Fans get their fill as Sampras wins clash of the titans

NEW YORK, SEPT. 6. In one of the greatest matches in tennis history, Pete Sampras edged Andre Agassi to reach the U.S. Open semifinals after an epic confrontation in which neither legend lost a service game.

Sampras outlasted Agassi 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7- 2), 7-6 (7-5) here on Wednesday, taking a dramatic victory after three hours and 32 minutes when Agassi netted a forehand from the baseline.

``I have never had a match like that,'' Sampras said. ``That's about as good as it gets. We both played at a very high level. Going into the match I thought it could be a classic and it was. It all lived up to the expectations.''

The 30-year-old American advanced to a Saturday semifinal clash against defending champion and third-seeded Marat Safin of Russia, who defeated Argentina's 103rd-ranked Mariano Zabaleta 6- 4, 6-4, 6-2.

Sampras lost to Safin 4-6, 3-6, 3-6 in last year's U.S. Open final. He has not won a tournament in 17 starts since capturing his record 13th Grand Slam crown last year at Wimbledon.

``Last time I played Marat here, I was pretty humbled,'' Sampras said. ``I just hope he comes down to earth. As defending champion, I'm sure he will feel more pressure than me.'' Like two gladiators locked in a combat with no quarter asked and no breaks given, Sampras and Agassi staged a duel for the ages on the sport's ultimate stage.

``A night like this makes me realise why it's so special when you beat him because it's not easy to do,'' Agassi said. ``It's certainly a memory I'll never forget. It was quite a powerful evening out there in many respects. I don't think I have the perspective at the moment to stick it in a box and define it so cleanly.''

Virtual dog fight

Precision shotmaking, hour after hour, by Agassi and Sampras had the capacity crowd of 23,033 at Arthur Ashe Stadium applauding nearly every point, sensing that something special was unfolding before them.

``This is definitely right up there,'' Sampras said. ``I knew it was going to be a dog fight, a tough match, a very memorable match for me. I'm sure I'll appreciate it more when it's all done.''

Agassi had a backhand volley go just wide to give Sampras three match points in the fourth set. But after Sampras netted a forehand and double faulted, the tension built, setting the stage for Agassi's final miss.

``When you lose one that close, it's difficult to appreciate much except maybe the standard I made him play,'' Agassi said. ``You just want to make somebody really earn it. That I can feel like I did. I made him earn it. But it's very difficult.''

Sampras allowed Agassi his third break point chance in the eighth game of the fourth set with a long forehand, but rescued himself with his 21st ace, at 116 mph, and then hit two service winners to hold serve.

In the next game, Agassi faced a break point after hitting a forehand long, gritting his teeth as he prepared to serve. Sampras sent a backhand long to miss his seventh break chance of the night, then netted a backhand and forehand to hand Agassi the game.

In the final game before the tie-breaker, Sampras double-faulted to reach 30-30, then swatted a 118 mph second- serve ace and a forehand winner to set up the fourth tie-breaker and spark a standing ovation.

Sampras claimed the second-set tie-breaker by winning the final five points, the last an underhand volley at the net that went over the net.

Sampras was forced to save a break point with a backhand volley in the third set. After that, it was back to the tie-breaker, where Sampras again captured the final five points, the last two on aces of 125 and 108 mph.

Sampras squandered three set points in the first-set tie-breaker. Down 6-3, Agassi saved the first with a forehand winner, the next on a service winner and then made Sampras pay for a short volley with a blur-like forehand winner.

Agassi placed a lob on the line and Sampras netted a forehand to give Agassi his fourth point in a row. Agassi then double faulted, building the suspense, before he aced and hit a forehand winner to claim the set.

``It's a big honour for me to play against Sampras,'' said the 21-year-old Safin. ``It would be perfect preparation for in the final if I win, and if I lose I would be going out against a big guy,'' Safin told about his semifinal tie.

Hewitt advances

Earlier on a sunny, breezy day in Flushing Meadows, fourth-seeded Lleyton Hewitt made the most of a fresh start as he bounced back to win his suspended match against 16th seed Tommy Haas 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals.

Germany's Haas had been leading their fourth round contest 6-3, 2-2 on Tuesday when the match, which had been delayed by rain, was suspended so it would not run into the scheduled night programme.

When play restarted on Wednesday, the 20-year-old Australian took full advantage of the delay and used his speed and consistent groundstrokes to frustrate haas. Hewitt pushed the second set to a tie-break, which he dominated 7-2 after winning the first five points, including three on backhand errors from haas.

The lightning fast Australian maintained his momentum by breaking Haas in the opening game of the third set and never looked back as he set up a two-hour, 46-minute victory, which he ended with a smash on his first match point.

Venus races past Clijsters

Reigning champion Venus Williams moved closer to a possible U.S. Open final showdown against her sister Serena by making a Belgian waffle.

But blocking her title path is a Friday semifinal against French and Australian Open champion Jennifer Capriati. Two-time Wimbledon winner Venus Williams humbled fifth-seeded Kim Clijsters 6-3, 6-1 in 65 minutes here on Wednesday in her first match with the 18-year-old from Belgium.

Second-seeded Capriati, who could become World No. 1 by winning her first U.S. Open title, returned to the semifinals here after a 10-year absence by ousting the eighth seed, Amelie Mauresmo of France 6-3, 6-4.

``Venus is playing really well,'' Capriati said. ``I have never beaten her. I have already done well this year but it would be great to win this one.''

Williams, the fourth seed, is 3-0 against Capriati, including a triumph in the final U.S. Open tune-up at New Haven and in the Miami final. This will be their first Grand Slam meeting. ``It's going to be a big, crazy crowd,'' Capriati said. ``Hopefully I have learned from experience and take advantage of my changes. I'm going to play within myself, not feel like I have to do things because I'm playing her.''

Williams, in the semifinals for the fifth time here in as many tries, deceived Clijsters by mixing the strokes. ``I believe I had a few free points on the serve because of that,'' said Williams. ``Maybe she was expecting a hard one and I would hit it at just a medium pace. She was thrown off. I'm able to mix it up. That was to my advantage.''

Expecting Venus Williams' famed ball-blasting power, Clijsters was startled to find slower shots coming as well. She hesitated, and waffling made all the difference.

``I got a few short balls to finish the point,'' Clijsters said. ``It's always hard. You expect every ball to come hard. Once you get a shorter ball, you don't expect to go forward. You're at the baseline trying to get the ball back.''

``She hits the ball so deep it's hard for you to keep it deep as well. And when you hit it short she finishes off the point. So it's very hard.''

Serena Williams, the 1999 U.S. Open champion, will face Swiss World No. 1 Martina Hingis in the other semifinal. ``One more match to go for each of us,'' Venus Williams said. But we're up against some pretty good players. I guess I'll have to wait and see. If I'm there, I'm going to take the full opportunity to try to make it happen, take another title.''

Asked if she felt tested enough heading into a semifinal, Williams pointed out her 43 unforced errors. ``I tested myself enough,'' Williams said. ``I had quite a few unforced errors. I think that I'm ready to play. If I'm not I've just wasted 12 years of my life practicing.''

Clijsters managed only five winners to 21 for Williams while making 38 unforced errors. ``I couldn't do much about the way she played,'' she said. ``She just had the pressure on me the whole time. That's why I couldn't play my own game.''

``She made a lot of unforced errors. She makes a lot of good points and unforced errors. That's why it's so hard to get into your rhythm and take advantage of the chances you get. It's hard to play your best tennis against those players. You don't get to play your game.''

Woodbridge-Stubbs in final

Australians Todd Woodbridge and Rennae Stubbs, the No. 1 seeded pair, will meet the second-seeded team of Leander Paes and Lisa Raymond in the final of the U.S. Open mixed doubles.

Woodbridge and Stubbs beat Ai Sugiyama and Ellis Fereira 6-3, 6- 4, while Paes and Raymond swept past Kimberly Po- Messerli and Donald Johnson 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 in the semifinals on Wednesday.

It's the first Grand Slam final for both the pairs. Paes, from India, and Raymond, from the United States, reached the quarterfinals at the French Open, crashed out in the third round at Wimbledon and only made two rounds at the Australian Open.

Woodbridge and Stubbs, who were also part of the top- seeded teams in the men's and women's doubles, respectively, were upset in the first round of Wimbledon by eventual champions Leos Friedl and Daniela Hantuchova, and made it to the quarterfinals of the French Open.

Po-Messerli and Johnson, the American third seeds, slammed seven aces, compared to just two by Paes and Raymond, and had a better first serve percentage.

Both pairs had eight winners but Paes and Raymond managed to convert three breakpoints, while the Americans only broke twice.

Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, one of the best pairs on the men's circuit, were eliminated in the first round of the men's doubles, falling to little-known Sergio Roitman of Argentina and Andres Schneiter of Italy.

Our Special Correspondent from New Delhi adds:

Sunil Kumar went down fighting 7-5, 4-6, 2-6 to the top-seeded Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in the pre- quarterfinals of the U.S. Open junior tennis event.

The 69th-ranked Sunil had earlier beaten Stephen Amritraj of the U.S. 7-5, 6-3 and Komlavi Loglo of Togo 6-4, 6-4 in the first two rounds.

It was the second successive entry into the last 16 round for Sunil, who had earlier made it to the Wimbledon pre- quarterfinals after having started as a qualifier.

In doubles, Sunil in partnership with Jacob Olsen of New Zealand lost to Daniel Kollerer and Stefan Wiespeiner of Austria 6-3, 3- 6, 3-6 in the first round.

Sania Mirza was unable to pull off a win in the girls section, and lost 2-6, 4-6 to the 12th-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia in the first round.

The Hyderabad lass, however, won a round in doubles in partnership with Dominic van Boekel of the Netherlands. The Indo- Dutch combination beat Theresa Logar and Tory Zawacki of the U.S. 5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 in the first round, before going down 1-6, 1- 6 to the sixth-seeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia and Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic.

The results (prefix denotes seedings):

Women (quarterfinals): 4-Venus Williams (U.S.) bt 5-Kim Clijsters (Bel) 6-3, 6-1; 2-Jennifer Capriati (U.S.) bt 8-Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) 6-3, 6-4.

Men (quarterfinals): 3-Marat Safin (Rus) bt Mariano Zabaleta (Arg) 6-4, 6-4, 6-2; 10-Pete Sampras (U.S.) bt 2-Andre Agassi (U.S.) 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7- 5).

Fourth round: 4-Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) bt 16-Tommy Haas (Ger) 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 6-2.

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