TENNIS: AGASSI MAKES FINAL LOS ANGELES STOP.Byline: MATTHEW KREDELL Staff Writer After years of wondering whether this would be Andre Agassi's last time playing in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , it's official: Angelenos will get one final chance to see the tennis legend in action this week at UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX in the Countrywide Classic The Countrywide Classic (formerly known as the Mercedes-Benz Cup) is a tennis tournament on the ATP Tour International Series held in Los Angeles, California, United States. . The 36-year-old, eight-time Grand Slam grand slam n. 1. The winning of all the tricks during the play of one hand in bridge and other whist-derived card games. 2. Sports The winning of all the major or specified events, especially on a professional circuit. winner will play his first match today against Xavier Malisse Xavier Malisse (born July 19 1980) is a Belgian tennis player known mostly for his enormous right-handed forehand, great power and bad temper. Born in Kortrijk, Belgium, Malisse is considered the biggest Belgian tennis talent on the ATP tour. of Belgium at about 3:30 p.m. Agassi will be back on center court at 7:30 p.m. for a charity pro-celebrity doubles match that also features Camarillo's Bob and Mike Bryan Twin brothers Robert Charles Bryan (Bob) and Michael Carl Bryan (Mike) are American professional tennis players. Between 2005 and 2006, they reached an Open Era record of seven consecutive Grand Slam finals. , ``Entourage'' star Jeremy Piven Jeremy Samuel Piven (born July 26, 1965)[1] is a two-time Emmy Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Ari Gold on the HBO series Entourage. and Jon Lovitz. Agassi announced last month at Wimbledon that he would retire following the U.S. Open, which begins in late August. ``The last couple of years, you knew it was somewhere around the corner,'' Australian standout Lleyton Hewitt said of Agassi's retirement. ``You just didn't know when. He's obviously going to be a huge loss to the sport, even though he hasn't played as many tournaments over the last couple of years. ... There is no doubt he will be missed, probably more so for his personality as well as his name worldwide.'' Hewitt and Agassi are two of four former top-ranked players in the world competing this week, joined by Andy Roddick and Marat Safin of Russia. Roddick, a late addition to the tournament Friday, is the top seed. The rest of the seeds are No. 2 Hewitt, No. 3 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, No. 4 Robby Ginepri, No. 5 Agassi, No. 6 Tommy Haas of Germany, No. 7 Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia and No. 8 Dmitry Tursunov of Russia. Agassi won the tournament last year, when it was called the Mercedes-Benz Cup. He has four championships in Los Angeles during his career. Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, a surprise runner-up to Agassi last year, will need to get by Gonzalez today at 1 p.m. to make a similar run. matthew.kredell@dailynews.com (818) 713-3607 |
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