Agassi inches closer to No 1 spot

Andre Agassi crushed Spaniard Carlos Moya 6-3, 6-3 in a one-sided final to land a record sixth Nasdaq-100 Open title on Sunday.The second-se...

Andre Agassi crushed Spaniard Carlos Moya 6-3, 6-3 in a one-sided final to land a record sixth Nasdaq-100 Open title on Sunday.

The second-seeded American took only 71 minutes to brush aside world number five Moya and win the $3.25 million hardcourt tournament, the biggest outside the four grand slams, for a third consecutive year. Having captured his third title in 2003, after the Australian Open and San Jose Open, Agassi moved tantalisingly close to overtaking world number one Lleyton Hewitt in the rankings.

The 32-year-old Las Vegan has now won six of the eight

Miami finals he has contested since 1990. Agassi was in unstoppable form on Sunday, playing the former world number one Moya off the court with a combination of power and finesse. But he was also assisted by Moya’s woeful first serve, he landed only 51 per cent, and disappointing returning.

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“He missed a few today,” said the eight times Grand Slam champion. “He likes to slam his serve and get away with a few cheap points. The ones he would sort of slam, he missed a lot of those, but it was windy. It was hard to throw it up and chuck it.

“I got into the points and made him work, so I don’t think it had so much to do with his competitiveness or his fight, it had more to do with me converting the opportunities I got and making things happen at crucial times.”

Agassi, who collected $500,000 for his success, began the match at a furious pace, winning his first service game to love in less than a minute, a stark contrast to the 17-minute opening game in his semi-final with Albert Costa on Saturday. The American wasted little time in grabbing a 3-1 lead with an overhead smash and moved up a gear for the remainder of the set, closing it out with an emphatic ace.

Moya continued to struggle with his first serve in the second set and Agassi pounced to move 4-3 ahead with a backhand crosscourt winner.

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Agassi saved the next game from 15-40 down then retained the title in a short-lived final game punctuated by numerous Moya errors, including the tame backhand into the net on the first match point.(Reuters)