Sports briefs March 17, 2005

Thursday, March 17, 2005 | 10:16 a.m.

Agassi dazzling; Federer beats Ljubicic

Nearing 35, Andre Agassi still has plenty of bounce in his step -- and his game.

Agassi rolled to a 6-4, 6-1 victory Wednesday against Guillermo Coria at the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, Calif., both frustrating and amusing his Argentine opponent with some circus-like shots.

In a night match, No. 1 Roger Federer beat Ivan Ljubicic for the fourth time in as many matches this year, winning 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4). The Swiss star's other three wins over the Croatian all came in finals.

Agassi, on the way to winning the first set against Coria, sprinted from the net to the backcourt to successfully return a lob, hitting the ball between his knees with his back to the net.

In the second set, Agassi ranged far to his left to chase down a hard, deep shot. He managed not only to get his racket on the ball, but to power a backhand that landed about an inch inside the lines in the rear right corner on Coria's side.

Coria rolled his eyes and looked skyward in disbelief as the crowd roared.

Big three go after No. 1 ranking

Three times last year, Ernie Els went to a major championship with a chance to become No. 1 in the world for the first time since 1998.

His next opportunity started today at the Bay Hill Invitational.

A tournament that already features the "Big Three" for the first time since January is even more intriguing with the No. 1 spot in the world ranking up for grabs among Els, Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh.

"One of the goals is to win major championships, but I'd love to be No. 1," Els said. "I've been kind of hovering around there for the last year or so, and my game is really good. I want to play as well as I can this week, and who knows? If it's my week, I might be able to win."

Green Valley grad is player of the week

UNLV's men's program marked its third Mountain West Conference tennis player of the week honor as repeat honoree Joel Kielbowicz was announced by the league.

Kielbowicz also won the award on Feb. 23 just a week after teammate Henner Nehles earned the honor.

A junior, Kielbowicz is ranked 91st in the nation in singles and went a combined 5-1 last weekend to help his team to victories over two ranked opponents.

A graduate of Green Valley High School, Kielbowicz has won nine consecutive matches to improve to 14-5 overall.