Agassi wins player of month award

Runaway Champions Race leader Andre Agassi has been named ATP player of the month for March following his back-to-back Tennis Masters Series victories in Indian Wells and the Ericsson Open in Miami.

Jan-Michael Gambill, who climbed from 42nd to third in the Champions Race 2001, has been named the ATP's rising star of the month.

Agassi, with a 249-point lead at the top of the Champions Race rankings which count only points earned in 2001, won his fifth different Tennis Masters Series title with a straight-set demolition of Pete Sampras in Indian Wells.

He then won a record fourth Ericsson Open title last weekend -- his third major title of the year -- and a record 12th Masters Series event.

The 30-year-old has a 22-2 record for the year, his best start since 1995 (29-2), and is unbeaten in his last 11 matches.

Agassi was also named the Player of the Month in January after winning his seventh Grand Slam crown at the Australian Open.

Gambill, 23, won the singles and doubles titles at Delray Beach before reaching the quarter-finals in Indian Wells and the final of the Ericsson Open -- his first Tennis Masters Series final.

He earned 145 ATP Champions Race points in March, and compiled a 15-3 record during the period, with two of those defeats coming at the hands of Agassi.