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SLAM! Sports 2000 in Review A LOOK BACK INTERACTIVE CONTESTS ALSO ON SLAM! 
| Sunday, January 30, 2000 Agassi captures Australian Open titleMELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Better and better as time goes on, Andre Agassi claimed his second Australian Open and sixth Grand Slam title Sunday in an artistic and bruising victory over Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Five of Agassi's most exquisite, feathery drop shots and dozens of powerful groundstrokes sapped the strength and spirit from the defending champion in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 triumph. At 29, Agassi left no doubt that he rules men's tennis. In less than a year, he has won the French, U.S. and Australian Opens and finished runnerup at Wimbledon. This time he put the exclamation point on his win with three aces at up to 123 mph in the last game. Agassi, the first player to reach four straight major finals since Rod Laver won the Grand Slam in 1969, pushed his career earnings to nearly $20 million with the $485,000 winner's check. "I think he's hitting his stride right now," Agassi's coach, Brad Gilbert, said. "Ultimately he wants to keep improving. There are a lot more titles for him to win. He has three or four more good years left in him." Agassi thanked Gilbert and his trainer, Gil Reyes, for telling him over and over that his best would be good enough all the time as long as he stayed in peak shape. And though Agassi didn't mention girlfriend Steffi Graf, who sat between them in the stands, he saluted her as they exchanged smiles. This final proved, as everyone thought, anticlimactic to Agassi's brilliant and dramatic victory over Pete Sampras in the semifinals. There were too many errors, too many mis-hits by both players this time, and little tension. Kafelnikov raced to a 4-0 lead in the opening set as Agassi struggled to find his range and inflict any damage on serve. But when Agassi broke back twice to make it 4-3, a sense of his ultimate triumph engulfed the match, even though he wound up losing the set. Agassi had gotten a bead on Kafelnikov's serve, and it was just a matter of time before he started holding his own. That time came quickly as Agassi yielded only four points through his next four service games, then broke for a 5-4 lead with the help of two double-faults by Kafelnikov. Agassi then came up with two stunning drop shots from the baseline that caught a flatfooted Kafelnikov by surprise and closed out the second set with a 116 mph serve that Kafelnikov netted. Though the match was even on the scoreboard, there was little doubt in Agassi's mind or in the thoughts of spectators that he was on his way to victory. He breezed to a 4-0 lead, again slipping in the occasional drop among powerful groundstrokes, and won the set with ease. "My legs started feeling heavy at the end of the third set," Kafelnikov said. The only nervous moment from then on came as Kafelnikov was about to serve the fourth set when a man wearing a red mask and holding a video camera leaped to the court and took aim at the players. But guards rushed to grab him and pulled him away. Agassi's victory was his fourth straight over Kafelnikov and similar to the comeback he mounted from a 1-6 first-set loss in the U.S. Open semifinals last September. Kafelnikov said before this match that he was surprised by Agassi's resilience in the Open, the way he fought back from a set down. Kafelnikov promised he would have to adjust to that this time if in the same position, but Agassi never gave him a chance. "It's amazing how he can recover from losing the first set and continue to raise his game," Kafelnikov said. "That's the aspect he improved the most." ResultsMELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Results Sunday of the $8.1 million Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park:Men Singles Championship Andre Agassi (1), United States, def. Yevgeny Kafelnikov (2), Russia, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. ------ Mixed Doubles Championship Jared Palmer, United States, and Rennae Stubbs (3), Australia, def. Todd Woodbridge, Australia, and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (4), Spain, 7-5, 7-6 (3). ------ Boys Singles Championship Andy Roddick (2), United States, def. Mario Ancic (6), Croatia, 7-6 (2), 6-3. ------ Girls Singles Championship Aniko Kapros (1), Hungary, def. Maria Jose Martinez (2), Spain, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. |