0
MELBOURNE, Jan 11: Andre Agassi cranked up the heat on a scorching Melbourne afternoon to pummel Sebastien Grosjean 6-2 6-3 and win his third Kooyong Classic title on Saturday.
The American’s centre court performance was little short of perfect and the omens look good heading into the Australian Open.
On the two previous occasions Agassi has lifted the Kooyong silverware — 2000 and 2001 — he has gone on to win the opening grand slam of the season.
With two days to go before the Open kicks off at Melbourne Park, Agassi could hardly look sharper.
“I played as well as I could expect,” he smiled after the 67- minute encounter. “I was hitting the ball very sharply.
“I feel great about that.”
Results:
Final: Andre Agassi bt Sebastien Grosjean 6-2 6-3
Third/Fourth place play-off: Richard Gasquet bt Mark Philippoussis 7-5 6-2.
CANBERRA: Meghann Shaughnessy crushed Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-1 6-1 on Saturday to win the Canberra Classic, one of the final lead-up events to next week’s Australian Open.
Shaughnessy took less than an hour to beat her nervous and error-prone opponent and capture her third career title.
The 23-year-old won her first WTA tournament in Shanghai in 2000 then her second in Quebec City a year later.
Currently ranked 28th in the world, Shaughnessy made three finals last year, including Sydney, also held a week before the Australian Open, but lost them all.—Reuters
