Points won by each set: [ 42-41, 34-30, 39-35 ]
Points won directly on serve:
32 % Agassi – 30 of 91
35 % Becker – 47 of 130
Becker was semi-retired between Wimbledons ’97 and ’99. In that two-year period he didn’t play major events, his other starts were irregular as he was looking for his 50th title; advanced to the finals twice (Gstaad ’98, Hong Kong ’99). The HK final was his 14th and last meeting against Agassi (4-10 H2H). The match stretched over two days: first they played just two points when the rain forced them to wait five hours for the resumption under the floodlights. Another rain-break came as Agassi [12] led 2:0* in the decider. They returned on the court on Monday to play 36 minutes (the entire set lasted 48), which was (plus the scoreline in some sense) the reminiscence of a Davis Cup rubber they co-created ten years before. Even though Becker [75] struck 11 aces in the final set, he was broken twice… improved from *1:5 to 4:5* (30/15) and netted his forehand-cross which made him really angry the only time throughout the final. The American converted his fourth match point to claim his first title in Asia. “I’m really pleased,” said Agassi, who entered the tournament on a wild card. “We both played really well today. The thing about Boris is that you can’t let your guard down at any time.”
Agassi’s route to his 40th title:
1 Gianluca Pozzi 6-2, 6-2
2 Oliver Gross 6-2, 6-3
Q Nicolas Kiefer 6-2, 6-2
S Hendrik Dreekmann 6-3, 6-0
W Boris Becker 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4