Nadal won a battle of generations Sunday with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Andre Agassi at the $2.45-million US Rogers Cup at Uniprix Stadium. It was the top-seeded Spaniard's first career win on a hardcourt, his third victory in a row and his ATP-tour-leading ninth tournament win of the year. His eight previous wins, including the French Open, were on slower clay courts.
"I don't want to think about it because I always want to stay the same," Nadal said of his breakthrough season and the consensus opinion that he will be the sports' next superstar.

"I only want to think about next week. I'm happy I've won a grand slam, three Masters Series and five (other) tournaments, but I can't think about that now. I'll think about it at the end of the year."

The 19-year-old Nadal's mystifying left-handed shotmaking got the better of the 35-year-old Agassi, who was missing the lines with his winners in a baseline battle interrupted 58 minutes after the first set by rain.

"It's easy to see why he's won so many matches," said Agassi. "He's just a great mover on the court and he gets good power from stretched positions, so you're never sure if you have control of a point.

"His serve was more awkward than I anticipated. If you don't get a good return, he immediately gets on the offence. That's the sign of a great player."

After the loss Agassi withdrew from the Cincinnati Masters, which starts Monday. Agassi is a three-time champion of the event.

Nadal, who has a 16-match winning streak, won $400,000 while Agassi pocketed $200,000.

No. 4 Agassi, who was coming off a win in Los Angeles two weeks ago, ended a 10-match winning run.

It was the first meeting between Nadal and Agassi, who has won 60 tournaments, including eight grand slams, in his 19-year career.

While Nadal had shown before he's a good hardcourt player, he silenced skeptics who doubted he could win on the quicker surface. In his previous hardcourt final this year, he lost to world No. 1 Roger Federer in Miami in March, despite leading 2-0 in sets and 4-1 in the third set.

This win should be a boost going into the U.S. Open on hardcourts later this month.

"It's very important," said Nadal. "I know I can play good on hard because I had good scores this year.

"But I've got confidence now. I hope to play at the same level next week because it's good for the confidence - for the U.S. Open especially."

Nadal reached, passed or threatened a string of milestones with the win.

His tour-leading 65 match wins this year is second best ever by a teenager to Boris Becker's 69 in 1986. The last teenager to win the Canadian tournament was Michael Chang in 1990, when he was 18.

Agassi's last loss to a teenaged player in a final was in 1990, when he was beaten by a 19-year-old Pete Sampras.

And Nadal has the most wins by a teenager since Agassi won 63 in 1988. His ninth tournament victory tied Mats Wilander in 1983 as the most by a player under 20.

Nadal began the year ranked 51st by the ATP and has climbed to No. 2 with nine victories - one more than Federer.

Even the popular Spaniard, decked out for the beach in three-quarter length white pants, a sleeveless shirt and a bandanna, had to fight for favour from the 11,400 fans at Uniprix Stadium against the revered Agassi, who won the Canadian event in 1992, 1994 and 1995.

Even after Agassi lost, the crowd chanted his name until he stood up and waved and he then got a standing ovation.

The two had some spectacular rallies, with Nadal repeatedly running down cross-court shots that looked impossible to reach.

Nadal had lost only one of 53 service games in the tournament going into the final, and held nine more times before Agassi broke his medium-speed but precisely placed serve in the final game of the second set.

But Nadal didn't collapse. Instead, he became more aggressive on court and broke a faltering Agassi for 2-1 and 4-1 leads in the final set.

"In every match you have important points," said Nadal. "If you stay tough mentally, you can win those points.

"After the rain stopped, he changed his strategy. He put his backhand on my backhand always. He surprised me. I needed to play a little more aggressive to try for the victory and I did that."

It was Nadal's fourth final of the year in a Masters Series event - the nine tournaments ranked just below grand slams in prize money and importance - and his third win.

It was the first time Agassi has lost after reaching a Masters Series final since Miami in 1998, ending an eight-match winning run.

The 16-year age gap between finalists was the largest since 1979, when 35-year-old Tom Okker beat 19-year-old Per Hjertquist in Tel Aviv.

Nadal, coming off wins at Bastad and Stuttgart, has not lost since falling to Gilles Muller of France in the second round at Wimbledon.

Nadal was beaten in the first round by Lleyton Hewitt in his Rogers Cup debut last year in Toronto. He is the first Spaniard to win since Manuel Orestes in 1975.

It may have helped Nadal that Federer did not play the Rogers Cup due to injury and that hardcourt aces Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt were knocked out in the first round.

Nadal is 10-2 in finals in his career, with both losses on hardcourts, but his record on hardcourts is strong - 31-16 in his career and 16-4 this year. He just plays more on clay, where his record is 74-12.

Both players plan to play this week in Cincinnati, although Agassi said it will depend on how he feels on Monday morning after a tough week of tennis.

No. 1 seeds who have reached finals are now 20-0 on the ATP tour this year.

In the doubles final, fourth-seeded Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe beat Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram of Israel 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-0. Black and Ullyett split $99,300 while Erlich and Ram got $51,650.

Organizers announced that 172,683 spectators watched the week-long tournament, breaking the record of 166,442 at the women's Rogers Cup in Montreal in 2004.