The pink spandex is long gone, as are the denim shorts and the flowing, two-tone hair. He recently packed up his fashionable Nike sneakers for the last time after 15 years and thousands of miles, trading them in for a more practical pair of Adidas. From teenage “rebel” to glamorous celebrity to a bald father of two who plays most of his tennis in white shorts, white shirts, and a baseball cap, Andre Agassi has aged far better than anyone could have predicted. Last week, after a two-month layoff, he began his final act, and he could not have asked for a smoother beginning.

Playing his first tournament since a sciatic nerve injury nearly forced him to default from the French Open, the 35-year-old Agassi won the Mercedes-Benz Cup in Los Angeles yesterday over Gilles Muller, 6-4, 7-5. It was the 60th title of Agassi’s career, his fourth in Los Angeles, and the 15th since he turned 30, tying him with Jimmy Connors in that category.

Agassi has now spent the better part of his life as a professional tennis player. This is the 20th season in which he has taken part, dating back to his debut as a 16-year-old in 1986. He now admits to being near the end of his career, though in truth most people believed he would have walked away or burned out years ago. By the look of him after he hit a final forehand winner to finish off Muller, tennis has never been more fun.

“These moments don’t come by too often, and it seems like they’re getting less and less as I get older,” he said afterward. “It just feels amazing to be out here, to be healthy, to be eager, to be playing this sport at a time in my life when I can enjoy it.”

Agassi’s only previous meeting with Muller was far less pleasant. The 22-year-old lefthander from Luxembourg upset Agassi in the semifinal of last year’s Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C. This time around, Agassi showed that he had learned a thing or two.

Muller serves big and goes for broke on most of his forehands. If he finds the court, the results are often deadly. If he doesn’t, games end quickly, as did all of Agassi’s service games in the first set (he lost just two points). Deflecting the first couple of bullets, Agassi said, was the key to success.

“If you can fight that off, then at the end of the day, he’s playing low percentage,” he said.

Though the unseeded Muller might seem an unlikely finalist, his arrival yesterday was less surprising considering the thin field at this year’s tournament. Andy Roddick dropped out to rest a sore knee and Taylor Dent took a pass to recover from heat exhaustion that forced him to retire last weekend in Indianapolis. With Roger Federer and Marat Safin sidelined and Lleyton Hewitt resting, Agassi rose to the top of the seeding chart, followed by Slovakia’s Dominik Hrbaty.

There could not have been a better tournament for Agassi to test out his creaky back, which will need cortisone shots for the foreseeable future. He faced only two players inside the top 50 and lost one set, to Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan in the quarterfinals. Muller gave him a bit of trouble in the second set of the final, even earning a set point while leading 5-4 after ripping two forehand winners, one off Agassi’s serve. But he fired his next forehand into the net on a short second serve. Agassi would not face another threat.

Agassi still has three events on his calendar before the U.S. Open, putting him in strong contention for a chance to win the U.S. Open Series and double his prize money in Flushing. It’s doubtful, however, that he will play all three events, considering his health. Moreover, Agassi has not had much need for prize money in the last dozen years. The July 4 issue of Sports Illustrated ranked him second, behind Tiger Woods, in terms of yearly income among professional athletes: almost $1.2 million in prize money, and $44.5 million in endorsements.

Where the U.S. Open Series cash could come in handy is for his charitable foundation and college preparatory academy in Las Vegas, which raised $11 million last year, tops among athletes, according to Sports Illustrated. The foundation was the reason Agassi left Nike for Adidas, saying that the latter offered more money for the charity over the long term. If Agassi doubles his U.S. Open prize, chances are he’ll give it all away. Heck, he was even ready to hock the Raymond Weil watch he won yesterday for beating Muller.

“That’s what you call an eBay watch,” said Agassi, looking at the trinket as if it were pink with yellow stripes. The crowd gasped at his put down, but Agassi regained their support in an instant. “If I did sell it, it would only go to my foundation, I promise.” As of last night, “Nevada60” had yet to put his latest bounty up for auction.

***

The first final of the women’s summer hard-court season was a humdrum affair, as Belgian Kim Clijsters allowed a listless Venus Williams to defeat herself 7-5, 6-2 at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, Calif., yesterday.

The tenacity that propelled Williams to the Wimbledon title took the afternoon off, just a day after it reemerged to save five match points against Patty Schnyder in the semifinals on Saturday.

Both players were sloppy in the first set, breaking serve seven times while sprinkling in a few fine shots. Once Williams let slip a chance to take the set at 5-4 on her serve, Clijsters ran away with the match. Leading 4-1 in the second set, Williams – whose first serve had slowed to the mid-80s – was clearly not going to engineer another narrow escape.

If there’s anyone who can play scrappy, scrambling tennis better than Williams, it’s Clijsters. She moves as well as anyone on tour and makes few mistakes, though she was uncharacteristically wild in the first set. As the women head to San Diego this week, followed by Los Angeles and Toronto, Clijsters – who loves the U.S. hard courts – is a favorite to continue her ascent toward the top five after a wrist injury that nearly ended her career.

Lindsay Davenport, still ranked no. 1, has dropped out of this week’s Acura Classic with a back injury, as has Maria Sharapova (back sprain) and Serena Williams (left ankle). Justine Henin-Hardenne continues to rest her hamstring and may not make a hardcourt appearance until August 15 in Toronto.

Venus Williams, meanwhile, will skip this week and then travel to a smaller tournament in Stockholm next week, rather than play a U.S. Open Series tournament in Los Angeles. If she stays healthy, Clijsters should clean up as her colleagues recover.