Second seed Andre Agassi dominated third seed Ivan Lendl after dropping the first set Saturday, rolling to a 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 victory in finals of the $1.295 Player's International.
Agassi, who had not beaten Lendl in five previous meetings, took home $170,000. Lendl received $89,895.Agassi and Lendl played to 3-3 in the first set, but Lendl, a six-time Canadian Open champion, took control with his lethal forehand, breaking Agassi at both 4-3 and 6-3.
Agassi answered in the second set when he went up a break and aced Lendl twice to take a 2-0 lead.
"I couldn't take his ball as early as he could take mine," Lendl said. "He was hitting it really hard and early."
Lendl closed to within 2-3, but Agassi played to the net more and improved his service game. He broke Lendl at 5-2 and did not give up as point in the final game of the set.
"I thought we both started really well," Agassi said. It was a battle from the word go. We were really fighting to see who was going to dictate the match. He was stronger than me in the first set, no doubt, but I hung tough.
"I don't know if he withered mentally or physically or what, but I got that lead early in the second to stay on top of him."
Agassi finished in dramatic fashion. Up 5-0 in the third set but trailing 0-30, Agassi served four straight aces to earn his first tournament title since winning Wimbledon.
"The last time I played him was 1989 and I was 150 pounds," Agassi said. "You can't even compare it."
Agassi, who has not given up his image since turning his career around with the victory at Wimbledon, held court with the spectators. When a young woman yelled "Take off your hat, Andre," he retorted, "What about my shorts?"
And when Lendl served an ace immediately after an umpire requested a crying baby be removed from the stands, Agassi yelled, "Bring the baby back."