Sampras defeats Agassi, now faces Roddick
by ATP
April 27, 2002
Pete Sampras silenced
his critics Saturday by defeating longtime rival Andre Agassi 6-1, 7-5,
setting up a much-anticipated "Battle of the Ages" final against
Andy Roddick, a three-set winner over Guillermo Coria.
Going into the semifinals, Agassi appeared to hold a clear advantage over
the 30-year-old Sampras, who has not claimed a clay title since his May
1998 victory in Atlanta.
This was the 33rd time the two veterans have clashed, and the 19th time
Sampras walked away the winner. But on clay, Sampras' weakest surface, the
13-time Grand Slam champion had defeated Agassi only one of four previous
meetings. Sampras also has won every Grand Slam, except Roland Garros, where
Agassi hoisted the champion's trophy in 1999.
But on Saturday at the US Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston, Sampras
displayed his newfound clay court prowess, nurtured by new coach Jose Higueras.
On Sunday, Sampras has a chance to nab his first title since his historic
2000 Wimbledon victory.
"Just playing him is unique,'' Sampras said. "Whether we're
playing a practice match on a side court or in the finals at Wimbledon,
he raises my game to another level.''
The best game of the match was the 12th and final game of the match, after
Sampras broke Agassi to take a 6-5 lead.
With Sampras serving for the match, Agassi fought off four match points
before Sampras ended it with an ace.
"I thought he played very well and got off to a good start,'' Agassi
said. "When you fall behind early, it's sometimes difficult to catch
up. I tried to get my teeth into it, but I never settled in.''
Roddick has an 11-0 record in Houston.
"He'll come out serving bombs,'' Sampras said. ``He's confident and
he's got that big forehand. It would be nice to win, getting through this
field and maybe beating Andy, who won here last year.''
Sampras had Agassi at double-match point, but Sampras then hit a forehand
error and double-faulted for deuce. Agassi returned a service winner to
avoid the third match point and hit a forehand down the line to erase the
fourth match point.
"By no means did I feel like I had the advantage, even when the point
was going," Agassi said. "There were tough (windy) conditions
out there, but he was just hitting right through it and executing."
One of Agassi's biggest strengths is his return, but Sampras hit some
big ones early as he broke Agassi twice en route to a 5-0 lead in just 20
minutes.
"Playing someone of Andre's level, you can't hit any short balls
or just get the ball back in play, and on a couple of second serves I decided
to go for it," Sampras said.
In the second set, neither player had a break point until Agassi served
at 5-5. A double fault and wide backhand down the line gave Sampras his
chance, and he got the break when Agassi missed an inside-out forehand down
the line.
After failing to capitalize on two match points, Sampras saved a break
point with an 121 mph ace. Later, on his fifth match point, Sampras ended
it with another ace.
"It's a good win for me," Sampras said. "I didn't really
get my first serve in there (on five of his first six swings in the last
game), but I was able to serve my way out of it."
Agassi, who had a nine-match winning streak snapped, tipped his hat to
Sampras for his overall effort.
Roddick will attempt to become the first player since Jose-Luis Clerc
in 1980-81 to defend his title at this tournament. For Sampras, it will
be his fourth match in four days and his first daylight match at Westside
as he tries to end a 24-tournament drought without a title.
"We'll see where my legs are at," Sampras said. "I feel
pretty good, but it is a tough turnaround."
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It's always fun when these two meet
By: Dale Robertson, Houston Chronicle
April 27, 2002
Its summer 1980. Two little boys, one almost 9, the other 10, play each
other for the first time on a concrete tennis court in Northridge, Calif.
The taller kid, Andre Agassi, can't control his forehand. His opponent,
Pete Sampras, has no serve and struggles with a two-fisted backhand.
Agassi, we presume, wins, but neither player says he remembers the outcome,
which will be the only meeting between Agassi and Sampras as juniors. Pete
remembers Andre as "a kind of hot dog."
It's April 1989. Two eager teens play a match on clay in Rome's Foro Italico.
The score is a lopsided 6-2, 6-1, Agassi. Sampras towers over Andre by now
-- but only in height. His game has not yet evolved to an elite level. Andre
already has been ranked as high as No. 3 in the world and become a teen
idol. Pete is unknown outside tennis circles.
It's September 1990. Two strapping young men play a match in Louis Armstrong
Stadium with the U.S. Open championship at stake. Sampras announces himself
and his lethal serve to the world, beating Agassi handily in straight sets.
Sports Illustrated puts him on the cover with the headline: "A Star
Is Born."
It's July 1993. The defending Wimbledon champion -- Agassi -- is asked
to protect his turf against Sampras. Andre squares their quarterfinal war
from two sets down, but Pete withstands the flurry and wins 7-5 in the fifth.
Their head-to-head record is even at 4-4, and four days later, Pete also
has a Wimbledon trophy to call his own.
It's September 1994. Agassi, unseeded after being injured for much of
the previous year, steals center stage from Sampras by winning the U.S.
Open. He becomes the first player to climb from outside the top 30 on Jan.
1 to No. 2 by the following Dec. 31. But he's still a distant second behind
Pete, who wins 10 titles over 12 months.
It's 1995. Sampras, the heavyweight champion, and Agassi, the consummate
counterpuncher, are 1-2, and nothing else in tennis much matters. They meet
five times, all in finals. Agassi wins the Australian Open in four sets,
then later leapfrogs Pete to No. 1. But Sampras wins the U.S. Open in four
and finishes the year ranked first.
Finally, American tennis has a rivalry that's a worthy heir to Connors-McEnroe.
Pancho Gonzalez, the irascible U.S. champion from the 1950s, is asked for
his opinion of Sampras-Agassi. He replies: "I think either of these
guys would have beaten the pants off anybody in the past. Pete has the most
complete game I've ever seen, and Andre is on the same level.
"It's going to make for some damned interesting matches between them."
Already has. Sampras, by the way, now leads Agassi 9-8.
It's September 1996. An emotionally exhausted Sampras, grieving over the
death of his coach, Tim Gullikson, keeps his Open title despite a near collapse
in the quarterfinals, when an upset stomach and an upset-minded Alex Corretja
require him to survive a fifth set.
Pete comes to Houston soon thereafter at the behest of his pal Elton John
to play Agassi in an exhibition. You think at the time how great it would
be for them to play for real here, but you dismiss the notion has pure folly.
It's July 1997. Agassi is AWOL. Having married Brooke Shields, he sees
his ranking sink to 141st. Rumored to be considering retirement, Andre resurfaces
and loses listlessly in the fourth round at Flushing Meadow. For the only
time in 14 years, Sampras and Agassi never cross paths.
It's April 1998. Sampras and Agassi meet up again in Monte Carlo, playing
on clay for the only time in a decade -- and the only time in the round
of 32 since their Roman holiday as teens. Oddly, Pete wins 6-4, 7-5.
It's June 1999. Agassi trails Andre Medvedev by two sets in the final
of the French Open, a decade after he blew the first of two championship
opportunities at Roland Garros. But he rallies to claim tennis' fifth career
Grand Slam. Finally, Agassi has something Pete doesn't.
It's July 1999, Independence Day in the Colonies. America's titans, Sampras
and Agassi, collide on Centre Court in their lone Wimbledon final. Agassi
plays marvelously -- never better on grass, he swears.
But Sampras plays out of this world, painting his career masterpiece in
a three-set tour de force. Pete's 12th Grand Slam title ties Roy Emerson's
record. Sampras 14, Agassi 10.
It's January 2000. Sampras and Agassi go five sets in the searing heat
of the Melbourne summer. Andre is dealt a bagel in an abysmal third-set
tiebreak but battles back to win in five. He takes the first of two consecutive
Australian Opens, the latter upping his Slam total to seven.
It's July 2000. Sampras wins his seventh Wimbledon, a record for the 20th
century, and his 13th Grand Slam, the most ever. Many proclaim him No. 1
for the ages.
It's September 2001, six nights before the worst day in New York's history.
Under pristine conditions, in the jammed and juiced Arthur Ashe Stadium,
Sampras and Agassi trade blows for almost four hours and four tiebreaker
sets in the U.S. Open quarters. Andre never drops his serve, makes a mere
19 unforced errors and loses.
It's April 2002. Sampras, with 18 wins, plays Agassi, who has 14, at Houston's
Westside Tennis Club, in the semifinals of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships.
While it's hardly Melbourne, Paris, London or New York, Sampras says: "Whatever
the surface or the continent, it's always special when I play Andre."
Pete's right, you know. This 33rd meeting -- that's how many Connors and
McEnroe played, too -- goes to Sampras 6-1, 7-5. The participants make the
match a classic. The uneven particulars are unimportant. If you are lucky
enough to be there, you witness something grand. Then you freeze the memory.
And wish for another. Just one more.
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