Agassi Builds Momentum With Title

There’s only a week left until the U.S. Open begins, and Andre Agassi appears ready to challenge for his second Grand Slam title of the year.

Agassi defeated top-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1, Sunday at Washington to successfully defend his Legg Mason Classic title and ensure he would be ranked No. 2 today and seeded second behind Pete Sampras when the Open begins Aug. 30.

The victory earned Agassi $99,000 and avenged a defeat two weeks ago in Montreal. It was his fifth final of the year, and gave him a third title to add to those won at the French Open and in Hong Kong.

The first set was as tight, with Agassi breaking to lead, 2-1, then dropping his serve for the first time in the tournament in the next game. The Russian held off two break points at 2-2 before the match moved to a tiebreaker.

It was Agassi who then took control, forcing an error from Kafelnikov after a long rally to lead 5-3, and a poor backhand from Kafelnikov gave Agassi three set points.

“That first set just boiled down to one point in particular,” Agassi said. “He was serving at 3-4 and hit a short ball and I guessed right and made a difficult volley for him.”

The victory gives Agassi the boost he needed as the Open approaches.

“The quality of tennis gives me a lot of confidence,” Agassi said. “We were both playing well, and I couldn’t be more confident going into the Open. Everything is right where it should be and I’ll take a few days off and make sure I’ve recovered mentally and physically, and then pick it up slowly in the beginning of the week.”

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After having his serve broken only twice in his five previous matches, Nicolas Lapentti shook off four service breaks and a first-set loss to defeat unseeded Vincent Spadea, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, to win the RCA Championship at Indianapolis, only his second victory on the ATP Tour.

The victory gave the 23-year-old Ecuadorean, who moved from 20th to 18th in the ATP rankings, $122,500. Spadea, who has never won a tour title, climbed from 34th to 23rd and earned $64,500.

The hard-serving Lapentti, seeded 11th, was broken twice in each of the first two sets. Spadea led the second set, 4-2, before Lapentti settled down, forced two service breaks of his own and took control.

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Alexandra Stevenson was eliminated by France’s Amelie Cocheteux, 6-4, 6-4, on the final day of qualifying for the Pilot Pen at New Haven, Conn.

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Erika de Lone of Lincoln, Mass., won the $100,000 Bronx Tennis Classic at New York when Belgium’s Els Callens pulled a muscle in her thigh in the first set and was forced to retire after De Lone won the first set, 6-1.