Hewitt rules the world as Agassi slumps

Lleyton Hewitt will finish the year as world No1 after Andre Agassi, his nearest challenger, was dumped out of the Masters Cup here in China yesterday by Juan Carlos Ferrero.

It was somewhat ironic that, after spending the year clinging to the No1 ranking by his fingertips, Hewitt's fate was decided by a double fault from Agassi's racket. The seven-times grand slam champion hit a second serve two inches long when trying to save Ferrero's fifth match point in a third-set tie-break, thereby handing the Spaniard a 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 win and allowing Hewitt to breathe a hefty sigh of relief.

So, for the second year running, Hewitt collected the Waterford crystal trophy that goes with finishing No1. He is only the seventh man since rankings were introduced in 1973 to achieve what he called "the greatest honour in tennis" in consecutive years. Still only 21, he has gone from prodigy to legend without skipping a beat.

Later the Australian somehow kept his feelings in check long enough to cope with a rampant Marat Safin in the last of his round-robin matches, winning 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

Given that Hewitt admitted afterwards that it scarcely mattered to him now whether he made the Masters Cup semi-finals or not, it was a testament to his extraordinary competitiveness that he managed to outlast the Russian.

As it stands, the win may still not be enough to put him in the last four. If Albert Costa pulls off an unlikely victory against Carlos Moya today, Hewitt will be on the first plane back to Adelaide.

As for Agassi, once he had lost and therefore had no chance of making the semis he could hardly get to the airport fast enough. Tournament officials said later that the American had aggravated a hip injury and would therefore be unable to play today's scheduled match against the already qualified Roger Federer.

Thomas Johansson will take Agassi's place, which seems a rather unfair exchange for those who have paid the equivalent of £25 a ticket. The average disposable income in these parts is about £80 a month, rather less than the $90,000 (£57,000) Agassi earned in Shanghai despite not winning a match.

At least no one could accuse Hewitt of being work-shy. Safin can blow hot and cold and, true to his contrary personality, he waited until he was almost out of the tournament before putting in a performance straight from the furnace. Against most players it would have been more than enough, but Hewitt is not most players.

While preparing for his match against Safin, he had chosen not to watch Agassi for fear of turning himself into a nervous wreck. Instead he was given regular updates by his friend, Luke Smith, who had been detailed as a runner.

Smith must have had his work cut out, given the fluctuations of the Agassi match, but he did at least have the pleasure of delivering the good news. "He was pretty excited, my mate," said Hewitt. "I think he was more excited than I was when he found out. My reaction was definitely relief in a lot of ways."

Relief and surprise, given that 10 months ago he was lying in his sickbed, knocked down by chickenpox and desolate after his brave attempt to play the Australian Open ended in first-round defeat to Alberto Martin.

"If you'd have told me in January that I'd be sitting here with the No1 trophy I'd have laughed, what with the way I was feeling then," he said. "The way I bounced back from that is probably the most special thing about winning it again."