Spain's Alex Corretja, his fighting spirit rallied by an accidental second-set knockdown, upset Andre Agassi 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in Indianapolis yesterday, to win the £1 million RCA Championship.
Corretja, seeded sixth, fell to the court as he was struck by an Agassi return in the sixth game of the second set.
The fifth-seeded American rushed over to help his opponent up. But afterwards, it was Agassi who went on the slide. Corretja clinched his third title of the year after three sets lasting one hour, 58 minutes.
"It was an accident and I did break him in that game," Corretja said of the incident. "But next time I'd prefer to break him normally."
The victory was the first in America for Corrtja, who will break back into the Top 10, just in time for Wednesday's draw for the US Open, the final Grand Slam of the year that opens August 31st in New York.
Agassi was stung by the failure to earn his third title of the summer, following hardcourt victories in Washington and Los Angeles.
"I had a lot of chances, but I hit some returns short, that's not going to get the job done," Agassi said of the third game in the final set when he had four chances to break the Spaniard.