Agassi's art mesmerises Moya to seal treble

Just when it seemed that all the leading players were either injured or ill, or simply jaded, Andre Agassi stepped up and gave another master class yesterday. The indefatigable 32-year-old from Las Vegas overwhelmed Carlos Moya, six years his junior, 6-3, 6-3, to complete a hat-trick of singles titles at the Nasdaq-100 Open.

It was necessary to remind ourselves that Agassi arrived here after nursing a shoulder injury. His play was a joy in every respect. His crisp, eagle-eyed returns kept Moya on the back foot, his movement was mesmerising, his ground-strokes cleaned the lines, he shrugged off break points, and, most impressive of all, conceded only seven points on his first serve.

"The key was his serve and my serve," said Moya, the Spanish former world No 1 and winner of the 1998 French Open, who was not at all pleased with his display. In common with his compatriot, Albert Costa, the reigning French Open champion, who also lost to Agassi in straight sets in the semi-finals, Moya will now hope to translate his more encouraging matches on the concrete courts here into winning form in the forthcoming clay court season.

Agassi is not easy to catch, however early you wake up in the morning, and Moya was not exactly raring to go for the 11am start. He also said that he would have preferred the customary best of five sets final in this Masters Series event. While the longer distance may have given him a chance to fight his way into the match, Agassi showed no signs of letting up no matter how long he was asked to play for the $500,000 (£320,000) winner's cheque.

Television dictates the schedule, and next year the final is due to revert to five sets. Agassi, who has now won the Key Biscayne tournament six times, intends to return and compete again for the 18th year.

A baseline judge left her chair and spoke to the umpire three times during Saturday's women's singles final to report that Serena Williams was being coached from the front row seats by her father, Richard. Pappa Williams' instructions amounted to little more than fundamentals such as, "Go down the middle, Serena!" But he was breaking the rules, and the umpire had a word with Serena about it.

The deeper significance of her father's agitation did not become clear until Serena, the world No 1 and holder of all four Grand Slam singles titles, had completed an error-strewn victory, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, against her compatriot Jennifer Capriati to retain the title and remain unbeaten in the 17 matches she has played this year.

"I was just being lazy and not working hard enough," the 21-year-old Williams confessed. "I was expecting the win to come without moving my feet. I don't think I've been doing enough practising. I've been hanging out, relaxing, not working. I can't keep doing it like that. There's people out there who's working hard and coming closer."

The admission was startling, not least because Serena's older sister and biggest rival, Venus, 22, had been eliminated in the fourth round by a hard-working fellow American, Meghann Shaughnessy, raising suspicions that her commitment to the sport she once dominated may be on the wane.

Moreover, if a below-par, underprepared Serena is capable of overcoming the best of the opposition outside her immediate family, what does that say about the state of the women's game?

Half an hour before the start of the women's final, Larry Scott, a stalwart of the men's tour, was confirmed as the latest chief executive of the WTA Tour. Among his many goals, Scott promised to pursue the annual campaign for equal prize-money at Wimbledon, a cause hardly likely to shake the resolve of the All England Club. However, promoters of the Nasdaq-100 intend to comply with the WTA's demand for pay parity at their tournament from next year.

While Williams was taking stock of her work ethic, Capriati was rummaging through the reasons for her third consecutive defeat in the Nasdaq final by the Williams family (she held eight match points before losing to Venus in 2001). Capriati, who was marking her 27th birthday, just about had enough breath to blow out the candles after wilting in the third set, having been unable to fight back from 4-0 down in the second set. "It's a matter of believing, getting in better shape and peaking," she said.