The currently first seed Andre Agassi of the United States scored an easy victory of 6-1, 6-2 over Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador and started his final surge to win the ATP Tour World Championship in Hanover of Germany.

Agassi is bidding for his second title in the season-ending championship, which he won in 1990, the first time it was staged in Germany. The elite 3.6 million US-dollar event is leaving Germany after this year and will be staged in Lisbon, Portugal in 2000.

Lapentti is one of the four rookies in the event, while Agassi is assured of ending the year as No. 1 even if he fails to win the title.

The eight players are split into two groups, with the top two from each pool advancing from the round-robin portion into the semifinals.