Hewitt and Agassi came into the season-ending Sydney showpiece ranked two and three in the 2001 Champions Race, and both within reach of overhauling Kuerten, who had a 48-point lead.

With 20 points from each of his opening wins against Sebastien Grosjean and Agassi, Hewitt has now slashed Kuerten's lead to just eight points.

Hewitt is aiming to become the youngest player to finish the season as number one since the introduction of the ATP rankings in 1973. Agassi is aiming to be the oldest.

Kuerten, who lost his opening match to Goran Ivanisevic, is vying to hold the top spot for the second successive year and defend the Masters Cup he won last season in Portugal.

In a stuttering start, both players won their opening serve before trading breaks to remain level at 3-3, when Hewitt held his serve, firing an ace to go 40-30 and then charging the net as Agassi sent an overhead long.

Agassi double faulted at 30-40 in the next game and the Australian served out for the set in 40 minutes with a booming first serve.

Hewitt broke Agassi to love in the opening game of the second set and took a 2-0 lead before Agassi managed to hold his serve for only the second time in the match.

Agassi, a seven-time Grand Slam winner, then saved three break points before holding to go 3-2 and got back on level terms by breaking Hewitt in the next game.

But Hewitt struck back immediately, earning two break points before Agassi double faulted at 15-40, and then fired two aces as he won his next game to love.

Serving for the match, Hewitt had to save two break points to seal the win when Agassi put a backhand into the net.