Agassi beats Sanguinetti to win Siebel Open

By ROB GLOSTER
AP Sports Writer

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) Davide Sanguinetti was trailing just 3-2 in the first set of his Siebel Open final against Andre Agassi when he shrugged his shoulders and knew he was going to lose.

Agassi lost only two games the rest of the match, beating Sanguinetti 6-3, 6-1 Sunday for his 56th career title.

``I thought he was going to miss a little bit more, but he didn't miss at all,'' Sanguinetti said. ``I said sooner or later he's going to miss, but the time didn't come.''

It was yet another one-sided win in a final for Agassi, who knows that anything less impressive is tough on his family. That's because Agassi is married to Steffi Graf, who routinely romped to lopsided wins in finals.

Agassi won 12 of the last 14 games and finished off Sanguinetti in 62 minutes to capture his fifth Siebel Open title.

``Any match I have over 45 minutes already is a lot longer than she (Graf) is used to,'' Agassi said. ``So I try to keep it short to reduce the stress on her and on myself.''

Agassi is barely halfway to the 107 tournament titles Graf won before retiring in 1999. She captured 22 Grand Slam singles titles. Agassi's win last month at the Australian Open gave him eight Grand Slam titles.

After losing the first two games of Sunday's match, Agassi lost just one more game in the first set. He won the first three games of the second set before Sanguinetti held serve, then won the final three games.

``For me, this feeling only gets better,'' Agassi told spectators before accepting his trophy.

Sanguinetti, a UCLA alum seeking his third career title, spent much of the match shrugging his shoulders and complaining about line calls. At one point he asked chair umpire Steve Ullrich: ``Do you want a pillow?''

The Italian ranked 69th in the world and seeded sixth opened the match by holding serve and then took a 2-0 lead when Agassi double faulted on game point.

But Agassi responded by winning four straight games, including a pair of service breaks. After falling behind 3-2, Sanguinetti looked at coach Roberto Brogin and shrugged as if wondering, ``What can I do?''

``When he's playing like that, he's the best. He's hitting the ball on the line, he's perfect, he's like a machine,'' Sanguinetti said. ``When he's playing like that, he's on fire. Everything he was doing was going in.''

Agassi, ranked second in the world, indeed is perfect this year having won all 12 of his matches at the Australian Open and the Siebel Open. He has lost just two sets all year.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)