TENNIS: Top-seed Andre Agassi needed just 47 minutes to defeat unseeded Jean-Rene Lisnard of France 6-1, 6-0 in the second round of the Mercedes-Benz Cup in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The 35-year-old American displayed little sign of rust in his first match since being sidelined with a back injury picked up at the French Open in May, covering the court well and running his opponent down quickly.

Defending champion and number four seed Tommy Haas of Germany, also coming back from an injury, followed Agassi into the next round.

Haas, who has not played since tearing an ankle ligament while warming up at Wimbledon in June, beat Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 6-4, 6-4.

TENNIS: Rachael Dillon, the precocious Dublin teenager on whose shoulders rest Tennis Ireland's hopes of keeping the Irish Women's Open title at home, made significant progress yesterday when she rebuffed number eight seed Sarah Coles of Britain at Castleknock.

Once again Dillon brought her sound service game to the fore of her attack and dropped only six points on serve in each of the two sets while fairly coasting to a 6-2, 6-2 win.

Dillon put the match to bed in an hour and 25 minutes a duration that was hardly expected against a talented visitor who took time out for shoulder treatment in the second set.

The Donnybrook girl finally sign-posted the impressive win when she broke Coles' serve in the first game of the second set and then held her serve to love to go 2-0.

She went 5-1 up before Coles scrambled a game, but predictably Dillon served out for the match including two aces in the eighth.

Ireland's Ann Marie Hogan went out after two tense sets (6-4, 6-4) to Belgium's Davina Lobbinger, the number six seed.