Agassi Works Hard for Win Over Roddick

Andre Agassi celebrated his first day as the oldest men’s player to be ranked No. 1 in the world with a dramatic comeback victory over Andy Roddick to win the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship on Sunday at Houston.

Agassi, 32, supplanted Lleyton Hewitt on Saturday night as No. 1, but he had to work hard to beat Roddick, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. It was his 58th career title.

Down one set and a break in the third game of the second set, Agassi rallied from triple break point to hold his serve. He broke Roddick in the sixth and eighth games to force the third set.

Both players stayed on serve in the third set until the fifth game, when Agassi broke through with a backhand drop-shot winner that bounced just over the net.

The big break in the third set was all Agassi needed to improve his match record to 23-1 this season and win his fourth title of the year, including the Australian Open.

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Serena and Venus Williams beat all five opponents they faced from the Czech Republic without losing a set at Lowell, Mass., sending the U.S. into the quarterfinals of the Fed Cup.

The U.S. took a 2-0 lead into Sunday, and Serena Williams needed only 50 minutes to beat Klara Koukalova, 6-2, 6-2, to put the Americans into the next round in July, when they will face Italy. Venus Williams defeated Iveta Benesova, 6-3, 6-2, in the final reverse singles match.

They completed the 5-0 sweep with a 6-0, 6-1 doubles victory in 44 minutes, beating Daja Bedanova and Eva Birnerova.

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Carlos Moya won the Open Seat Godo at Barcelona, Spain, when Marat Safin quit in the fourth set, citing fatigue. It was the first time in the tournament’s 51-year history the final had been decided by a withdrawal.

Safin was trailing in sets, 2-1, and down, 3-0, when he stopped. He won the first set, 7-5, then Moya won the next two, 6-2.

Motor Racing

Brandon Bernstein earned his third victory of the season and moved into the top-fuel points lead at the NHRA Mac Tools Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn. He clocked a 4.625-second run at 320.13 mph to hold off Doug Herbert, who posted a 4.880 at 282.72.

Del Worsham claimed his first victory of the season in the funny car division by defeating Whit Bazemore. He had a 4.924-second run at 310.41. Bazemore lost traction at the start and finished in 6.500 at 194.35.

Kurt Johnson won his third pro stock event of the season and 26th of his career with a 6.899-second run at 200.92 to beat Mike Edwards, who posted a 6.925 at 199.37.

Miscellany

The U.S. lost its second consecutive game at the World Hockey Championships and failed to advance past the preliminary round.

The Americans were beaten by Switzerland, 1-0, on Mathias Seger’s first-period goal at Tampere, Finland. They lost to Denmark, 5-2, on Saturday.

The U.S., which has 12 NHL players on its roster -- but none from the team that lost the gold-medal game to Canada in last year’s Olympics -- needed Denmark to beat Russia, but the Danes lost, 6-1.

Switzerland joins Russia and Denmark from their preliminary group in the next phase of the 16-team tournament.

In the round-robin relegation, the United States will face the last-place teams from the three other preliminary groups.

Top-seeded Misty May and Kerri Walsh won their second consecutive Assn. of Volleyball Professionals title by defeating third-seeded Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson-Jordan, 21-16, 18-21, 15-13, in the women’s final of the Tempe Open in Arizona.

In the men’s final, second seeded Canyon Ceman and Mike Whitmarsh beat 13th-seeded Dain Blanton and Jeff Nygaard, 21-17, 18-21, 15-12. It’s the fourth AVP title for Ceman and Whitmarsh.

The U.S. clinched the final berth in the Rugby World Cup, beating Spain, 58-13, at Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to qualify for the event for the fourth time.

Julie Fleeting scored and the San Diego Spirit used an own goal by the San Jose CyberRays in a 2-1 win in a Women’s United Soccer Assn. game in San Diego.

Passings

Trevin Dilfer, the 5-year-old son of Seattle Seahawk quarterback Trent Dilfer, died at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University after a 40-day battle with heart disease.