Sampras

Tennis Sampras beats Agassi to reach title match at U.S. Clay Court Pete Sampras, winless in 24 tournaments since taking his seventh Wimbledon title in 2000, beat second seed Andre Agassi, 6-1, 7-5, last night to advance to today's final of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Tennis Championships in Houston. Sampras will face third seed Andy Roddick, a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 winner over Guillermo Coria. Sampras is 19-14 lifetime against Agassi, but it was only the second time in five meetings that Sampras has beaten Agassi on clay.

The quiz Back in style Name the player who, 10 years ago today, won the NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award despite having not played in any games during the regular season. (Answer in For The Record) Tennis Sampras, Roddick give U.S. 2-0 edge in Davis Cup opener Pete Sampras and Andy Roddick each had some trouble, but won their matches Friday to give the United States a 2-0 lead over Slovakia in the first round of Davis Cup play in Oklahoma City. Sampras, playing Davis Cup for the first time since April 2000, lost a second-set tiebreaker and trailed 3-5 in the fourth set before rallying to beat Karol Beck, 6-3, 6-7 (3)

NEW YORK - Pete Sampras should have seen this coming. At age 30, pounding the hard courts at the U.S. Open, day after day against former Open champions Patrick Rafter, Andre Agassi and Marat Safin, what could he possibly have left for No. 4 seed Lleyton Hewitt, a 20-year-old with youthful legs and a cool disposition? The answer became painfully clear. For the second year in a row, Sampras, who was seeded 10th, was embarrassed in the U.S. Open final. Hewitt, playing in his first Grand Slam final, simply crushed the game's all-time Grand Slam champion, 7-6 (4)

NEW YORK - The crowd's outbursts around Arthur Ashe Stadium took on an almost rhythmic repetition - "Pete ... Marat ... Pete. Marat. Pete ... Break him!" And No. 10 seed Pete Sampras, 30, responding perhaps not so much to the crowd but to his inner spirit, bullied his way into today's men's U.S. Open final. He shook his fists, urged the umpire into an overrule that gave him an ace to set up a hold on his own serve, pointed into cameras and kissed his racket, as he worked systematically toward a 6-3, 7-6 (5)

NEW YORK - For Pete Sampras and Marat Safin, today's semifinal means more than just moving into tomorrow's final at the U.S. Open. For Sampras, who is seeded No. 10, it means continuing his rebirth that he began at this tournament. For Safin, the defending Open champ who had struggled since that victory, it means having a rebirth. Before the tournament began, Sampras, winner of four U.S. Open crowns, was under siege about when he would retire and saw countless stories about how at the age of 30 his great career was all but finished.

NEW YORK - Bodies vibrated with pent-up electricity around Arthur Ashe Stadium. Celebrities lined up in their version of Murderers' Row beyond the baseline. Players from both the men's and women's tour took the time to show up and watch the match on center stage at the U.S. Open. No. 2 Andre Agassi vs. No. 10 Pete Sampras. It was a heavyweight battle of future Hall of Famers, between them 20 Grand Slam titles were on the court. It would live up to the hype, and more than 23,000 fans looking on cheered equally for both.

NEW YORK - Pete Sampras. Andre Agassi. A match made in heaven - or at least a match made for the nighttime on the hard courts at the U.S. Open. They share a decade of history and a lifetime of memories. "I played Pete for the first time when I was about 9 and he was 8," said Agassi. "The only difference then was that I was taller." Sampras laughed. "He was taller, but that quickly changed, thank God," he said. Since then, they've been chasing each other around the tennis world: Sampras with his all-time record of 13 Grand Slam titles and Agassi with his seven and the added glory of being one of only five men to win Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon and the Australian, French and U.S. opens.

NEW YORK - Sixth seed Patrick Rafter was down two sets and things were looking bleak against No. 10 Pete Sampras, when a fan bellowed from the packed stands around Arthur Ashe Stadium. "Do you want to go home?" he asked. Rafter stopped his service preparation, looked in the direction of the voice and nodded clearly, "Yes." And it was a true answer, because Rafter has made it clear all year that at the end of this season he plans to take a leave of absence from professional tennis. But he didn't really want to leave just then.

NEW YORK - It looms as the perfect prime-time Saturday night special: Williams vs. Williams in the first Grand Slam final to be played under the lights. Undoubtedly, Venus Williams against younger sister Serena in a U.S. Open final would make for good television. But as tennis goes, the odds are better that one of several others in 10th-seeded Serena's half of the draw will break through and perhaps give the Open its first non-Williams women's champion since 1998. Serena won her first and only Grand Slam title at New York in 1999.

WIMBLEDON, England - Pete Sampras was leaving the stage, picking up the used towels from a pristine patch of the mowed lawn and pushing them into his black bag, surrendering at last to a younger, fitter player as the cheers poured down on Centre Court. He was walking slowly, now, stopping to bow for the royals who had returned from high tea to witness tennis history, and then waiting for the kid with the ponytail, shell choker and tears in his eyes to catch up. And then he was gone, past the two big London bobbies, through the open big door on Centre Court and out of Wimbledon.