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| March 5, 2002 | Tuesday | Zilhaj 20, 1422 |
SAN JOSE (California), March 4: Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt finally managed to overturn the home-court advantage in his career series with Andre Agassi.
In match worthy of a clash between two of the world’s top players, the top-seeded Hewitt fought back to triumph over number two Agassi, 4-6, 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/4), and win the 400,000 dollar Siebel Open hardcourt tennis event.
The reigning US Open champion, Hewitt received 51,500 dollars as the winner and improved to 3-2 all-time against Agassi, a seven-time Grand Slam winner.
Despite dropping the opening set, the Adelaide native displayed the mental toughness and determination in the fifth game that propelled him to the top of the ATP Champions Race at the end of last year.
He saved eight break points against his serve before finally succumbing to Agassi and falling behind, 3-2.
But Hewitt outdueled Agassi in both tiebreakers to capture his 13th ATP title just seven days after his 21st birthday.
Hewitt, who saved a career-high four match points on Wednesday in a come-from-behind victory over Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan, won six titles last year, including the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup.
Hewitt was playing in his first tournament since recovering from chicken pox. That contributed to Hewitt’s downfall in the first round of the Australian Open in January.
In addition to being considered perhaps the best returners of serve in the game, Hewitt and Agassi earned the distinction of being the first number-one and number-two seeds to reach the final here since 1996.
WILLIAMS TRIUMPHS
SCOTTSDALE (Arizona): Third-seeded Serena Williams held off top-seeded Jennifer Capriati, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 Sunday to capture the 585,000 dollar Scottsdale Open.
Serena Williams earned 93,000 dollars with the win and will have moved up one place to number six in the world when the new tennis rankings are unveiled Monday.
Williams won her first tournament since being forced to retire from the semifinals at Sydney due to an ankle injury. That also kept her out of the Australian Open.
The 20-year-old Williams recorded her 12th career WTA crown and her first this year. She picked up three last year, winning at Indian Wells, Toronto and the season-ending event in Munich.brave Santoro
DUBAI: Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, who had spent most of the day in a wheelchair in hospital suffering from acute dehydration, became one of the tour’s most courageous champions when he struggled his way to the Dubai Open title Sunday.
Santoro decided only half an hour before the final that he would play, and with dramatically reduced mobility, which forced him to adapt his style drastically, he somehow conjured up a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory over the Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui.
He came in behind his serve whenever he could in order to shorten the rallies, angled the ball as much as he could to try to draw his opponent in, and was helped by bursts of adrenaline as the possibility of victory emerged in the final set.
He got a crucial break of serve in the seventh game of the match and was able to cling to it despite a final game in the first set which had fully eight deuces.
The second set was El Aynaoui’s from the moment he achieved one break in the fourth game, but Santoro had just one break point opportunity in the eighth game of the final set and took it when his sliced drive lured El Aynaoui into hitting a backhand wide.
At the end, Santoro lay on the flat on his back on the court for many seconds in disbelief before being greeted by a sportsmanlike hug from El Ayanaoui who had come round to the other side of the net.
The Frenchman’s improbable triumph foiled the Moroccan’s bid to ride the wave of growing pan-Arab emotion since he won the title in Doha in the first week of the year.
Acapulco tennis result
ACAPULCO (Mexico): Result from the 725,000-dollar ATP event here Sunday):
Carlos Moya (Spa) bt Fernando Meligeni (Bra) 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4).—Reuters
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