8 - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - Monday, September 12, 1994 Agassi becomes first-ever unseeded player to win U.S. Open NEW YORK (AP) - Andre Agassi, navigating the most perilous path to the U.S. Open championship in history, battered Michael Stich from the start yesterday and slammed him with a shot at his wrist at the end of a thoroughly ruthless performance. Agassi never lost his serve in his 6- 1, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 victory, putting on such a commanding show that he beat the former Wimbledon champion in every phase of the game. "I'm still inastateofshock,"Agassi said after receiving the $550,000 winner's check and the silver trophy. Girlfriend Brooke Shields stood by, snapping photos of the moment. "It's quite amazing what I pulled off,"Agassi said. "I can't believe it. It's been an incredible two weeks for me." No unseeded player had ever run a gauntletoffiveseeded players asAgassi did. None even beat more than three. To win this title, Agassi had to beat, in order, No. 12 Wayne Ferreira, No. 6 Michael Chang, No. 13 Thomas Mus- ter, No.9 Todd Martin and No.4 Stich. The only other champion to beat five seeds was Vic Seixas in 1954, when 20 players were seeded. No player ever won a Grand Slam dressed like Agassi with his black cap, black shorts and black socks, nor did any other champion have his shoulder- length hair and gold earrings. But the image-is-everything Andre Boy once again proved there is sub- stance behind his style, and it came in the form of rocketing returns of serve, compact groundstrokes and all-court pressure. He played better in this match than he did even in winning Wimbledon two years ago in five sets. Agassi dominated Stich at the start and at the most crucial times later in the match. He broke the German at love in the first game, held with the help of three aces, broke him again in the third game, then held at love for a 4-0 lead. The set was effectively over, and it ended officially after just 24 minutes with a bit of luck for Agassi and a double-fault for Stich. The luck came for Agassi with Stich serving at deuce. They had a rapid exchange, which Agassi capped with a reflex volley on a volley by Stich at his chest. Agassi raised his hands and pranced around the court, as if saying, "I can do no wrong." That shot and show by Agassi rattled Stich enough that he double-faulted to lose the set, his second serve sailing five feet long. Stich got his serve working in the second set, holding all the way to the tiebreaker. But Agassi gained the ad- vantage he needed in the tiebreaker with a bullet backhand return that ticked the net cord and threw off Stich as he came in. Stich dumped the half-volley into the net to fall behind 4-2, and Agassi served out the set. Nothing was working for Stich, least of all his most important weapon -his serve. His frustration was visible in the way he bowed his head and it was audible in the way he shouted angrily at umpire David Littlefield, asking him at one point, "Are you American?" Littlefield, from Florida, didn't pe- nalize Stich for any of his repeated outbursts, and he let Stich have his way when he asked for a change of a lines- man. "I was holding serve so handily, it threw him for a loop," Agassi said. In the final set, when Agassi broke Stich for the last time for a6-5 lead, one of the shots came at close range and hit Stich in the wrist. The aim was pur- poseful. "'m a big guy. I'm easy to hit," Stich said, admitting he would have done the same himself. "I just wanted to make him a little hesitant to get that close to the net," Agassi said. "I don't come here to hit somebody, I just wanted to win the point." Agassi tossed away his racket and dropped to his knees when his last backhand into an open court sealed the match. Stich came over to help him up and hug him. Agassi,24, wonWimbledonin 1992 and reached the final of Grand Slam events two other times - the U.S. Open and the French Open in 1990. "Nothing can touch my winning Wimbledon," Agassi said. "Nobody believed I could win it. Winning this has its own place. It's the greatest thing I experienced after Wimbledon. "I can't believe it's all over. I can't believe I did this." Stich, a month shy of 26, won Wimbledon in 1991, his only other Grand Slam final appearance. 1 Baseball officials "Simplify, simplify" Henry David Thoreau "Hey, that's not a bad idea' AT&T pick up strike talks NEW YORK (AP)-Negotiations may resume today, and even then it may be too little and too late to save what's left of the baseball season. Acting commissioner Bud Selig, who on Friday allowed his deadline for canceling the World Series to pass, said yesterday there was a possibility talks would restart. "Let's hope so," the Brewers owner said in a telephone interview from his home in Milwaukee. "There isn't any- thing scheduled right now." Selig, who went to the Green Bay Packers' game on Sunday, said he will make an announcement about the season by Wednesday evening, the start of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement. Officials on both sides expect him to make the stun- ning announcement that the World Series won't be played for the first time since 1904. "Tomorrow there will be a lot of internal meetings," he said. Boston Red Sox chief executive officer John Harrington said when he left New York on Saturday that he intended to return at the start of the week. Harrington and Colorado Rockies chairmanJerryMcMorris were involved in efforts to create a compro- mise last week, but Selig personally entered the talks for the first time Fri- day and rejected the players' new pro- posal. "If there's any reason, I'll be back there fairly quickly," Selig said. "We'll continue to try if there is any vestige of hope left." Union head Donald Fehr spent Sunday afternoon at his office, then returned home to suburban Westchester. Management negotia- tor Richard Ravitch, who attended the U.S. Open tennis tournament Saturday, spent Sunday at his home, also in Westchester. "Nothing has happened as far as I know," Fehr said. "We haven't heard from anybody." The strike reaches its 32nd day to- day, matching the 1990 lockout as baseball's second-longest stoppage behind the 50-day strike of 1981. Talks broke off Friday, with offi- cials on both sides wondering why owners didn't take the framework the union proposed and counter with dif- ferent numbers. Players proposed a 1-11/2 percent revenue "tax" on the top 16 teams by revenue and a 1-1/2 percent pay- roll "tax" on the top 16 teams by payroll. While the union has said it won't accept any absolute restrictions on free agency, several sources said it is pre- pared to accept mechanisms that would slow the escalation of salaries for play- ers making the most money as long as the rules wouldn't impede free agent movement. 0 a' a AT&T Universal MasterCard.i The credit, cash and calling card. All in one.