Electric atmosphere to greet Agassi-Sampras matchup

Victoria Sun

Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2001 | 10:29 a.m.

NEW YORK -- Tennis legend Martina Navratilova called the rivalry between Pete Sampras and Las Vegan Andre Agassi "right up there with (Bjorn) Borg and (Jimmy) Connors."

Today's Sampras-Agassi match will follow the Jennifer Capriati-Amelie Mauresmo quarterfinal that starts at 4 p.m. (USA Network, Ch. 34).

"Hey, they've played so many times," Navratilova said Tuesday after her quarterfinal-round doubles loss with Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario to Sandrine Testud and Roberta Vinci. "They've been No. 1 and No. 2 a lot of those years. It's fantastic for the game. The stadium will be rocking."

Agassi and Sampras will meet in the only all-American quarterfinal match of the U.S. Open.

Because the USTA and ITF decided to seed 32 players instead of 16 on both the men's and women's sides, Agassi, Sampras and two-time U.S. Open champion Pat Rafter were squished into the same corner of the bracket.

"This is a very, very tough draw, even from my first match on," Sampras said. "But to play Pat in the 16 and back it up against Andre, this is about as tough as it's going to get."

Agassi, who has beaten Sampras their previous three meetings but trails Sampras 17-14 overall, is looking forward to the challenge of beating Sampras for the fourth consecutive time.

When asked what he thinks about the last few times they've played each other, a sly smile appeared on Agassi's face.

"That I've actually won them," Agassi said. "No, the last time we played, I felt like I played really well. You know, it had that energy for me, a kind of feeling like I needed to raise my level. I got down a break in the first set. I felt like I stepped it up from there.

"You know, Pete always makes you feel that way. The difference is, (it's) not all the time you can just turn it on against him."

The two have a long history together, starting with the junior circuits and culminating with their epic battles as pros.

Agassi, 31, turned pro in 1986 while Sampras, 30, turned pro in 1988. To date, Agassi has won seven Grand Slams to Sampras' 13.

Rising star Andy Roddick, the only other American left on the men's side, will find out today whether he will play fourth-seeded Lleyton Hewitt or 16th seed Tommy Haas in the quarterfinals. Haas led Hewitt 6-3 and the two were tied 2-2 in the second set with Hewitt serving at 2-2, 15-0 when play was stopped because of rain.

The 18th-seeded Roddick whipped Tommy Robredo, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 in Tuesday's late night finale.