It's lucky 13 for Agassi

Andre Agassi ended a 13-year wait with a straight-sets win over Tommy Haas to claim the ATP Masters Series event in Rome.

Exactly 13 years after wasting a championship point against Alberto Mancini, Agassi, the No9 seed, grasped his chance by defeating the German 6-3, 6-3, 6-0.

The victory gave the 32-year-old his 14th Tennis Masters Series titles in six different venues.

Agassi was in no mood to hang around, and dominated the encounter from start to finish.

The American broke in the fifth game of the opening set to lead 3-2 before Haas' double fault left him serving to win.

It did not get any better for Haas in the second set either, and when Agassi broke his serve to lead 3-1, it was always going to be a long way back.

An immediate break of serve for Agassi at the start of the third finally broke the German's spirit, and Agassi powered away.

"Today was a great day for me," said Agassi, who moves into second position in the ATP Champions Race. "It couldn't be more perfect than to come here and do so well. You realise, as you size up all these tournaments outside the Grand Slams, that this has as much, if not probably more history, than all of them. It is just an honour for me to win."

Haas said: "You have to win the big points, especially against somebody like Andre when he's playing like he did this week. If you don't, he just punishes you left and right."