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Fabulous Flushing finale Agassi roars late to win U.S. Open title in five-set thriller
Posted: Sunday September 12, 1999 08:49 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Andre Agassi overcame a tenacious Todd Martin in five scintillating sets on Sunday to win the men's singles title at the U.S. Open tennis championships. The second-seeded Agassi, who earlier this year completed a career Grand Slam by winning the French Open title, beat seventh-seeded Martin 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-2 in a surprisingly pressure-packed, all-American final at Arthur Ashe Stadium. "How can you ask for anything better than two Americans in the final of the U.S. Open playing a great five-set match?" Agassi said at the trophy presentation. "I tell you what, win or lose today it was truly a privilege and an honor to be out here today." Agassi collected $750,000 for his victory in the battle of 29-year-olds that added a second U.S. crown to his 1994 triumph as an unseeded player. Martin received $420,000 as runner-up. Few had figured Martin to be much of a match for Agassi, one of the hottest players in the world, who had assured his ascension to the No. 1 ranking by beating third seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia in Saturday's semifinals. But the towering, 6-foot-6 Martin played the match of his life, serving brilliantly and holding his own in groundstroke rallies, and appeared to have Agassi on the ropes after winning tiebreakers to claim the second and third sets. "Andre you played great, you deserved it," said Martin, tearing up a bit after his extraordinary challenge for a first career Grand Slam title. "I couldn't think of a better way to go out than to play a great match against a great champion." Agassi found himself trailing despite never once losing a service game, but the charismatic Las Vegan stormed back to break Martin twice in the fourth set to level the match. In the fifth set, the supremely fit Agassi, running to his chair during changeovers while the injury-plagued Martin shuffled to his seat, ran off nine points in a row as he broke Martin at love and held his serve to lead 3-0. Agassi, who lost only three points on serve in the fifth set, broke Martin to finish off the three-hour, 23-minute match when his backhand drive at 15-40 forced a netted backhand reply from Martin. Martin served 23 aces and posted a remarkable 77 winners, but the most telling statistic was his inability to break through on Agassi's serve. Eight times he reached break point, but was turned away every single time. Agassi made good on five of his 10 break opportunities to claim his fifth Grand Slam title.
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