Sampras Takes the Fifth, Wins Verdict From Korda

A less-than-stellar performance was good enough for Pete Sampras to win the Newsweek Champions Cup on Sunday.

Under threatening skies and being threatened by Petr Korda, the world’s No. 1 player came from behind for a 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory, before 10,036 at Hyatt Grand Champions.

The title was the third of the year for Sampras, who earned $245,000 to boost his 1994 earnings to more than $600,000.

Afterward, the affable Korda addressed the crowd.

“He really deserves to be No. 1 in the world right now,” he said, nodding toward Sampras. “I tried my best today, but it wasn’t enough. Pete, for sure I’m going to be around when you have a bad day.”

This wasn’t the day, but Sampras wasn’t at his best.

“I played well all week and didn’t play quite so well today,” Sampras said, “but I managed to get through it.”

The longer it went, the more confident Sampras felt.

“In order for him to beat me, he was going to have to play three really good sets because I wasn’t going to give it to him, even though I was making quite a bit of errors,” Sampras said. “When I got into the fifth set, I felt like I had him because he got a little down on himself.

“I could just see the way he was carrying himself in the first couple of games. He was a little down and he was going for some really, really low-percentage shots. I just knew that if I could get on top of him early in the fifth. . . . He’s not going to fold, but I liked my chances.”

So did Korda.

“I knew that if I wanted to beat him, I have to beat him in straight sets, or in four sets, because I felt tired,” Korda said.

The 10th-seeded Korda, from the Czech Republic, gave it his best shot as Sampras started slowly, losing his serve in the first game.

“I wasn’t hitting the ball that well in the first set,” Sampras said. “I really felt like he was dictating the play. I didn’t really have a great read on his serve, and when I got his serve back, he was on top of me. And that’s not really the way I want to play.

“Against Petr, you just have to hang in there and hopefully, he can miss the shots. And that’s what he did.”

But not until after he won two of the first three sets.

“I didn’t make the break points in the beginning of the fourth set,” said Korda, who squandered two break points each in the first and third games, “and after that time, he started to hit balls much better. He hit a couple winners and he was on a roll at that time.

“And in the fifth set, he was just better than I was.”

Sampras broke Korda in the eighth game of the fourth set and in the first and fifth games of the fifth to finally take control.

“You’ve got your highs and lows in a long match like that, but I don’t mind,” said Sampras, who needed 3 hours 8 minutes to finish it. “I feel that in a longer match, the better player should win.”

As he did on this day.

“I’m happy that I hung in there and didn’t quit,” Sampras said. “This is good for me, because I didn’t play nearly as well as I did against Stefan (Edberg, in the semifinals). It was an off-day that turned better and better as the match wore on.”

It ended with Sampras winning his first Champions Cup.

“It was a good comeback,” he said. “It’s not the best comeback I’ve had in my career, but it’s definitely up there.”

Tennis Notes

Petr Korda earned $129,000. . . . Pete Sampras had 71 aces in the tournament, 23 in the final. . . . Sampras has played in five tournaments this year, winning three and being eliminated in the first round in Qatar and Philadelphia. . . . Patrick Galbraith and Grant Connell upset the top-seeded pair of Byron Black and Jonathan Stark, 7-5, 6-3, to win the doubles title. The winners split $98,000, the losers $52,000. . . . Attendance for the tournament was a record 103,057. Average attendance was 10,155 for seven day sessions and 6,395 for five night sessions.