Agassi Claims Third Title
No. 11 seed Andre Agassi became the third player in the Open Era to win at least three titles in Cincinnati with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory over No. 10 Lleyton Hewitt on Sunday to claim the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters title. Agassi is the second-lowest seed to win the title here behind No. 16 seed Carlos Moya in 2002.
Agassi, who was appearing in his first ATP final since the Tennis Masters Cup (l. to Federer) in Houston last November, captured his first ATP title since winning the U.S. Clay Courts in Houston (d. Roddick) on Apr. 27, 2003. Agassi's impressive title run included wins over No. 4 Carlos Moya (QF), No. 2 and defending champion Andy Roddick (SF) and No. 10 Hewitt (F). In his last four matches, Agassi only dropped his serve twice.
It is the 59 th career title for Agassi, who is the leading title holder among active players. Hewitt is second among active players with 21 titles. The holder of a record 17 ATP Masters Series shields (17-4), Agassi has won his last eight ATP Masters Series finals and is 59-27 in career finals while Hewitt is 21-8.
Agassi is the 11 th player in the 106-year history of the tournament to win the Cincinnati title at least three times, as he also won the title in 1995-96. Mats Wilander won the title four times (1983-84, ‘86, ‘88) and Pete Sampras three times (1992, ‘97, ‘99) in the Open Era.
Agassi is fifth in the Open Era with 808 career wins. At 34 years, three months and 10 days, Agassi is the second-oldest titlist in Cincinnati behind Aussie Ken Rosewall who won the title in 1970 at 35 years, 8 months and 24 days. He's the oldest champion on tour since Jimmy Connors won back-to-back titles at Toulouse and Tel Aviv at 37 years and one month in 1989.
This title is Agassi's 14 th since turning 30, placing him fifth in the Open Era for titles over the age of 30. The top five: Rod Laver (44), Ken Rosewall (29), Arthur Ashe (20), Jimmy Connors (15) and Andre Agassi (14).
With the win, Agassi now stands in ninth place in the INDESIT ATP 2004 Race, up from 18 th at the beginning of the week. He earned $400,000 for the win, giving him 1,283,030 for his career in Cincinnati. He is second only to Pete Sampras' $1,397,954 for career prize money in Cincinnati.
Agassi earns 100 INDESIT ATP Race/US Open Series points and $400,000 while Hewitt collects 70 INDESIT ATP Race/US Open Series points and $200,000.
