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ROME, May 12: Andre Agassi took care of unfinished business in Rome on Sunday by finally winning the title in the Masters Series event 13 years after he first reached the final.
The American, who held a match point before losing to Alberto Mancini in the 1989 final, secured the trophy at the Foro Italico with a devastating 6-3 6-3 6-0 win over Tommy Haas of Germany.
Agassi wasted little time in asserting his authority over the German, who had not dropped a set on the way to the final.
A break at the start of the first set was a portent of things to come, and from then on Haas struggled to get anything past a man he admitted was his hero growing up.
After dropping the second set, Haas began to struggle physically and received treatment at 3-0 down in the third set on a left thigh injury.
His movement hampered, Haas had little answer to the Agassi onslaught.
Agassi dedicated the win to his wife Steffi Graf and his mother Elizabeth, neither of whom were present to see him lift the trophy.
“I’d like to wish all the mothers out there a Happy Mothers’ Day, especially the two most important women in my life, my wife and my Mom. As special as this trophy is though, tomorrow will be even more special because I get to see my family.”
The win earned Agassi $372,000 and is the 52nd title of his career, but only his sixth on clay.
His victory ensures he will move back into the top three in the world rankings when the standings are released Monday.
His victory was also his second Masters Series title of the year after he won the Nasdaq100 Open in Miami in March.
Both Haas and Agassi now move on to Hamburg to play in the Masters Series Hamburg tournament which starts Monday.
HENIN EDGES SERENA: Belgium’s Justine Henin held her nerve for a dramatic 6-2 1-6 7-6 victory over Serena Williams in a thrilling German Open final on Sunday.
Last year’s Wimbledon finalist wasted two match points before converting her third, as Williams sent a forehand long, to take the final set tiebreak 7-5 after two hours and 17 minutes of exciting tennis.
Fifth-seed Henin countered the American’s raw power with a smart tactical approach to claim the biggest title of her young career and emerge as a top contender for the French Open starting on May 27.
Fourth seed Williams, 20, had never gone further than the quarter-finals on her least preferred surface before this week.
Henin made a great start, breaking Williams straight away and again in the fifth game before taking the first set in just 29 minutes with Williams hitting a return wide on set point.
But the Belgian teenager collapsed in the second set as she could not resist Williams’s powerful game.
Williams, who has dropped just two matches since she lost to her sister Venus in the U.S. Open final last September, broke Henin in the second game of the second set and again in the sixth before taking the set with an ace.
The deciding set was an exciting affair that could have gone either way as both players recorded two breaks apiece.
Henin had two match points with Williams serving while trailing 5-6 but the Belgian squandered the first when she hit a backhand long before Williams saved the second with an ace.
The match went to the tiebreak with Henin jumping out to a 3-0 lead before Williams came back to level at 3-3.
Both players scored two more points before Henin hit a superb acrobatic dropshot to gain her third match point, which she converted when Williams hit her forehand long.
“Anything can happen in a tiebreak at this level but I could feel that she was getting tired,” Henin said.—Reuters
