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Posted on: September 05th, 2002

Youth outserved: Sampras hammers Roddick

- petepage

Source: AP

As Pete Sampras pumped his fist to celebrate a volley winner that closed the second set, Andy Roddick flashed an admiring thumb's up and then bowed, acknowledging that his idol still has what it takes.

This cross-generational matchup was no match at all.

Smacking aces at over 130 mph, covering every inch of the net, Sampras looked like the younger man Thursday night and dominated an apparently awestruck Roddick 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the U.S. Open semifinals.

The differences between the players were obvious when they walked out: the 20-year-old Roddick in his shiny blue T-shirt, his spiky hair peering out from above a visor, and the 31-year-old Sampras in his proper tennis whites, nothing covering his receding hairline.

It was Sampras' 29th Grand Slam quarterfinal, and Roddick's second. Sampras came in with 200 career match victories in majors, Roddick with 15.

Sampras is seeking his fifth U.S. Open championship and will be a big favorite in Saturday's semifinals against No. 24 Sjeng Schalken, who never before had been so far in a Grand Slam tournament.

Arthur Ashe Stadium was a sea of empty blue seats for Schalken-Gonzalez. It was packed for Sampras-Roddick, which didn't quite live up to the billing

To put it simply: Youth was outserved. And outvolleyed, outhit and out-just-about-everything-elsed.

Sampras had 13 aces and a total of 43 winners. Roddick had just 18 winners.

Roddick, who was seeded 11th to Sampras' 17th, looked tight right from the start. He lost the first seven points of the match en route to getting broken immediately and falling behind 3-0.

Sampras was popping serves by Roddick, and not just with pure power. Sampras closed the first set with a spinning offering at 101 mph that Roddick barely got to, his forehand return bouncing before it reached the net.

Roddick handed Sampras a 2-1 second-set edge by double faulting twice in a row to get broken at love. At the changeover, Roddick chewed on a towel, then tried to rip it.

Then, Sampras broke again to get to 5-2 in the second set, helped by Roddick's backhand into the net. Roddick -- as emotive on the court as Sampras is stoic -- dropped his racket, twisted at the hips, and yelled, ``Awww, come on!''

Sampras wasn't shaken at all by the setting, of course. He's now 20-0 in night matches at the Open and insists he has one more major title in him.

The past two years have been trying. He hasn't won a tournament at any level since July 2000, and came into the Open with a 20-17 match record in 2002, including a stunning second-round exit at Wimbledon.

Searching for an answer, Sampras has switched coaches the way some players change rackets during a match. Since December, he's gone from Paul Annacone to Tom Gullikson to Jose Higueras and back to Annacone.

``There's more adversity this year. It's looking at it as an opportunity and challenge,'' Annacone said before Thursday's match. ``He's accepted that in the last month or so and turned things around. His approach is where he wants it to be.''

How bad have things been for Sampras?

When he went to a tuneup event the week before the Open, he lost his first match to 77th-ranked Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu (which is not pronounced ``Mat-who,'' but might as well be).

Wimbledon, of course, would rank as Sampras' favorite tournament: Seven of his record 13 Grand Slam titles came on the grass of the All England Club.

But he's had plenty of success at the U.S. Open, including his first major victory. Sampras had just turned 19 when he beat Agassi in the 1990 Open final, and he still ranks as the tournament's youngest male champion.

In the semifinals that year, a bushy-haired Sampras beat 31-year-old John McEnroe.

There was no such upstart-over-veteran result Thursday. Not even close.

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