ROUNDUP : AGASSI PASSES BIG TEST U.S. DEFEATS THE NETHERLANDS IN DAVIS CUP QUARTERFINAL.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi (born April 29 1970, in Las Vegas, Nevada) is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from the United States who won eight Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. , handcuffed early by Jan Siemerink's serve-and-volley game, rallied with pinpoint passing shots for the victory Sunday that gave the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. a 4-1 win over the Netherlands in a Davis Cup Davis Cup: see tennis. Davis Cup Trophy awarded to the winning team of an international tennis tournament for men. It was donated in 1900 by Dwight F. quarterfinal in Newport Beach Newport Beach, residential and resort city (1990 pop. 66,643), Orange co., S Calif., on Newport Bay and the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1906. It is a popular seaside resort and yachting center. Manufactures include electrical and medical equipment, computers, boats, and adhesives. . The Americans advanced to the semifinals Sept. 19-21 against Australia, a 5-0 winner over the Czech Republic Czech Republic, Czech Česká Republika (2005 est. pop. 10,241,000), republic, 29,677 sq mi (78,864 sq km), central Europe. It is bordered by Slovakia on the east, Austria on the south, Germany on the west, and Poland on the north. . It was Agassi's 15th straight Davis Cup singles victory, putting him within reach of Bill Tilden William Tatem Tilden II (February 10, 1893 – June 5, 1953), often called "Big Bill", was an American tennis player who was the World No. 1 player for 7 years, the last time when he was 38 years old. , who won 16 straight for the United States during the 1920s and early 1930s. Agassi ended the 2-hour, 48-minute match with a crosscourt cross·court adv. & adj. To or toward the other side of a playing court, especially a basketball or tennis court. backhand for a 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory, then embraced U.S. captain Tom Gullikson Tom Gullikson (born September 8 1951, in La Crosse, Wisconsin) is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player from the United States. During his career as a player, Tom won 16 top-level doubles titles – ten of them partnering his now-deceased identical twin as 5,396 cheering fans rose to their feet. ``I just needed to find my groove, and I didn't find it as soon as I should have,'' he said. After sharing hugs with teammates Jim Courier James Spencer "Jim" Courier, Jr. (born August 17 1970, in Sanford, Florida) is a former world number one professional tennis player from the United States. During his ATP career, he won four Grand Slam singles titles – two at the French Open and two at the Australian Open. , Rick Leach This article is about the tennis player. For other people named Rick Leach, see Rick Leach (baseball player). Rick Leach (b. December 28 1964, in Arcadia, California) is a professional tennis player from the United States. and Jonathan Stark, Agassi bounded back on court. He blew kisses and bowed to all four seating sections in between signaling No. 1 with his index fingers. The Dutch came into Sunday's reverse singles matches needing two wins after Paul Haarhuis and Jacco Eltingh prevented a U.S. sweep by winning Saturday's doubles. After Agassi's victory, Stark routed Sjeng Schalken 6-4, 6-0 in a meaningless singles match to close out the best-of-five series. Stark, a doubles specialist, replaced Courier, who injured his right quadriceps in practice Sunday. Sweden also qualified Sunday for the semifinals, beating South Africa 3-2. The Swedes will now play Italy, which clinched its match with Spain on Saturday. In Vaxjo, Sweden, Jonas Bjorkman outlasted Grant Stafford in five sets to clinch the Swedes' victory. Bjorkman, who played 14 sets in three days, won 3-6, 6-0, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 after Wayne Ferreira beat Thomas Enqvist. The day's best match may have come in Graz, Austria, during a qualifying round. Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia outlasted Thomas Muster of Austria in five sets, winning 7-5 in the fifth after losing two tiebreakers. Austria, however, went on to win 3-2. Hingis beats Seles: Martina Hingis, the world's No. 1 women's player, showed another dimension to her growing game in beating Monica Seles 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) for the Family Circle championship in Hilton Head, S.C. A week after destroying Seles 6-2, 6-1 in 44 minutes to win the Lipton Championship, Hingis needed more than two hours for her sixth title this year. Her streak of 31 match victories is tied for sixth-best all time, but it looked in danger when she trailed 5-0 in the match's first 14 minutes. ``I was just hoping she didn't do the same score to me as I did to her,'' Hingis said. ``I liked last week a lot better.'' Hingis earned $150,000, boosting her season's earnings to more than $1.2 million. Since the tournament began, Hingis was caught up in the celebration of her rise to No. 1. She posed with a giant No. 1 made out of tennis balls when she came to Sea Pines on Monday, then joked with the fans, the volunteers and anyone she could find. She faced only one seeded opponent - No. 14 Brenda Schultz-McCarthy in the semifinals - before the championship. So she looked unprepared and out of sync as the fourth-seeded Seles seized the early lead. ``In tennis, you can never say a match is gone,'' Hingis said. ``I was upset with the way I played and started to play longer points.'' Things started turning in the second set. Hingis stretched out rallies and fired precise forehands that continually clipped the sidelines. She survived three break points to go 2-2, then broke serve twice to even the match. Hingis was up 5-2 in the third and on the verge On the Verge (or The Geography of Yearning) is a play written by Eric Overmyer. It makes extensive use of esoteric language and pop culture references from the late nineteenth century to 1955. of winning. But Seles, who has not beaten Steffi Graf or Hingis in five matches since her return to the tour in 1995, fought off three match points in the ninth game to stay alive. Suddenly, Hingis' crispness disappeared. The 16-year-old made 10 straight errors and Seles led 6-5. The tiebreaker tie·break·er n. An additional contest or period of play designed to establish a winner among tied contestants. Also called tiebreak. tie was just as tense. Seles led 5-3 when the fever she was bothered with all week caught up to her, and she missed four straight shots. ``My feet just seemed to stop working,'' Seles said. ``I started pushing my shots and it was over very fast.'' Hingis will take the next three weeks off before returning to the tour at Hamburg, Germany. She said she'll take time to relax and reflect on her hot start this year. Only Graf, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert have won as many matches to begin a year and no one has earned more money. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Andre Agassi hits a backhand during his 3-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Jan Siemerink. Associated Press |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion