Agassi suffers more agony

Goran in a pose the world is used to

Andre Agassi suffered his second consecutive first round loss with a defeat by 56th-ranked Gaston Gaudio of Argentina 6-4 7-6 (7-3) in the Cincinnati Masters.

The American exited the Montreal Masters at the same stage after losing to qualifier Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia.

"This is my best win," Gaudio said. "It was my best match and it gives me a lot of confidence."

I build a lot of my game around controlling the ball and the balls were not going where I was hitting them

  Andre Agassi

Agassi was gracious in defeat, despite his obvious disappointment.

"He stepped it up and kept me out of my rhythm," Agassi said.

"I build a lot of my game around controlling the ball and the balls were not going where I was hitting them.

"He served well, especially serving big at crucial times."

Gaudio imposed himself from the start of the match and more than matched him with an array of passing shots off forehand and backhand.

As he eluded to later, Agassi failed to respond in a positive manner and a service break in the fifth game was enough to ensure that Gaudio took the first set.

In the second set, Agassi raced to a 4-1 lead, but Gaudio won the next three games to even up the score at 4-4 with both players holding thereafter.

The tiebreaker was always in Gaudio's control from when Agassi sent a backhand chip shot wide on serve to fall behind 3-1.

Kuerten was too good for Roddick this time

Elsewhere, top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten avenged last week's loss to American teenager Andy Roddick.

Roddick upset Kuerten in three sets on in Montreal.

The Brazilian, however, eliminated Roddick 7-6 6-1 in sultry conditions on Monday.

Fourth seed Juan Carlos Ferrero was another early winner.

The Spaniard beat big-serving Australian Wayne Arthurs 6-4 6-4.

Later Ivanisevic, in his first match since his Wimbledon triumph, beat Spain's Francisco Clavet 6-3 3-6 7-6.

The Croat is also featuring in the doubles with Boris Becker.

The pair will face Jonas Bjorkman and Todd Woodbridge in the first round.