Andre Agassi finally added an Italian Open title to his long list of championships.
As the only current player to have won each of tennis’ four Grand Slams, Agassi has few challenges left to conquer.
He managed to grab one of the few significant titles to elude him by beating Tommy Haas 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 Sunday to win the Italian Open 13 years after squandering a championship point to Alberto Mancini in Rome.
“It’s something you don’t really admit to yourself because it’s pretty much a disappointment when you came so close,” Agassi said of his narrow loss in 1989.
“But you realize, as you size up all these tournaments outside the Grand Slams, that this has as much, if not probably more history, than all of them,” Agassi said of the Italian Open, first played in 1930.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion used blistering groundstrokes and a fierce return game to frustrate the 24-year-old German. Agassi broke Haas’ serve seven times en route to winning the $2.57 million tournament.
Agassi held his usual position just inside the baseline for most of the match, while Haas opted to stand several feet behind the line, leaving himself vulnerable to Agassi’s well-angled shots.
“I’ll never forget this day,” Agassi said before receiving the $372,000 winner’s check.
– Justine Henin needed three match points to beat Serena Williams 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (5) in the final of the German Open in Berlin.
The 19-year-old Belgian won her first title of the year after failing in three previous finals. Henin, the world’s eighth-ranked player, had lost all three finals to Serena Williams’ older sister, Venus. She beat Serena Williams for the first time in three tries.
Henin built a 4-2 lead in the third set, but Williams battled back, drawing standing ovations from the crowd.
Henin wasted two match points at 6-5. She hit a drop shot to end the match after 2 hours 17 minutes.
