Agassi takes final curtain call

ANDRE AGASSI’S glittering tennis career came to an emotional end at the US Open as Germany’s Benjamin Becker outgunned the sport’s elder statesman.

Agassi exited his 21st consecutive appearance at his home championships at the third-round stage following a 7-5, 6-7, 6-4, 7-5 defeat to the 25-year-old qualifier, bringing a tearful end to an epic final journey at a tournament the American won twice.

It was another gripping encounter, but having needed anti-inflammatory cortisone injections after both his victories earlier in the week, those Herculean efforts in overcoming Andrei Pavel and Marcos Baghdatis had clearly taken their toll.

Agassi had an extra day’s rest after losing an entire day on Saturday to heavy rain, but the sunshine returned today as a star-studded session got under way at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, and nearly 24,000 fans packed the sun-drenched arena to greet Agassi and Becker, first on court.

Agassi had an early chance to take control in the first set but wasted four break points in the third game as the 25-year-old German battled to hold serve.

In the next game it was Agassi who struggled a little but both quickly settled into a rhythm after that. Becker’s serve was proving to be his main weapon and he sent down seven aces in his first six service games.

More was to go the German’s way when Agassi served for the first set tiebreak at 5-6.

First the American had a forehand called out on the tramline but declined to challenge — it was to prove the correct call — despite it leading to set point for Becker.

Then Agassi double-faulted on the next point to tamely surrender the opening set.

There was nothing feeble about the Agassi that resumed play at the start of the second, even though he was showing signs that his back was causing him further pain.

It did not stop Agassi from breaking Becker in the opening game of the second set, though.

That brought the Ashe crowd back to life and they were on their feet at the end of the next game when Agassi was forced to dig deep to save six break points before winning the game on the 22nd point.

Becker broke back in the sixth game and the set headed to a tiebreak, further adding to Agassi’s extreme workload.

After playing nine sets over seven and a half hours to knock out Pavel and Baghdatis, the last thing the two-time former champion needed was a drawn-out battle, but the second set edged past the hour mark as the tiebreak got under way and the match was one hour 46 minutes old when Agassi levelled matters, handing Becker the first tiebreak defeat of his short pro career.

The German was not flustered by the setback and broke Agassi twice to race into a 3-0 lead at the start of the third set.

Somehow, though, Agassi found a way back in, breaking back to 3-1 and delivering an ace down the middle to win the next game.

Becker, though, simply needed to ride out the storm and hold serve, albeit in the face of an increasingly partisan crowd, which even booed the German as he played a drop shot to exploit Agassi’s limited movement.

He took the third set but again Agassi fought back. The American had a set point in the fourth on Becker’s serve, only for the German to show his fighting spirit by delivering successive aces to hold and level at 5-5.

Then Becker broke Agassi with a blistering return of serve, and prepared to serve for the match.

It was a quick end with Becker winning the game to love, giving way to Agassi’s final curtain call.