Agassi falls in N.Y. marathon

Victoria Sun

Thursday, Sept. 6, 2001 | 12:10 p.m.

Highlights of Wednesday's play in the $15.76 million U.S. Open tennis championships:

WEATHER: Sunny, breezy and mild. High temperature of 77.

ATTENDANCE: Day session: 18,575. Night session: 23,033.

RESULTS

MEN, FOURTH ROUND: No. 4 Lleyton Hewitt rallied to beat No. 16 Tommy Haas, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-2, in a match that was suspended by rain Tuesday.

QUARTERFINALS: No. 3 Marat Safin beat Mariano Zabaleta, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. No. 10 Pete Sampras defeated No. 2 Andre Agassi 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5).

WOMEN, QUARTERFINALS: No. 4 Venus Williams defeated No. 5 Kim Clijsters, 6-3, 6-1. No. 2 Jennifer Capriati, continuing her bid for a third Grand Slam title this year, beat No. 8 Amelie Mauresmo 6-3, 6-4.

STAT OF THE DAY: The 20 combined men's major singles titles won by Sampras and Agassi are the most by opponents in a Grand Slam match since the 1969 U.S. Open quarterfinal between Roy Emerson and Rod Laver (22).

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I've gone out and known I've got a job to do. I haven't let stuff on the side affect what my tennis is capable of doing." -- Lleyton Hewitt.

NEW YORK -- There simply wasn't much more he could have done.

Andre Agassi fought off an ominous triple-break point opportunity in the first set.

He fended off a double-break point opportunity in the fourth and final set, six break points in all.

He dished out 18 aces and made a higher percentage of first serves than rival Pete Sampras in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open on a chilly Wednesday night.

But all of those things didn't change the fact that Sampras prevailed 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) in arguably the best match ever played between the tennis icons.

And they certainly didn't make the loss any easier for the 31-year-old Las Vegan to stomach.

"Every match and every loss has its own personality and its own difficulties," Agassi said. "It's about what you could have done and what you did do.

"In those respects tonight, some of it will be easier than other losses, but I think the disappointment is still pretty significant."

Sampras will play defending U.S. Open champion Marat Safin in the semifinals on Saturday while Agassi will start preparing for the birth of his first child and begin training for next year.

Agassi, who is expecting the arrival of a baby boy in mid-December, said he will make time for both tennis and fatherhood.

"I have no anticipation or plan on missing anything," Agassi said of future tournaments including the Australian Open played in January. "I mean, including the birth of my child. So you know, I'll do my best to balance everything. But I have every intention of working hard and coming back next year. And I think I can do that."

Although Agassi won their previous three meetings, he is now 15-18 against the 30-year-old Sampras.

Their rivalry began more than a decade ago when they were juniors and has blossomed into one of the greatest rivalries in the history of the sport. They have 20 Grand Slams between them (Sampras 13 and Agassi seven), and perhaps one more will be added to that total by Sunday.

Fans stood in the upper part of Arthur Ashe Stadium while others crammed into various luxury boxes to savor a 3 1/2-hour match neither player will soon forget.

Scattered among the crowd of 23,033 were notables such as James Gandolfini of "The "Sopranos," and actor/director Spike Lee.

After Sampras held serve forcing a fourth tiebreaker, the crowd erupted.

"Well, it was awesome," Sampras said. "It really was. The appreciation the crowd gave us, both of us, it was kind of a chilling moment to have the crowd kind of stand on their feet and applaud what we're doing out here. It was fun to be a part of it. Like I thought going into the match, 'This could be a classic.' And I think tonight it was."

Both players held serve the entire match.

Sampras squandered two first-set points against Agassi, who calmly followed an untimely double fault while holding a 7-6 lead with a 118 mph ace. Agassi captured the set when Sampras hit a forehand volley into the net which seemed to give Agassi an edge, but Sampras wouldn't give up.

In the second tiebreaker Sampras became the aggressor, jumping out to a 3-0 lead. Agassi won the next two points before Sampras took the final four.

On set point Sampras delicately dropped in a backhand volley winner prompting a joyous outburst.

Sampras sealed the third set tiebreaker by hitting consecutive aces.

"I think when I won the first set tiebreaker I certainly had the momentum at that point," Agassi said. "I was trying to step it up because I felt like it was an opportunity for me to kind of break things open a little bit.

"Once we got to the second set tiebreaker and he put together a great breaker, the match is all squared up so I didn't really have that many opportunities to break him. Maybe I had four, five break points and he came up with such big shots."

On Sampras' first match point at 6-3, he hit a forehand volley into the net.

On his second try at 6-4, he double faulted for the 12th time, prompting those who stayed past midnight, including Sampras' wife, actress Bridgette Wilson, to let out a collective squeal.

Agassi served to stay in the match, but he cracked Sampras' return into the net.

Once the match was over Sampras jogged a few steps in the direction of Wilson, blew her a kiss and continued to look like he was dreaming.

"Well, (this is probably) about as good as it gets," Sampras said. "You know, playing the very best on a night match at the U.S. Open, the atmosphere was phenomenal."

The two then embraced at the net and exchanged pleasantries.

"He wished me luck for the tournament," Sampras said. "He hoped I went on to win it so he was very gracious."