AUSTRALIAN OPEN Agassi cruises to win over Berdych

Andre Agassi won his 23rd straight match at Melbourne Park.
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Andre Agassi had some difficulty preparing for his second-round opponent at the Australian Open.
Once the match started, the tournament's defending champion made things look easy.
About the only mistake Agassi made in a 6-0, 6-2, 6-4 win over 18-year-old Tomas Berdych today came when he changed rackets early in the third set, and accidentally carried the plastic cover on court.
"Today felt really good. I think there was a lot of quality ball striking going on, from both sides," said Agassi, who has won 23 consecutive matches at Melbourne Park.
Agassi had never played the young Czech, making it hard to formulate a game plan to counter his youth and speed.
"It's hard," he said. "I prefer playing anybody in their late 20s or on," Agassi said.
Next opponent
Agassi next faces Thomas Enqvist of Sweden in pursuit of his fifth title here and his ninth Grand Slam.
Agassi was on center court only 1 hour, 22 minutes. Meanwhile, Andy Roddick sped through his 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 win over Bohdan Ulihrachmatch nine minutes faster, firing 20 aces along the way.
Roddick set up triple match point with a curling forehand winner down the line and finished it off with a booming first-serve winner.
"My serve felt great today," said Roddick, who will take on fellow American Taylor Dent next.
On the women's side, Justine Henin-Hardenne, ranked No. 1, had a 6-1, 6-4 win over childhood friend Camille Pin of France, and fourth-seeded Amelie Mauresmo advanced in straight sets.
"I'm just happy to come through and win this match in two sets," Henin-Hardenne said. "I've been sick for two or three days. I was tired and out of energy."
Davenport advances
Fifth-seeded Lindsay Davenport advanced 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 over Emilie Loit of France. Davenport won 10 of 12 points after Loit took a medical time-out to get her thigh taped at 3-0 in the third. She broke Loit's serve in the last game.
Agassi took the first set in 18 minutes, and Berdych didn't have a game point until he held serve while already down 0-2 in the second set.
Berdych had more winners than Agassi, 27-23, and had more aces, 12-7, but was much more inconsistent, committing 35 unforced errors to just 10 for Agassi.
Roddick, who recorded the fastest serve of the tournament so far at 140 mph, moved into a showdown with Dent, seeded 27th, who overcame Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 in 3:30.
Dent was frustrated after mixing 83 winners with 77 unforced errors.
"I got by with smoke and mirrors somehow," said Dent, whose serve was broken 10 times. "I'm looking for solutions. I don't have them now."
He knows he must find something soon to be competitive against Roddick.
Escude triumphs
Frenchman Nicolas Escude, winner at Doha earlier this month, had a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over Robin Soderling to extend his stretch to seven matches without dropping a set since his return this month from a hip problem that sidelined him since Wimbledon.
In other men's matches, 16th-seeded Sjeng Schalken beat David Ferrer in four sets; Austria's Jurgen Melzer beat Spaniard Galo Blanco in three; and American Todd Martin out-slugged Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7).
Martin withstood 33 aces from the big-serving Croatian in a match where neither player dropped serve.
Sebastien Grosjean, seeded ninth, had a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 win over American Jan-Michael Gambill; James Blake beat Nicolas Lapentti 6-3, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-1; and three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten had a 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3 win over Ivan Ljubicic. Kuerten hadn't gone beyond the second round in seven previous trips to Melbourne Park.
Russia's Marat Safin, who won the U.S. Open in 2000 and had a brief appearance atop the rankings, downed Finland's Jarkko Nieminen 7-6 (5), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.