Sampras Outslugs Ivanisevic Faces Chang In Today’s Final; Graf Vs. Seles For Women’s Title

Pete Sampras choked. He knew it. The crowd saw it. Goran Ivanisevic celebrated it.

The moment passed in embarrassment for Sampras, and he played an extra set he didn’t need and most certainly didn’t want two days after throwing up and nearly fainting on court.

Yet when he walked off after the third semifinal on SemiSuper Saturday, he held up his arms in triumph, a U.S. Open finalist again in defense of his title.

Sampras, who will go for his fourth Open championship today against Michael Chang, wound up with 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (11-9), 6-3 victory over Ivanisevic.

To no one’s surprise, defending champion Steffi Graf plays Monica Seles for the women’s title in a rematch of last year final duel.

The Sampras-Ivanisevic match lasted 2 hours, 20 minutes - about 40 minutes longer than it would have if Sampras hadn’t done the unthinkable. Sampras wanted this match over as fast as possible. He just couldn’t quite do it when he first had the chance with four match points in the third set.

Leading 6-3 in the tiebreaker, with two serves to put the match away, Sampras watched one backhand go by him for 6-4, then double-faulted to 6-5, both serves clipping the net cord and popping out.

“I basically choked on the second serve,” Sampras acknowledged. “Then I was waiting for him to miss, and you can’t do that.”

Ivanisevic didn’t miss the rest of that tiebreaker, closing it out with an ace as a jet roared overhead.

“The first couple of games in the fourth set, I couldn’t believe I was still out there,” Sampras said. “I wasn’t mad at myself. I was a little bit rattled. I couldn’t believe what was happening. I needed to regroup and regain my composure.”

That’s exactly what Sampras did, settling down, waiting for his his chances, finally gaining a break to 5-3 with the help of a fan. At deuce in that game, Ivanisevic was about to hit a forehand when a fan yelled out in the silence, “Whooo!” Ivanisevic turned, took his eye off the ball, and netted it. The point lost, he scowled up into the crowd, but knew he could do nothing. Sampras closed him out in the game with a backhand return.

“It’s frustrating, but what can you do?” Ivanisevic said. “I can only jump from the bridge on the way to the hotel.”

Sampras, who served 24 aces, played well enough to beat a big hitter who cracked 30 aces but didn’t try to tire him out in long rallies.

“I knew he was going to be strong,” Ivanisevic said. “He had one day to recover. He just threw up, he didn’t die. I knew it would not bother him today. He came through strongly.”

Sampras isn’t worried about playing again today, though he’ll be facing a much different opponent in the baseline-bashing, tireless Chang.

“I feel ready to go,” said Sampras, who hasn’t won a Grand Slam title since last year’s Open. “This is my last chance to win a major. It hasn’t been a bad year, but I always measure my year by these (major) tournaments. It’s crunch time. I’ve got to use every ounce of energy.”

Chang’s 16th ace, as emphatic as an exclamation point, knocked out Andre Agassi on a half-cloudy, half-sunny day of three semifinals.

“Everything clicked,” Chang said of his surprisingly quick 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 rout over a halfhearted Agassi. “Even though Andre’s dropped in the rankings, today I was the underdog. I think people expected him to win.

“I was playing some of my best tennis, for sure.”

Chang, ranked No. 3 but seeded second, can jump up to the No. 1 ranking for the first time in his career if he wins in his first trip to an Open final.

“I never could find my rhythm,” said Agassi, the 1994 champion and 1995 runner-up. “He was serving big. He got on top of me, and I never could quite get out of it.”

The sixth-seeded Agassi, at times the best returner in tennis, never broke Chang in the match, and never got even a break-point against him in the first and third sets.

Graf kicked off the day, coming back from a night of rain and dismissing talented and tempestuous Martina Hingis 7-5, 6-3.

The U.S. Open abandoned the old Super Saturday format this year - two men’s semis sandwiched around the women’s final - in favor of putting both singles finals on Sunday and having only the men play Saturday. But the rain Friday forced a change of plans shortly after Seles beat Conchita Martinez in the first semifinal.

The only surprise about Graf’s victory was how long it took and how difficult it was against the 15-year-old Swiss girl, who has blossomed into a serious threat to all the top players this summer.

They entered a near-empty stadium in the overcast, muggy morning, Hingis leading 1-0 after holding serve in the only game played Friday. Graf, always in a rush, quickly evened it but looked a little too eager at times. She also seemed annoyed by the delaying tactics of Hingis between points and after changeovers.

Graf had wanted to finish the match Friday night, no matter how long they had to wait, and take a day off along with Seles before the final. Now she found herself in long rallies and a slow-moving match against a teenager taking her time.

Hingis, seeded No. 16, beat No. 3 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and No. 7 Jana Novotna, but stepping up to Graf was a little tougher. Graf has reached the final of 29 of her last 36 Grand Slam tournaments, and won 20 of them.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: U.S. OPEN GLANCE Highlights of Saturday’s play at the $10.893 million U.S. Open tennis championships: Results Men’s Singles, Semifinals: No. 1 Pete Sampras beat No. 4 Goran Ivanisevic, No. 2 Michael Chang beat No. 6 Andre Agassi. Women’s Singles, Semifinals: No. 1 Steffi Graf beat No. 16 Martina Hingis. Stat of the Day: Andre Agassi had only three break-point opportunities, all in the second set, and converted none in his match against Michael Chang. Quote of the Day: “I knew he was going to be strong. He had one day to recover. He just threw up, he didn’t die.” Goran Ivanisevic discussing the physical condition of Pete Sampras who became sick just off the court during his quarterfinal match Thursday against Alex Corretja.