LONDON, June 24 (UPI) -- A not-so-enthusiastic Andre Agassi was able to overcome his anger Monday to win his opening match at Wimbledon by scores of 6-0, 6-4, 6-4 over Harel Levy of Israel to begin the 2002 Championships.
Agassi was asked to provide the official opening match for The Championships because of the unavailability of the defending champion, Goran Ivanisevic, who is recovering from a shoulder operation.
In the non-competitive first set rout, Agassi pounded five aces past Levy, who had played just five matches this year because of injury.
"It was very special for me. It was a big honor today," Agassi said. "The court was playing beautifully. Hitting aces certainly made things a lot easier."
Also on day one, No. 2 Marat Safin dumped 1997 runnerup Cedric Pioline, 7-6 (9-7), 6-2, 6-3; and, in a battle of hard-servers, unseeded Mark Philippoussis of Australia, who is a wild-card entry this year, beat Julien Boutter of France, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2; and 1996 champion Richard Krajicek, playing in his second match of the year after a lengthy injury absence, got past Franco Squillari of Argentina, 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).
"I'm just happy to be back, and I'm happy that I had a few aces again, so I know how that feels," Krajicek said. "I didn't miss much."
In women's play, top-seeded Venus Williams encountered little resistance in a 6-1, 6-1 rout of Evie Dominikovic of Australia; No. 3 Jennifer Capriati rolled past Janette Husarova of Slovakia, 6-1, 6-4; and Mary Pierce, who has been battling back problems, took another step along the road to recovery with a 6-4, 4-6, 8-6 victory against Alicia Molik of Australia.
Lightly-regarded Anna Kounikova of Russia was ousted in her first-round match by an 18-year-old countrywoman, Tatiana Panova, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
