ROME - Andre Agassi booked his place in the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters on Thursday after defeating Ivan Ljubicic in the third round.
Sixth seed Agassi won 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to exact revenge on the hard-serving 12th seed who beat him in Croatia's shock 3-2 victory over the United States in the first round of the Davis Cup in March.
The defeat in Los Angeles marked the first time the USA have lost a first round match at home in the history of the Davis Cup and forced them into a World Group play-off against Belgium to stay in the elite group of 16.
Victory here for Agassi set up a last eight meeting with Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty, who upset British fourth seed Tim Henman 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Agassi, a winner here in 2003, admitted he would have prefered to have beaten Ljubicic in the Davis Cup.
"Getting through the Davis Cup would have have been special for my country, so I would happily trade this win with him if he wanted to," joked the eight-time Grand Slam champion.
Agassi said ousting Ljubicic was important for his self-confidence.
"It always feels good to beat someone who's playing well," said the 35-year-old American, who added he wasn't sure whether he would play in the Davis Cup play-off.
"I'm very satisfied with my standard of play. I did most things pretty well."
Henman looked on the bright side after his defeat to the unseeded Hrbaty.
"I played some of my best tennis this year in that second set," said the 30-year-old, a surprise semi-finalist at the French Open last year.
"I thought I would carry the momentum through to the final set, but I couldn't pull it off."
Ninth seed Guillermo Coria ended Italian interest by defeating veteran Davide Sanguinetti 6-0, 6-4.
The Argentinian's victory took his clay record this year to 11-2 and set up a quarter-final clash against either top seed Andy Roddick or Spain's Fernando Verdasco.
Coria, who lost the final at Monte Carlo last month to in-form Spaniard Rafael Nadal, said he had to work hard in the second set to prevent a Sanguinetti comeback.
"Davide is an intelligent player and even though he is 32 he's physically very fit and never stops running," said the 23-year-old, who held two match points in the final of the French Open last year only to lose to Gaston Gaudio in five sets.
"I was determined not to be broken and I wanted to close the match early."
Spain's Alberto Martin progressed with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Peruvian Luis Horna. He will play either third seed Gaudio or compatriot David Ferrer in the last eight.
The Rome Masters is the fourth of nine ATP Masters Series tournaments and one of its three clay court events. There are four tournaments on hard courts and two are indoors.
05/05/2005 15:50 GMT