Sampras Is Out, but Not Down After Loss : U.S. Open: Courier sweeps him in quarterfinals, but the defending champion says pressure is off. Lendl beats Stich in five sets.

It was a load of bricks. Or it was a monkey on his back. But whatever Pete Sampras said about losing his U.S. Open title, he sure seemed relieved after actually doing it Thursday.

“Maybe things will calm down a little bit, you know; I am not the reigning U.S. Open champion anymore,” said Sampras, who lost to Jim Courier, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5), in the quarterfinals.

“And, you know, it’s kind of like the monkey is off my back a little bit.

“It is kind of like how (Michael) Chang felt after he lost in the French (Open), all the bag of bricks just came off his shoulders. That is the way I kind of feel. Maybe I can go back to my normal lifestyle.

“I knew it was going to be tough to try to defend here. I thought I played pretty good tennis, got to the quarters, but you know, unfortunately, I didn’t play a good match today.”

At least he had company, because Michael Stich didn’t either. Ivan Lendl came from behind to reach his ninth U.S. Open semifinal in 10 years with a 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 victory.

Stich found a way to lose just when it appeared that he would put Lendl and his monotonous ground-stroke game out of business.

Stich won the third set that was carried over from Wednesday night because of rain and took a 3-0 lead in the fourth-set tiebreaker. From there, it got progressively worse.

Stich lost six consecutive points, his composure and then the set.

“I mean I made it so easy for him,” Stich said. “For me to lose six points in a row, that is very bad. It was just stupid playing.”

Meanwhile, Lendl kept slugging along as usual. He wound up saving 12 of 14 break points, took the fifth set in 30 minutes and moved into a semifinal showdown against Stefan Edberg.

Lendl, who is 32-18 in five-set matches, saved two match points in his earlier Open victory over Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands.

“I prefer not to come back,” Lendl said. “I prefer to win by being ahead. What can you do?”

Sampras’ yearlong reign ended at 2:10 p.m., EDT, concluded abruptly when Courier angled a cross-court volley on the second match point.

Courier dropped his racket, leaped and waved his fist in the direction of his coach, Jose Higueras.

Sampras packed his bags quickly and headed for the tunnel underneath the stands at midcourt.

A year ago, Sampras zoomed to the title on the speed and power of his serve, but that serve let him down against Courier, whom he had beaten in their last two tournaments.

Sampras, who had nine aces and nine double faults, won 26 points on his 62 second serves.

“I was hurting him on the return,” Courier said. “I was pleased that he was staying back. It was to my advantage for him to be at the baseline.”

Sampras had 51 unforced errors and 50 winners. Courier had 19 unforced errors and 42 winners.

“I felt like I was on my back foot and he was on his front foot,” Sampras said.

After Courier took the first set in 42 minutes, Sampras stayed in the second set by saving three break points to get to the tiebreaker. But Sampras double-faulted to give Courier a 3-1 lead and pushed a forehand wide on the run for 6-4.

Courier quickly closed it out with an ace down the middle, one of his 14.

Sampras saved a match point serving at 4-5 in the third set when Courier knocked a down-the-line backhand wide. They moved into another tiebreaker, where the key point was once again a double fault by Sampras.

At 3-3, he clipped the top of the net and bounced the ball long. Two more Sampras errors gave Courier his second match-point opportunity, and this time he cashed it in.

U.S. Open Notes

Jim Courier doesn’t think that deposed U.S. Open champion Pete Sampras should be all that uptight or upset about losing in the quarterfinals. “Really, how much pressure does Pete have?” Courier said. “He will never have to work another day in his life. He has got millions in the bank. He is 20 years old. I really think that he should just be able to go out there and swing freely and have fun. I mean, everybody in the world would trade positions with him. He has got the world at his feet. All in all, Pete, he is doing OK.”

Sampras, looking relieved that his reign had ended, said: “I am still young. This is part of life, it is part of a learning experience. You know, I am still a good player and I don’t think I am anywhere near my best tennis.” . . . Five-set statistics: Michael Stich is 2-5 in five-set matches; Ivan Lendl is 4-0 in five-set matches in 1991.