Brazilian sends Chang packing

Fourth-seeded Andre Agassi posted a quick 6-3, 6-2 victory over Jamie Oncins, also of Brazil.

In an afternoon upset, qualifier Steve Campbell ousted fourth-seeded Jim Courier 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Chang, winner on clay last week in Orlando, Florida, and ranked second in the world, played adequately but was unable to make a lasting impact on Meligeni, ranked 72nd.

Agassi was delighted yet cautious with his win, a definite improvement after losing four opening round matches in his last four events.

Campbell, a 26-year-old ranked 236th in the world, was completely outplayed at the start, losing the first five games.

Ferreira knocked out

MUNICH: Number three seed Wayne Ferreira of South Africa made the earliest possible exit from the $ 425,000 BMW Open the second straight year today with the same 6-3, 6-4 scoreline and against the same German player, Marc Goellner, as in 1996.

The only difference this year was that the first-round match was interrupted by rain for around two hours halfway through the first set. World No 10 Ferreira, a wildcard entry who had won here in 1995, cursed as Goellner broke for 4-2 immediately after the rain-break and never looked back.

The 46th-ranked Goellner squandered two match points leading 5-3 in the second on Ferreira’s serve, but wrapped up matters on his fourth chance in the following game with a backhand volley.

“I knew that if I break him I had a chance. He was actually not as good as last year,” said Goellner.

Martinez wins easily

HAMBURG: No 2 seed Conchita Martinez today claimed the first quarter final berth at the $ 450,000 Rexona Cup with a 7-5, 6-0 rout over German player Barbara Rittner.

The 1994 Wimbledon champion Martinez cruised to victory on her second match point over Rittner, who was only able to offer resistance in the first set. In concluding first-round action the seventh-seeded Ruxandra Dragomir also won, 6-4, 6-3, over Czech player Adriana Gersi, while No 5 seed Brenda Schultz-McCarthy and eighth-seeded Sandrine Testud of France fell by the wayside.

Schultz-McCarthy was hammered 6-2, 6-1 by Anne-Gaelle Sidot and Testud suffered a similar beating, 6-3, 6-1, from Spain’s Maria Sanchez-Lorenzo. In another first-round game on a chilly afternoon Jana Kandarr of Germany defeated Bulgarian Svetlana Krivencheva 6-1, 7-6 (7-4).

Meanwhile, German heroine Steffi Graf made the headlines despite her injury-related absence by being named as potential new Fed Cup captain in replacement of Klaus Hofsaess.

Hofsaess said today he will leave after 18 years at the National Federation DTB to become a coach at Boris Becker’s Mercedes junior team. He will make his Fed Cup farewell in Germany’s relegation match against Croatia July 12-13.

“She (Steffi) is very interested,” said DTB president Claus Stauder, but added it was certain when Graf would take the position because she first wanted to continue her own career.

Graf, 27, is expected to return to action from a knee-injury in a fortnight at the German Open in Berlin.