When Michael Chang outlasted Thomas Enqvist on Saturday night in the semifinals of the ATP Championship, Andre Agassi got what he wanted.
Not because Agassi thinks Chang will be easy to beat in Sunday's final - just the opposite."It requires so much persistence" to beat Chang, Agassi said after handling Thomas Muster 6-4, 6-1 in the afternoon semifinal. "It requires that discipline, that focus, that commitment. You have to dig down pretty deep. When you walk off the court, you feel pretty good about it."
Chang advanced to his fourth straight ATP Championship final by finally overcoming Thomas Enqvist 6-1, 2-6, 6-2. It was the first time Chang beat the Swede after three losses.
That set up a rematch of last year's championship, won by Agassi 7-5, 6-2. Chang won the ATP title the previous two years.
"It's interesting because Andre and I are so different," Chang said. "He's kind of a showman personality. In many ways, he's a charismatic player and person. People who don't know tennis still identify Andre. I tend to keep things on a more private level and am a lot more conservative."
du Maurier Open
MONTREAL - Top-seeded Monica Seles beat unseeded Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia 6-0, 6-3 Saturday night to advance to the championship match of the du Maurier Open tennis tournament.
The defending tournament champion will meet the 1992 and 1994 du Maurier winner, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, who eliminated Kimberly Po 6-0, 6-4.
"It's just another match for me - nothing special," Sanchez Vicario said. "I'm having a great tournament. I'll just play my game and see what happens."
They haven't met since Seles beat Sanchez Vicario in the final of the 1992 U.S. Open. Sanchez Vicario's only victory in 11 matches against Seles was in the du Maurier final at Montreal in 1992.
San Marino International
SAN MARINO - Alberto Costa won a hard-fought tiebreaker to defeat unseeded Marcelo Charpentier 6-4, 7-6 (11-9) on Saturday, setting up an all-Spanish final against Felix Mantilla in the $300,000 San Marino International men's tennis tournament.
Costa, the top seed, had a tough time before eliminating Charpentier, the tournament's surprise from Argentina who ranks 193rd in the world.
Earlier, Mantilla, the second seed, defeated fellow Spaniard Javier Sanchez 7-5, 6-4.
Styrian Open
MARIA LANKOWITZ, Austria - Top-seeded Barbara Paulus of Austria advanced to the final of the Styrian Open women's tennis tournament, beating unseeded Stephanie De Ville of Belgium 6-1, 7-5 Saturday.
Paulus, ranked 16th in the world, will face Sandra Cecchini on Sunday. Cecchini defeated Silivia Talaja of Croatia 6-3, 6-2 in the other semifinal.
Citibank Champions
HARRISON, N.Y. - Top-seeded Andres Gomez beat Tim Wilkison 6-2, 6-7 (7-3), 7-6 (8-6) on Saturday in a quarterfinal match of the over-35 Citibank Champions tennis tournament.
In other matches, No. 2 Jimmy Connors beat Mansour Bahrami 7-6 (7-3), 1-6, 6-2 and Johan Kriek beat No. 3 John Lloyd 6-7 (7-2), 6-2, 6-1.