Sanchez Surprises Cash, and Himself, to Gain Final

All week, Emilio Sanchez kept saying he had been having trouble with his confidence, therefore his success here at Grand Champions Resort was as much a surprise to him as it was to everyone else.

And so, by the time Saturday’s semifinals were over, the No. 8-seeded Sanchez found himself treated to three more surprises. The first was when he upset No. 4-seeded Pat Cash, 6-4, 6-4, earning a place in today’s $702,500 Newsweek Champions Cup final against No. 3-seeded Boris Becker, a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 winner over 17-year-old Andre Agassi.

The final, scheduled for 11:30 a.m., is a best-of-five sets match instead of two-of-three sets, which, was the second surprise for Sanchez.

“It’s five?” he asked.

This brought on shades of 1986. That year, Yannick Noah didn’t know it was best-of-five until he walked on the court for the final. At least, this time, Sanchez had prior notice.

Sort of.

Minutes later, he got one more surprise as he was leaving the press tent. Someone handed him the draw for this week’s Grand Prix event in Orlando, Fla., starting Monday. And, there it was, Becker vs. Sanchez. In the first round on Tuesday.

“We can play both here tomorrow,” he said, laughing.

While Sanchez seemed firmly in control during his semifinal as he got ahead on early service breaks in both sets, Becker had to fight long and hard againstAgassi.

Agassi rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the first set, winning five straight games en route to taking it, 6-4. Becker then started getting stronger as he took the second set, 6-3, breaking Agassi in the sixth game. In the third set, the players stayed on serve until the 11th game before Becker broke through when Agassi squandered two game points.

“At the beginning, it was a very strange match,” said Becker, who played Agassi on Saturday for the first time. “The first three games, I was just putting it in and coming in, and he didn’t play it anywhere in the court. So I said, ‘What’s happening? Everybody said he was so good.’

“I saw later why he was so good. He started playing better, and then I wasn’t expecting it right at the beginning. So, I kind of lost my game plan a little bit and that’s why I lost five straight games.”

Afterward, as the players were walking off the court, Agassi said Becker told him: “I hope you don’t get any better.”

When asked about Agassi, Becker said he found the comparisons between Agassi’s forehand and Ivan Lendl’s forehand to be somewhat premature.

“If somebody plays Lendl and then Agassi, it’s still a big difference,” Becker said. “It’s still a big weapon. He hits the ball hard, but there are some guys who are hitting it harder.”

And, some even try to compare Agassi to Jimmy Connors, but Becker put that notion in perspective.

“He’s still a little ways from Jimmy,” he said. “He hits the ball almost harder. But he’s got the same type of attitude, a little bit like a street fighter.

“He has to improve his serve. You can always take advantage of it.”

Still, Agassi realized how far he has come in the last few months. His ranking is No. 17 in the world, and he won a major tournament two weeks ago in Memphis. And it’s a pretty decent bet Agassi will represent the United States in its Davis Cup match next month in Peru.

“It’s always nice to know that you almost beat one of the better players in the world,” Agassi said. “I felt real confident even walking off the court to know I could play that well against a player like Boris.

“I just hope I can learn a lot from this and move on.”