Tursunov slipped in under the radar.

The California-based outsider upset Croatian fifth seed Ivan Ljubicic, reaching the second week with a 5-7, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 win, his first-ever comeback from two sets to love down.

2002 winner Lleyton Hewitt continued his quiet match through the draw, crushing Belgian Olivier Rochus 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.

Russian women made it three-out-of-four on the day, with Dinara Safina the odd one out.

The 14th-seeded younger sister of Marat Safin lost to Serbian siren Ana Ivanovic 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1.

2004 champion Maria Sharapova glided past Amy Frazier 6-3, 6-2, Elene Dementieva, seeded seventh, overcame Elena Likhovtseva 7-5, 6- 3, and number 9 Anastasia Myskina put out Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-4.