Williams and Rios Make Time Pay

Venus Williams won the inaugural women’s Grand Slam Cup, using a big serve to overpower Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, and earn $800,000 at Munich, Germany, on Sunday.

On the men’s side, Marcelo Rios nearly retired because of back problems, but hung on to defeat Andre Agassi, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-1), 5-7, 6-3, and collect $1.3 million.

Williams broke serve for a 4-2 lead in the final set and served out the match. The 18-year-old American, ranked No. 5 in the world, said she wasn’t thinking about the big payday.

“It’s a nice prize pool, but generally when you’re playing here you are trying to win your matches,” she said.

Schnyder, who earned $400,000, said she had trouble reading Williams’ shots.

“It’s hard to assess her balls coming high and low,” she said. “You make a lot of mistakes. Her serve was sometimes too fast for me, even her second.”

Rios was on the verge of quitting against Agassi before his trainer convinced him otherwise.

“I was going to retire, but the trainer told me to give it one more chance,” Rios said.

Agassi said a victory via injury was never part of his thinking.

“I didn’t really believe he was close to defaulting. I felt he ran incredibly well. He is very talented.”

Agassi, now No. 8 after falling from the top 100 last year, seemed worn out by nearly seven hours of tennis in two days. He needed 3 hours, 40 minutes to beat Karol Kucera in the semifinals, while Rios had a three-set win over Mark Philippoussis.

“I wasn’t feeling that good all day,” said Agassi, who earned $650,000. “It’s hard to recover in 15 hours or so.”

The $6.7-million tournament, the richest in tennis, tries to feature players with the best records in the year’s four Grand Slam events.

But three men Grand Slam champions elected not to show for the event, which awards no ranking points. Agassi received a wild card in an attempt to give some luster to the men’s field.

Rios, the Australian Open runner-up who briefly overtook Pete Sampras at No. 1 this year, said his back started hurting the night before the match.

“But you don’t want to go home without a final like this, playing Andre,” Rios said.

The Chilean, the highest-ranked player in the event at No. 3, was given a massage by a trainer after the third game and took an injury timeout two games later. He stretched on the floor while the trainer worked on his back.

But he still won the set, hitting a running backhand passing shot. Agassi won the next set, although Rios produced one of its highlights: winning a point while sitting on the floor after slipping and falling.

Serving to save the match in the fifth, Agassi double-faulted to give Rios three match points. Agassi saved one, but then committed another double-fault.

As for his prize, Rios said it’s going into the bank.

“I’m not the type of guy who buys houses or cars,” he said.

*

Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands beat No. 1 seeded Greg Rusedski, 6-4, 6-4, to win at Toulouse, France.

It was Siemerink’s first victory since the Rotterdam ATP tournament in March.

The No. 2-seeded Siemerink defeated No. 3 Thomas Johansson of Sweden and Wimbledon junior champion Roger Federer of Switzerland on his way to the final.

*

Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil upset Spain’s Carlos Moya, 6-7 (7-5), 6-2, 6-3, and won the title at Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands.

Moya was the local favorite, and Kuerten’s comeback victory disappointed the crowd.