Pacific Life Open: Roddick, Agassi advance

Indian Wells:

Andy Roddick survived a scare in his opening match at the Pacific Life Open, winning a third-set tiebreaker to beat Spanish left-hander Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/2). Roddick, ranked No. 3 in the world to Verdasco's No. 45, had difficulty both getting his first serve in and keeping his groundstrokes on the court in the second set on Saturday. But he saved two break points in the third and dominated the tiebreaker 7-2. Agassi rules Andre Agassi, the 2001 champion, had far less trouble dispatching Wayne Arthurs of Australia 6-4, 6-1 in a match between the ATP tour's oldest active players. Arthurs, who won his first singles title last month in Arizona, turns 34 on Thursday, and was the second-oldest player on tour behind Agassi, already 34. In other second-round matches, sixth-seeded Tim Henman, runner-up in 2002 and 2004, overcame Arnaud Clement of France 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. All-Argentine affair Tenth-seeded David Nalbandian made short work of Juan Monaco 6-2, 6-1 in an all-Argentine affair, and No. 12 Tommy Robredo downed French wild card Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-1. On the women's side, top-ranked Lindsay Davenport and Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova cruised into the third round. Davenport, a two-time champion and three-time finalist, beat 15-year-old Sesil Karatantcheva of Bulgara 6-3, 6-2, while third-seeded Sharapova defeated American wild card Anela Haynes 6-1, 6-2. (AP)