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| November 17, 2003 | Monday | Ramazan 21, 1424 |
Federer and Agassi showdown in final
HOUSTON (Texas), Nov 16: Wimbledon winner Roger Federer completed a sweep of rival Grand Slam champions here on Saturday by ousting top-ranked Andy Roddick and booking a finals date with Andre Agassi at the ATP Masters Cup.
The 22-year-old Swiss star blasted 12 aces to defeat top-ranked US Open champion Andy Roddick 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 while Agassi began 90 minutes late due to rain then struck like lightning to eliminate Rainer Schuettler 5-7, 6-0, 6-4.
Federer had lost his first three career matches against Agassi but beat the Australian Open champion 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 7-6 (9/7) on Monday in a round-robin match at the season-ending 3.75 million-dollar showdown of 2003’s top players.
“Both players took something out of that match and in the final we will try and do better,” Federer said. “I prefer my position. He had to work really hard to get to the final. I think that’s more advantage (for me) than disadvantage.”
Beating Agassi in best-of-five final would bring Federer a year-end number two ranking, an ATP-best seventh title of 2003 and 1.5 million dollars as only the fourth man with an unbeaten run in the ATP year-end event.
Federer beat French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero on Friday so improving to 5-1 against Roddick gave him a one-week sweep of the 2003 Slam champions.
Federer defeated Roddick in a Wimbledon semifinal and was just as dominant here four months later against the 21-year-old American, now 1-2 since sealing year-end number one honors.
Relatively easy triumphs could help Federer for the final, Roddick said.
Facing so strong a foe as Agassi again so soon after a hard-fought victory is unusual for Federer.
Federer won his first set in 38 minutes, finishing Roddick with his eighth ace, then broke with a backhand winner for a 3-2 lead in the second set and again with a forehand winner for a 5-2 edge before ending it after 62 minutes.
Eight-time Grand Slam champion Agassi, who won the ATP year-end event in 1990 and lost in the 1999 and 2000 finals, is the event’s oldest semifinalist since Arthur Ashe in 1978 and could become its oldest champion.
Agassi has shown top form despite coming here after a two-month layoff since losing to Ferrero in the US Open semifinals, a break during which his wife, Steffi Graf, gave birth to their first daughter, Jaz.
Agassi, now 3-1 against sixth-ranked Schuettler, overwhlemed the German 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 in January’s Australian Open final, the shortest Aussie final since 1926 and the biggest rout in a Grand Slam final in nearly 19 years.
Schuettler won the first set’s only break point to end it, but fifth-ranked Agassi answered by winning the next eight games.
Schuettler broke back to level at 2-2 but Agassi broke back in the next game and held out to win after two hours and eight minutes.
Results
* 3-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat 1-Andy Roddick (U.S.) 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 5-Andre Agassi (U.S.) beat 6-Rainer Schuettler (Germany) 5-7 6-0 6-4.
DOUBLES CROWN: Top-ranked American twins Bob and Mike Bryan outlasted France’s Fabrice Santoro and Michael Llodra 6-7 6-3 3-6 7-6 6-4 on Saturday to capture the doubles title at the ATP Masters Cup.
The Bryans, who earlier in the week became the first brothers to claim the year-end world number one doubles ranking, needed a tense three hours and 15 minutes to complete a breakout campaign that also included their first grand slam win.—AFP/Reuters
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