Four-time Grand Slam champion Jim Courier held off a crowd-pleasing Andre Agassi 8-7 (3) to win the PowerShares QQQ Challenge at the United Center in Chicago on Thursday night. Tournament officials estimated that the crowd on Thursday marked the largest so far this year for a Champions Series event.
Throughout the match championship match, both players exchanged crushing ground strokes and serves as if they were still in their prime on the ATP World Tour.
However, no player saw a real chance to break serve until Courier was up 7-6 and held triple break point on Agassi’s serve. The New York City native, who co-founded InsideOut Sports + Entertainment with Jon Venison, couldn’t convert on his first three chances or his fourth, allowing Agassi to hold serve and extend the match to a final set tiebreak.
Agassi, a Las Vegas native who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame this past summer in Newport, started off the tiebreak by smashing a forehand that was nonreturnable for Courier. The 60-time singles champion on the ATP World Tour immediately began high-fiving spectators sitting in the best seats in the arena.
Courier, a former world No. 1 and 2005 inductee into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, eventually earned crucial mini-break to go up 4-2 when Agassi tossed in a double fault.
He never looked back as he was able to earn a 6-3 lead on an Agassi forehand unforced error, followed by a double fault to earn the title.
“I feel like I relaxed a lot more in the finals,” said Courier.
The win marked Courier’s first title this year in a Champions Series Tennis event.
“It was a disappointing way to end, but I did my best to hang in there tonight,” said Agassi. “It just wasn’t quite enough.”
Earlier in the evening in the highly anticipated semifinal match between Agassi and John McEnroe, the hard-hitting former Bollettieri student was able to get the crucial break of serve against the 52-year-old lefty at 4-all to earn a 6-4 victory, much to the crowds’ approval. The spectators even got to enjoy seeing McEnroe give the Chair Umpire an ear full after several bad line calls. While on tour, the head-to-head series was tied at 2-all.
“I was feeling pretty good,” said McEnroe, who will play his next Champions Series match tonight in St. Louis.
Courier earned his spot in the title match with Agassi by defeating Todd Martin 6-3, to spoil the Midwest natives return to the Windy City. Martin played two years of collegiate tennis at Northwestern University in suburban Chicago before turning pro.
Agassi’s semifinal win helped him remain in second place in the official 2011 Champions Series standings. Pete Sampras still holds a commanding lead in the Series with a 700-point advantage over Agassi with just two events remaining in St. Louis and Buffalo. Only the Top 3 finishers at the end of the 2011 Champions Series will share the one million dollar bonus pool, as Courier moved ahead of Michael Chang into third place by 200 points. The winner of the Series will earn a $500,000 bonus.
TONIGHT’S SCORES
Semifinal 1: Courier def. Martin, 6-3
Semifinal 2: Agassi def. McEnroe, 6-4
Final: Courier def. Agassi , 8-7 (3)
Noteworthy Quotes from the Players when I asked them what they think about Chicago NOT hosting an ATP/WTA Tour tennis tournament:
“It is great to be back – one of the great cities in the world – the truth is they should have professional tennis here. The sports fan in Chicago is sophisticated as they come. They love their sports and there is a huge tennis contingent here that would really support a big event and I would love to see it.” – Andre Agassi
“This is a problem. One of our greatest cities. It is too bad. I have had a lot of great memories here. It would probably help to have some players that are winning majors so people spark some more interest. We have to think of ways to think outside the box.” – John McEnroe
“It would be nice if the ATP were able to be here. The fact of the matter is there is limited space in an already crowded calendar and we have some interesting tournaments in smaller metropolitan areas and that really carries the load – Cincinnati and even Washington DC. Maybe someday, hopefully Chicago will step up and say it’s time, and I’m confident they can support it.” – Todd Martin
“Chicago is a great tennis town!” – Jim Courier