Sampras grins and bears it

Tennis

Pete Sampras bounced back from his gut-wrenching victory two days ago to beat Goran Ivanisevic in a booming service battle that set up a United States Open final with Michael Chang.

Sampras, sick to his stomach and barely able to stand during a fifth- set tie-break win over Alex Corretja in the quarter-finals, showed no ill effects against Ivanisevic as he thundered his way to a 6-3 6-4 6- 7 6-3 victory.

Ivanisevic, who served 30 aces and saved four match points in the third- set tie-break, was not surprised by Sampras' revival.

"I knew he was going to be strong. He had one day to recover," said the fourth-seeded Croatian, who was aced 24 times by the No 1 seed. "He only threw up. He didn't die."

Sampras said: "This is the US Open. I have one more match. I have to forget about fatigue and go out and play."

Chang crushed Andre Agassi 6-3 6-2 6-2 in a surprisingly easy victory to reach his first US Open final. "Things just really went well for me, today everything clicked," said Chang, who finished the rout with his 16th ace of the match.

Sampras looked set to copy Chang's straight-set advance. He used single service breaks to claim the first two sets and then seized a 6-3 lead in the tie-breaker for triple match point. But Ivanisevic slugged a backhand passing shot winner to save the first and then was the beneficiary of a double fault. "I basically choked on the second serve," Sampras said.

The Croat, in his first US Open semi-final, foiled the third successive match point when Sampras ended a long rally by sailing a forehand long. Sampras held a fourth match point at 8-7 in the tie-break that Ivanisevic saved with a volley following up his 129 mph serve.

Sampras saved two set points himself with aces before finally succumbing on an Ivanisevic service winner at 10-9. Sampras settled down and claimed the fourth-set service break he needed in the eighth game, although Ivanisevic used a pair of aces to battle back from 0-40 and reach deuce.

That helped to lift the spirits of Sampras. "I feel like I'm a lot better," said Sampras, who needed two litres of intravenous fluid after his gruelling match with Corretja.

Chang felt on top of the world about his performance. He was a step quicker than Agassi in getting to balls early and dictated points. He hit the ball more crisply and mixed up his serves brilliantly - spinning some and bashing others to the bewilderment of the flamboyant Las Vegan.

"I didn't put any pressure on his second serve so he kept on going for his first serve and he found his range," said Agassi, whose black-and- blue outfit befitted the beating he suffered. Agassi committed 45 unforced errors to 23 for Chang.

Chang, who won the French Open at 17, finally got back to a Grand Slam final again last year at Roland Garros and reached this year's Australian Open final. Now he is knocking at the Grand Slam door again.

Sampras, who holds a 10-7 career record against Chang including wins in eight of the last nine meetings, is hoping to avert a Grand Slam whitewash this season.