Relentless but humble
ANDRE Agassi was in supreme form as he destroyed Rainer Schuettler to claim his fourth Australian Open crown. The second seed was a strong favourite going into the final on Sunday but his astounding performance had the crowd gasping in awe as he ran out a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 winner. The 32-year-old's victory equals the most one-sided in the event's 98-year history.
Agassi's fourth triumph continued his Melbourne love affair and the win against Schuettler took his run of consecutive match victories to a record 21, stretching back to 2000. He missed last year's tournament due to a wrist injury and his last loss at Melbourne Park came in the round of 16 in 1999 when he lost to American Vince Spadea 6-1, 7-5, 6-7, 6-3.
Agassi was the third oldest player in the tournament and was competing in his 50th Grand Slam. His eighth title took him to joint sixth on the number of Grand Slam titles with Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Fred Perry and Ken Rosewell.
After so much success it should have been easy for Agassi to put his achievements into words but the humble champion continues to react like every win is his first.
"I am really overwhelmed by it," Agassi said. "I've said so many time as you get older you realise how quickly these moments pass and you want to make the most of them. To win down here again was just more than I can dream of."
Schuettler, in his first Grand Slam final, began nervously and showed only a few glimpses of the form which saw him beat Andy Roddick and James Blake in previous matches. But even in top form, the German would have needed a miracle against a rampant Agassi.
The world No 2 broke his opponent's serve eight times to win in just one hour 16 minutes, more than an hour quicker than Saturday's women's final between Serena and Venus Williams. Agassi got out of the starting blocks in spectacular fashion, stringing together a run of eight points to lead 2-0.
The American broke Schuettler's serve again before the shell-shocked German steadied himself and broke back in the fourth game.
However, a relentless Agassi engineered two more break points in Schuettler's fourth service game and broke when the German overhit a forehand.
Agassi was down 0-30 as he served out for the set but Schuettler responded by throwing in two forehand errors and the second seed took the first set in just 29 minutes.
He pocketed the second set by the same score in three minutes less to leave Schuettler reeling. The German's game unravelled under the might of Agassi's assault and he was broken three further times in the third set.
In the women's final, Williams defeated older sister Venus 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-4 to win her fourth straight major, joining Maureen Connolly, Margaret Court, Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf as the only players to achieve the feat.
"I can't believe that I can be compared to these women, to be in their category is really amazing," she said. "I am making history right now; it doesn't happen every day. The last person to win four was Steffi Graf. It's been tough. All my life I've dreamt of being the best ...there's been a lot of opposition. It's really special to have come such a long way."
Serena, who choked back the tears as she made her acceptance speech on court, was never in top form and was grateful to some frail serving from the second seed.
Venus, the first player to lose four straight Grand Slam finals, admitted that Serena had the upper hand mentally during their recent encounters. "I think right now she's just probably a little mentally tougher out there than I was today. I think maybe that's the main thing that's dropped off in me," she said. "Usually, I would just really get in there and take a match like that but when you're on top, you're on top. That's the way it is."
While Venus paid a warm tribute to her younger sister, she could not hide her disappointment at seeing another Grand Slam title slip by. "Not many people get all four Slams, so that's really wonderful, it really is," she said. "I don't like losing altogether, whether it's to Serena or any other player -- it's just never fun. I never go to the finals and say 'Yes, I'm losing today'. I'm going out there with the attitude to do my best and try to take the title."
Venus put her disappointment behind to pair up with her little sister to win their second Australian Open doubles title, coming back from a set down to beat Paola Suarez and Virginia Ruano Pascual 4-6 6-4 6-3.
The world's top two singles players were seeded No 1 despite the fact that Venus didn't even have a doubles ranking and they needed a wild card to gain entry.
Despite rarely playing or practicing doubles, the Williams sisters' power was too much for the No 2 seeds.
Suarez and Ruano Pascual drew first blood, breaking Serena to love in the third game of the match. The No 2 seeds looked sharper for most of the first set and took it 6-4.
The Spaniard and Argentine outplayed the American sisters with some clever shots but after securing a break in the first game of the second set, the Williams sisters lifted a notch, breaking back and eventually sending the match into a decider.
Ruano Pascual and Suarez came back inspired at the start of the third set, breaking Venus in the first game. They could have led 3-0 if they had been able to win just one of six break points on Serena's serve.
The sisters then steadied and stole back the momentum, winning the last five games of the match to secure their sixth Grand Slam doubles title together.
When serving for the match, Venus fired a 201km/hr serve to secure three match points over the world's two highest-ranked doubles players.
In her acceptance speech, Venus dedicated the win to their mother, Oracene, who was watching from the stands.
Fabrice Santoro and Michael Llodra became the first French team since 1928 to win the Australian Open men's title by upsetting top seeds Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor.
Santoro and Llodra, seeded eighth, proved too strong for the Canadian duo, winning 6-4, 3-6, 6- 3.
It was a replay of last year's Australian Open doubles decider, which was won by Knowles, from the Bahamas, and Canadian Nestor. Despite their win last year, Knowles and Nestor have now lost six of their seven Grand Slam finals appearances.
For the French combination, it was a first major win and the first for a French team in Melbourne since Jean Borotra and Jacques Brugnon's win.
"I always had a thought that I might some day win a Grand Slam title in doubles, but now that it's happened it's just incredible against the No 1 team," said Santoro.
Knowles and Nestor, who have won 17 career titles as a team and a total of 50 between them with various partners, were bitterly disappointed at Saturday's loss. Nestor said it was "probably the best we have played in a Grand Slam final and we lost".
"They played unbelievable," he added. "We have played them twice before and not seen them play like that."
And in mixed doubles, Martina Navratilova became the oldest player to win a Grand Slam title, partnering Leander Paes to glory at the Australian Open. It was the 46-year-old's 57th major title of her career and came 29 years after her first.
She and doubles expert Paes defeated Todd Woodbridge of Australia and Greek Eleni Daniilidou 6-4, 7-5.
The Australian Open mixed doubles title was the only Grand Slam title which had previously eluded Navratilova in a career which began in 1973.
As Woodbridge hit the net on match point after 97 minutes, Navratilova screamed "yes", raised her eyes to the sky and embraced her Indian partner.
The crowd gave her a standing ovation after she matched the feat of Australian Margaret Court who completed a sweep of titles at all the Slams in the 1960s before tennis turned professional.
"This goes beyond any wildest dream," said Navratilova, who was playing in her first Grand Slam final in almost eight years. "The support has been amazing. I'm sorry I haven't come back here for such a long time, but I guarantee it won't be another 13 years before I come back again."
Australia's Woodbridge, who has 18 Grand Slam titles including six in mixed, was in awe of his opponent. "Martina is amazing -- I had an opportunity to play with her at Wimbledon. I'm a little disappointed because she didn't play as well then," he said. "She says she's still improving, so God help us all."
It was her 57th Grand Slam title, combining her singles (18), mixed (8) and women's doubles (31) titles and in doing so, the American also broke the record for the oldest ever winner of a Grand Slam crown. Navratilova's 57 Grand Slam titles place her second on the all-time list behind Court with 62.
