Tennis Roundup : Agassi Outlasts Noah for Challenge Cup Title

Just when the match seemed to be slipping away, Andre Agassi got a firm grip on it.

Agassi won 12 of the last 13 points Sunday to defeat Yannick Noah of France, 6-3, 0-6, 6-4, to win the $190,000 Norstar Hamlet Challenge Cup at Jericho, N.Y.

“Noah had two service breaks before I got my wind after winning the first set,” Agassi said. “I pointed for the third set.”

Agassi, 18, who won his seventh tournament of the year and received the $40,000 winner’s share, had trouble with his serve early in the final set before hitting five of his eight aces in the closing games.

He needed 1 hour 31 minutes to dispose of Noah in a match played in 90% humidity.

“I played better in the semis (against Boris Becker) than I did against Noah,” Agassi said.

Noah broke Agassi’s service in the third game of the match, but Agassi broke back in a 12-point fourth game, aided by a Noah double-fault and a foot fault that gave Agassi another chance at a break point.

Noah’s questioning of line calls prompted Agassi to surrender a point in the ninth game when he was ahead 40-0 with three set points. But a passing shot down the line ended the set.

“It was fun playing Agassi,” Noah said. “He makes you realize tennis is only a game and I enjoyed entertaining the crowd with him.”

Steffi Graf wiped out Nathalie Tauziat of France, 6-0, 6-1, to win the $200,000 United Jersey Bank tournament at Mahwah, N.J.

Graf, ranked No. 1 in the world, enters the U.S. Open with a string of 28 straight match victories and five tournament championships. The 19-year-old West German earned the $40,000 purse to lift her season earnings to $1,009,691.

“I’m happy with the level of my play,” said Graf, who lost only eight games during the week. “I can’t play much better.”

Graf’s winning streak includes her victories in the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon championships. She has dropped only one set, to Martina Navratilova in the Wimbledon final, in the string.

Graf, 19, has won all but two of her 56 matches this year. Both losses were to Argentina’s Gabriela Sabatini.

“She’s too good and too fast,” said Tauziat, who won $20,000. “Steffi hits harder and more accurately than anyone else on the women’s tour.”

Fourth-seeded Emilio Sanchez of Spain defeated Kevin Curren, 7-6, 2-6, 6-4, to win a $52,000 tournament at Wilmington, Del.

Only three service breaks were recorded in the match. The first break didn’t come until the sixth game of the second set when Curren broke Sanchez en route to winning the set and evening the match.

Sanchez broke Curren in the first game of the third set and held service the rest of the way.