Andre Agassi Beats James Blake To Win PowerShares Series Title In Houston

Written by: Staff on 21st February 2014

Andre Agassi Beats James Blake To Win PowerShares Series Title In Houston

epa02770638 American former tennis player Andre Agassi jokes with his racket during exhibition match against Jiri Novak of Czech Republic in Prague, Czech Republic, 07 June 2011. EPA/FILIP SINGER |

Andre Agassi and James Blake played one of the most memorable U.S. Open matches of all time in 2005, Agassi coming back from two-sets-to-love down to win in a fifth-set tiebreaker in an epic quarterfinal. On Thursday night at the Toyota Center, Agassi and Blake faced each other for the first time since that U.S. Open classic, producing some familiar refrains from their defining confrontation, albeit with considerably less tension, as Agassi again emerged victorious 6-4 in the one-set championship match at the Camden Wealth Advisors Cup, the sixth event on the 2014 PowerShares Series tennis circuit.

Agassi, playing in his first PowerShares Series tournament of the year, won a furiously-fought final game of the match, breaking Blake’s serve in a 12-deuce game and clinching the victory on his sixth match point. On Agassi’s first match point, he stepped around a forehand return of serve and went for a winner up-the-line, the exact shot he took on the ad-side of the court when up 7-6 in the fifth-set tie-breaker from their famous 2005 match. While Agassi’s forehand landed on the line for a winner to close out his win in 2005, his first attempt Thursday landed in the net, causing Blake to shout to Agassi “Why didn’t you do that at the Open!”

Agassi tried the exact same shot on his second match point two points later, missing it wide. After he missed one other forehand return-of-serve on a match point, Agassi finally closed out the win 18 points later when Blake netted a forehand. The win was Agassi’s sixth of his career on the PowerShares Series, the U.S. tennis circuit for champion tennis players over the age of 30.

Following the win, Agassi explained to reporters his motivations for continuing to play competitive tennis on the PowerShares Series, that features one-night events with two one-set semifinals and a one-set championship match over a six-week season.

“I like not having as much drama and being able to take it in and enjoy it,” Agassi said. “I like the format because it allows you to balance your life but come out for one good go and sort of not worry about the training and the how-far-can-I-push-myself kind of thing. It’s a nice contained evening and being around the guys who you fought with for decades.”

In the semifinals earlier in the night, Agassi beat Jim Courier 6-4. Blake beat Andy Roddick 6-3 in the other semifinal, avenging his loss the previous evening in the tournament final in Denver.

With the tournament win, Agassi earned 400 points in the PowerShares Series rankings. John McEnroe leads the rankings with 1200 points followed by Courier with 900 points and Roddick with 500 points. Agassi sits in a tie for fourth place with 400 points with Blake, who earned 200 points with a runner-up showing for the second straight night. Michael Chang, Ivan Lendl and Mark Philippoussis each have 300 points to rank in a three-way tie for sixth place.

The PowerShares Series continues Tuesday, February 25 in Salt Lake City when Pete Sampras makes his 2014 PowerShares Series debut, joining Blake, Courier and John McEnroe in the field. Good tickets for all PowerShares Series events are still available starting at $25 at www.PowerSharesSeries.com. VIP packages – including meet-and-greet and play-with-the-pros on-court opportunities – are also available here http://m1e.net/c?136411415-/ID2qN7IkuCH6%4076716937-o5rH5cmE1g90s by email to VIP@insideoutse.com, or by phone at 253.315.4299.

The remaining 2014 Power Shares Series schedule with field of players are as follows:

Tuesday, February 25, Salt Lake City, Energy Solutions Arena – Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Jim Courier, James Blake

Wednesday, February 26, Sacramento, Sleep Train Arena – Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Jim Courier, James Blake

Thursday, February 27, Portland, Moda Center – Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Jim Courier, James Blake

Wednesday, March 12, Nashville, Bridgestone Arena – John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Jimmy Connors, Pat Cash

Thursday, March 13, Charlotte, Time Warner Arena – John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Jimmy Connors, Pat Cash

Friday, March 21, Surprise, Surprise Stadium – Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, Todd Martin, Michael Chang

ABOUT INSIDEOUT SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT

InsideOut Sports + Entertainment is a New York City-based independent producer of proprietary events and promotions founded in 2004 by former world No. 1 and Hall of Fame tennis player Jim Courier and former SFX and Clear Channel executive Jon Venison. In 2005, InsideOut launched its signature property, the Champions Series, a collection of tournaments featuring the greatest names in tennis over the age of 30. In addition, InsideOut produces many other successful events including “Legendary Night” exhibitions, charity events and corporate outings. Since inception, InsideOut Sports + Entertainment has have raised over $4 million for charity. For more information, please log on to www.InsideOutSE.com or www.powersharesseries.com or follow on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

ABOUT INVESCO POWERSHARES

Invesco PowerShares Capital Management LLC is Leading the Intelligent ETF Revolution® through its family of more than 140 domestic and international exchange-traded funds, providing advisors and investors access to an innovative array of focused investment opportunities. With franchise assets over $66.7 billion as of June 29, 2012, PowerShares ETFs trade on both U.S. stock exchanges. For more information, please visit us at invescopowershares.com or follow us on Twitter @PowerShares.

ABOUT POWERSHARES QQQ

PowerShares QQQ™, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on the NASDAQ-100 Index®, is one of the largest and most traded ETFs in the world. Under most circumstances, QQQ will consist of all of the stocks in the index which includes 100 of the largest domestic and international nonfinancial companies listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market based on market capitalization.

Topics: 10sballs, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, James Blake, Jim Courier, John Mcenroe, Michael Chang, Pete Sampras, PowerShares Series, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, US Open

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10sBalls_com says:

February 21, 2014 at 7:15 am

Andre Agassi Beats James Blake To Win PowerShares Series Title In Houston – http://t.co/F0uV4gW3Pp @AndreAgassi #PowerShares #news #tennis
MayneNicholls says:

February 21, 2014 at 9:39 am

RT @jafernandezi: Ayer en Houston @CamdenWealthCup @andreagassi cautivó c/su #Tennis y simpatía. Ganó final a James Blake http://t.co/JjP1c…