Sampras subdues his old adversary

PETE SAMPRAS fought his way past his old rival and compatriot, Jim Courier, to reach today's final of the US Open tennis championship with a performance that was always solid but seldom rose to the level of being really awe-inspiring. His 7-5 4-6 6-4 7-5 victory owed as much to Courier missing the chances that came his way as to Sampras taking his own.

Courier, the No 14 seed, had nine break points but could only convert one of them, and against a player with his sights firmly set on a final against the world No 1, Andre Agassi, this inevitably proved an unaffordable luxury. Despite the semi-finals boasting four players who have all held the world No 1 ranking, none of them could claim to be playing his best.

Despite his resurgence at this event, Courier is still a long way short of his form of 1992 and 1993, while Sampras has yet to find again the air of invincibility which made him the most runaway No 1 in the first half of last year.

The match was never going to have the drama and emotion of their last meeting at the Australian Open in January, when Sampras came back from two sets down to win an emotional quarter-final in the wake of learning that his coach Tim Gullikson had brain cancer, but even allowing for that, it was an uninspiring match. There were 96 unforced errors and the contest, not surprisingly, never really caught light.

Sampras won the first set, profiting from a stone-dead net cord at the end of a long baseline rally to win his first break point of the match. Courier took the second set with a break in the ninth game, when Sampras could only put a weak forehand into the net.

The match at last gained a little life as it moved into the third set, when, firstly, Courier had points to break the Sampras serve three times, and then Sampras had one of his own in the next game. All went begging, but at 5-4, Courier played a poor service game and Sampras profited from a somewhat dubious line call.

While Courier took the fourth set to 12 games, Sampras was always holding his serve more easily than his opponent, and it was no surprise when he broke his opponent in the final game for victory in three hours, two minutes.