Agassi storms into final

Published February 17, 2003

SAN JOSE (California), Feb 16: Top seed Andre Agassi tore apart fellow American James Blake 6-4 6-1 to reach the $380,000 San Jose Open final for the third year running on Saturday.

Agassi will face sixth seed Davide Sanguinetti, who defeated unseeded American Justin Gimelstob 6-4 6-7 6-3 in the other semifinal.

Winning his 11th straight match of the year, Australian Open champion Agassi was in devastating form from inside the baseline.

Italy’s Sanguinetti had a slightly harder task against Gimelstob in the other semifinal.

Results: Andre Agassi bt James Blake 6-4 6-2, Davide Sanguinetti bt Justin Gimelstob 6-4 6-7 (7-2) 6-3

FEDERER BAGS TITLE

MARSEILLE (France): Top-seeded Swiss Roger Federer outclassed veteran Swede Jonas Bjorkman in straight sets to win the Marseille Open on Sunday.

Federer beat his 31-year-old opponent 6-2 7-6 to win the fifth title of his career after overcoming Bjorkman’s efforts to get back into the match in the early stages of the second set.

MYSKINA WINS

DOHA: Anastasia Myskina lifted the Qatar Open title after beating Elena Likhovtseva 6-3 6-1 in the first all-Russian final ever on the WTA Tour on Sunday.

Myskina, the world number 11 and second seed, outplayed her more experienced rival to clinch her third Tour title after her fifth-seeded compatriot played some careless shots.

EASY VICTORY FOR VENUS

ANTWERP (Belgium): Top seed Venus Williams breezed past Belgium’s Kim Clijsters 6-2 6-4 to win the WTA Antwerp Diamond Games for the second year running on Sunday.

A sell-out crowd of 14,400 saw Clijsters set the early pace as the home favourite tried to wrongfoot the defending champion with a series of deep groundstrokes to both sides of the court.

But Williams took command and her consistent serves, often above 180kmh including a number of aces, contrasted with Clijsters’ slower delivery and three double faults.—Reuters

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