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Top of the world Agassi grabs ATP's year-ending No. 1 ranking
Posted: Wednesday November 03, 1999 04:06 PM
PARIS (AP) -- Andre Agassi will end the year as world No. 1 after Yevgeny Kafelnikov, his only contender for the honor, lost to Lleyton Hewitt at the Paris Open on Wednesday. Agassi celebrated the honor by downing his second-round opponent, Younes El Aynaoui, 6-4, 6-3. Hewitt proved his contentious Davis Cup win against Kafelnikov was no fluke by beating the Russian 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Agassi, who will top the year-end rankings for the first time in his career, takes over from Pete Sampras -- who had lost his chance of a seventh consecutive number one slot even before withdrawing Wednesday because of a back injury. Sampras has finished No. 1 for six straight seasons. He is ranked No. 3, trailing No. 1 Andre Agassi and No. 2 Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Sampras' comeback tournament lasted just one match because of back spasms. He picked up the injury in his 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) win against Francisco Clavet on Tuesday, his first match since Aug. 20, when he damaged his right hip flexor in a match in Indianapolis. Nine days later, Sampras suffered a herniated disk wile practicing for the U.S. Open and hasn't played since. Sampras wouldn't speculate on how long the back spasms will sideline him, although tournament physiotherapist Per Bastholt said he would be out 10-15 days. Hewitt's match against Kafelnikov brought to the surface recent bad blood between the two players. Hewitt beat Kafelnikov in a recent Davis Cup semifinal in Brisbane after the Russian had promised to "teach a lesson" to the 18-year-old. Despite a media frenzy in Australia, Hewitt insisted there was no grudge between the two players. Still, he was clearly delighted to beat Kafelnikov, signaling "2-0" to the crowd before an icy handshake with the No. 2 seed at the net. "It is a big bonus to beat the No. 2 player in the world because I haven't done much in the Grand Slams and Super 9 events," Hewitt said. "The last set was probably the best set of tennis I have ever played. Yevgeny played well but I came up with some really big shots." Hewitt believed he handled the pressure between the two players better than his more experienced opponent. "He is the world No.2 on his favorite surface so he should have had the edge," Hewitt said. "He was getting edgy and hit the umpire's chair. That got me fired up but I controlled my emotions well." Other favored players fell out of the $2.55 million event on Wednesday. Greg Rusedski, who beat Sampras in last year's final, withdrew because of injury, and No. 12 seed Alex Corretja fell at the first hurdle with a 7-5, 6-3, loss to Marc Rosset of Switzeland. Other losers included No. 8 seed Richard Krajicek, who fell to Mark Philippoussis, 7-5, 6-3, and No. 14 seed Carlos Moya, thrashed 6-2, 6-1, by American Jim Courier. Rusedski, out because of a thigh problem, said he first felt the injury playing against Todd Martin at the Eurocard open in Stuttgart on Friday. "I had some treatment on it. That's why I arrived here so late, getting here Tuesday afternoon," he said. "Unfortunately, it just wasn't good enough to move. On a slow court like this, you have to be 100 percent. It was to sore to play properly." "If I didn't have the title to defend I probably would have taken the week off," he added. No. 13 seed Tommy Haas, in the same quarter of the draw as Sampras and Rusedski, is emerging as one of the favorites after his 6-3, 6-2, pounding of Austria's Stefan Koubek. No. 10 seed Tim Henman was less convincing, scraping through 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4, against Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero.
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