Andre Agassi cemented his strong start to the 2000 season by delivering a world-class performance to claim the men's singles title at the Tennis Masters Series ? Indian Wells. Agassi confidently pulled away from Pete Sampras in straight sets, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, 6-1, before 13,477 spectators. Yevgeny Kafelnikov also wrapped up the most successful trip to Indian Wells in his career, by teaming with Wayne Ferreira to add a doubles title to his semi-final showing in singles.

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Andre Agassi (4) def. Pete Sampras (4), 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, 6-1
Final
Previous head-to-head: Sampras leads 17-12

U.S. men's tennis has revolved around the Sampras-Agassi rivalry for the past decade, so we were surprised to see 2,500 empty seats in the Indian Wells Tennis Garden's cavernous stadium for today's final. The fans present were buzzing with excitement, however, hoping for a classic battle of the titans that might help redeem the tournament after the bad taste left by the bitter end to the women's event (see our March 17 report).

A classic performance was seen from Andre, but not from Pete. Agassi got off to a slow start, but improved markedly as the match progressed, and pulled away at the end against an increasingly slumping and lifeless Sampras. The Kid from Las Vegas has a losing career record against Pistol Pete, but he can now claim to be gaining on Pete after having won their last two meetings. It was an extraordinarily accurate display by Agassi, who committed only 10 unforced errors (with 27 winners) in the entire match , compared to 49 unforced errors (with 37 winners) for his more aggressive but wilder opponent.

Set one

There were no breaks of serve in the first set. It didn't take long for the players to make some statements: in the second game Sampras nailed his first forehand winner, and Agassi his first passing shot. Sampras was doing the most damage on his opponent's serve, earning two break points and forcing four deuces at 2-1, and also gaining a break point at 4-3 and a break point/set point at 5-4. But Sampras was unable to execute when he had these chances: he lost three of the four break points ? including the set point ? on forehand errors. On Sampras's serve, Agassi was not finding the range with his returns and passing shots against the onrushing Pete, and was never able to pressure Sampras's service game. There was some spectacular shotmaking by Sampras in this set, despite his 20 unforced errors ? in particular, a marvellous backhand half-volley winner off a low Agassi return at 5-5 was throatily saluted by the crowd.

Both players began the first set tie-break in nervous fashion. Sampras had two double faults (seven in the set), but Agassi was making errors as well. The first to right himself was Agassi, at set point, 5-6, Sampras serving. The serve-volleyer Sampras was at the net, Andre stepped up and spanked a clean backhand passing winner, and the first set was his, 7-6 (7-5).

Set two

The second set saw Agassi growing in crispness and confidence. Agassi was starting to nail his returns and passing shots, while Sampras was seemingly wilting under the hot sun and the heat of his opponent's aggressive baseline drives. Pistol Pete was now the one struggling to hold serve, notably having to serve his way out of a 0-40 jam at 3-4. These were the first, but not the last, break points for Andre in the match.

The break finally came with Sampras serving at 5-6. The first point was a spectacular one, with both players at net making sprinting retrievals, but Andre had the last word. Another Sampras double fault made it 0-30. A second serve forehand return down the line, and it was 0-40 and set point. And a second dynamic forehand return winner, this time off a first serve, rocketed past a helpless Sampras to give the man from Las Vegas the two set lead.

Set three

The Sampras sag continued, and the crowd was now murmuring at his routine baseline and volley errors. Sampras has had problems in hot weather in his career, and was asked by Bud Collins after the match if he was weary. He refused to present that as an excuse. "I felt fine," said the perennial Wimbledon champion. "It was pretty warm, but it wasn't that hot." The focused, businesslike Agassi had Pete by the throat and was not about to loosen the noose.

Sampras was broken in his first service game at 0-1, when at 15-30 he came nowhere close to picking up a sharp return at his feet, and on break point pushed a routine backhand volley wide. It was all Agassi from there, as the Las Vegan broke Sampras again at 4-1 (on Pete's eleventh double fault) and converted his first match point thanks to a strong service winner. Make the final: 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, 6-1.

The ever-popular trophy presentation:

The post-match ceremonies got off to a rocky start. They had to be delayed because the host television network ran out of tape. Some fans implored the master of ceremonies, comedian Alan King, to tell a joke. He started off with "two Jews and an Arab?" but stopped there, to the disappointment of the crowd. Finally the TV tape was ready, and the presentations could commence.

Sampras was fairly brief. He congratulated Agassi "for the tournament and his year so far", and made sure to acknowledge his new in-laws, who were here to take in the action. Not surprisingly, the victorious Agassi was much more voluble. Accepting the $400,000 winner's cheque, he quipped, "this will buy one of those fancy cars you see in Palm Springs." Agassi then turned to his beaten rival and addressed some kind words to Sampras. "It's truly a joy to be out here competing with you. Thank you for e verything you've given me and given the game." Andre then had the crowd laughing when he thanked coach Brad Gilbert "for dealing with all my, what would you call it, stresses."

Post mortem

Sampras pointed to three keys to his loss. First, the momentum swing of the first set tie-break. "Once he won that breaker, it kind of changed the momentum. He kind of went from there." Second, the very solid outing by Agassi. "He didn't miss much. Seemed like he hardly made any errors. He was really keeping the ball deep, keeping me on the back of my heels." Third, his poor first serve percentage of 50 percent. "In the tiebreaker I was 1 for 7. You can't continue to hit second serves against Andre , because he returns so well. I don't know what my percentage was, but it needs to be in the 60s to beat Andre."

The loss means that Sampras has not won a tournament since Wimbledon, eight months ago. But he feels he has some confidence from reaching the finals to take into his title defence in Miami later this month, and console himself with one exquisite match in the high-quality quarterfinal with Patrick Rafter. "Up until this part of the year it's been a struggle. I feel like I've got some good matches under my belt and I can build on this, and go to Miami with some confidence."

We weren't sure what to expect from Andre at this tournament. He lost in the first round at Indian Wells last year, and also in Scottsdale last week. But he was motivated to turn in a strong performance at Indian Wells. "I wanted to win here," said the champion. "I played in Scottsdale and practiced in Vegas, hitting hundreds and hundreds of balls to get used to the altitude. I just came here and laid it on the line with the hope I could win, but with the realization that it's hard to beat these guys ."

Agassi is off to a great start to the year, having won the first major of the year in Australia, and now the first TMS of the year here. It was also his first title at Indian Wells in 13 tries. Clearly the man of the moment and a threat on all surfaces, Andre was asked if he thought winning the Grand Slam this year was possible. "I'm just answering the question the way it was asked, it's not impossible," said the cautious Agassi. "But I feel I have to win 21 matches in the biggest of situations on thr ee different surfaces. I feel like that's very difficult."

Wayne Ferreira / Yevgeny Kafelnikov (3) def. Jonas Bjorkman / Todd Woodbridge (1), 6-2, 7-5
Men's doubles final

Yevgeny Kafelnikov was able to take some consolation after his breakdowns against Sampras in the singles semifinals by teaming with his golfing buddy Wayne Ferreira for the doubles title in front a slight sprinkling of fans in the cavernous stadium. Their victims were the excellent top-seeded Bjorkman/Woodbridge duo.

Yevgeny, known for his avid interest in personal finance, was perhaps motivated by the stock market's slump this week to have a strong tournament and pick up some hefty cheques. He was our Man of the Match in the doubles final with a near-flawless all-court display. Todd Woodbridge, who is unfortunately getting a reputation of losing his serve in key situations, gets the goat horns for being broken at love with the score 5-5 in the second set and his team looking to mount a comeback.

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Some final thoughts from the desert

Thumbs up of course go out to our meritorious champions. But there were many players, and others, who made this a memorable week.

To Patrick Rafter and Alex Corretja who gave us the best match of the tournament. A stirring and dramatic contrast in styles between two battlers playing at the top of their game produced a memorable 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 win for the Aussie. It was even more delightful knowing that the two men had some difficult personal moments after last year's contentious Davis Cup final, but have since buried the hatchet. And it was all that much more dramatic for having taken place in the intimate Stadium 2. The c avernous main stadium is rarely filled, and the setting sucks some of the drama out of matches played there.

To the rampaging wild cards. The delightful Elena Bovina was the wild card who charmed us all with her unexpected run to the quarterfinals and was so refreshingly overjoyed at her first success at an important pro tournament. The wildest of wild cards was Goran Ivanisevic, who also attained the quarterfinals by upsetting Thomas Enqvist, displaying his huge serve, entertaining manner and exemplary sportsmanship (Goran overruled a line call and conceded an important point to Kafelnikov in the quarterfinals).

To the feisty young qualifiers Evie Dominikovic and Nicolas Massu, who ran and battled and battled and ran to upset heavily favoured Nathalie Tauziat and Juan Carlos Ferrero, respectively. Massu was so extenuated from his courageous three hour, thirty minute win that he was obliged to retire from his match the next day. My personal favourite from qualifying, though, was Rachel McQuillan, a resurgent 29-year-old veteran who lit up the outside courts with her excellent play and easy-going ch arm before falling with honour in the fourth round to Venus Williams.

To the fans. The pro-Aussie 'Roo Girls were fun with their giant, inflatable kangaroos, but my personal favourites were a pair of Gustavo Kuerten fans, who were seated behind me for the Kuerten-Gambill third-rounder. Guga was as flat as a pancake, and lost in desultory fashion. The women kept a stream of hilariously critical comments about their favourite player that had everyone around them in stitches. "He hit that one like a girl." "Look, he's playing like a little ballerina." "Come on Ga mbill, take me out of my misery." It made watching Guga's off-day almost enjoyable.

Thumbs down have to be distributed as well, if only to be nasty and petty?.

To everyone connected with the Williams fiasco. We have a situation that has now gotten completely out of control. Players are freely making accusations about match-rigging with no hard evidence. The Williams clan is acting in a suspect, contemptuous fashion that only serves to fuel more speculation. And the frustrated, uncomprehending fans are turning nasty. Meanwhile, the boss of the WTA, Bart McGuire, was showing his leadership by issuing milquetoast press releases and refusing to talk with the press. He was on vacation, after all.

To a few players who could stand some ego-reduction surgery. The most insufferable was all was Jan-Michael Gambill. After his upset win over Kuerten, Gambill gave an excruciating press conference in which he congratulated himself at great length for how much he gives to charity and how much time he spends with the fans. He followed this with an unprovoked tirade against the tournament organizers for not having offered a wild card to the young American prospect Andy Roddick. When asked to comme nt, tournament director Charlie Pasarell explained that he did offer Roddick a wild card, but he turned it down, and calmly suggested that Jan-Michael check his facts before speaking in the future.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more On The Line tournament coverage later this year!