Agassi Makes Quick Work of Sanguinetti

Andre Agassi won 12 of the final 14 games to defeat Davide Sanguinetti, 6-3, 6-1, Sunday and win the Siebel Open in San Jose for the fifth time.

After losing the first two games of the match, the top-seeded Agassi lost only one more game in the first set. He won the first three games of the second set before the sixth-seeded Sanguinetti held serve, then Agassi won three consecutive games to claim his 56th career title.

“For me, this feeling only gets better,” Agassi said before accepting his trophy.

Sanguinetti, a former UCLA star seeking his third career title, spent much of the match shrugging his shoulders and complaining about line calls. At one point he asked chair umpire Steve Ullrich: “Do you want a pillow?”

Sanguinetti, an Italian ranked 69th in the world, opened the match by holding serve and then took a 2-0 lead when Agassi double-faulted on game point. But Agassi responded by winning four games in a row, including two service breaks.

“I thought he was going to miss a little bit more, but he didn’t miss at all,” Sanguinetti said. “I said sooner or later he’s going to miss, but the time didn’t come.

“When he’s playing like that, he’s the best. He’s hitting the ball on the line, he’s perfect, he’s like a machine.”

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Venus Williams defeated Kim Clijsters of Belgium, 6-2, 6-4, to win the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp, Belgium, for the second consecutive year, completing the tournament without losing a set.

The top-seeded Williams is ranked second in the world. Her overpowering serve and nearly flawless backcourt game were too much for the second-seeded Clijsters. Williams’ serves reached nearly 118 mph; Clijsters’ serves hit 93 mph.

“I put a lot of pressure with my serve,” Williams said. “I was always able to force the point.”

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Top-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland defeated Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden, 6-2, 7-6 (6), in the final of the Open 13 at Marseille, France, for his fifth career ATP title.

Winter Sports

Ivica Kostelic of Croatia won the slalom at the World Alpine Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland, to join sister Janica in setting skiing history and denying Bode Miller of Franconia, N.H., a shot at a third gold medal. Miller finished sixth and completed the two-week event with three medals.

It was Ivica Kostelic’s first major title and the first time a brother and sister won the same event at a world championship. Janica won the combined last week and the slalom Saturday.

Kostelic, 23, covered the relatively flat course in a combined time of 1 minute 40.66 seconds. Silban Zurbriggen of Switzerland rallied from seventh and finished second, 0.33 seconds behind. Giorgio Rocca of Italy was third, 0.36 behind.

Miller lost his left pole midway down the course on the first run, leaving him with 0.90 seconds to make up. His second heat also was shaky, but he climbed two places to sixth.

Four-time Olympic biathlon champion Ole Einar Bjorndalen won a World Cup event at Holmenkollen in Oslo for his ninth victory of the season.

He covered the 12.5-kilometer pursuit event in 34:12.1 and missed one target. Sven Fischer of Germany had two misses and finished second.

Bjorndalen leads the overall standings with 606 points. France’s Raphael Poiree is second with 516.

Martina Glagow of Germany won the women’s 10-kilometer biathlon pursuit in 31:09.78 with one miss and moved into second place in the overall standings, 52 points behind overall leader Jekaterina Dafovska of Bulgaria, who finished 21st.

Miscellany

Mike Tyson missed his scheduled flight to Memphis, Tenn., amid growing indications his comeback fight Saturday with Clifford Etienne may be in trouble.

The fate of the fight now apparently rests on how Tyson is feeling when he wakes up this morning.

“Unless he just wakes up and feels 100% better most likely we’re going to have to postpone,” said Shelly Finkel, Tyson’s manager. “With each passing hour it looks less likely.”

Trainer Freddie Roach said he was told to wait another day in case Tyson decided to go through with the fight, and said he was still hopeful the fight might happen.

Hayley Wickenheiser was held without a point for the second consecutive game as Salamat lost to Kettera, 6-3, in a men’s Finnish League hockey game at Imatra.

She had two shots on goal and won nine of 14 faceoffs in 11 minutes.