TENNIS ROUNDUP : Sampras Saves Match Point, Wins

Pete Sampras saved a match point and rallied to beat Jan Apell of Sweden on Saturday, setting up an all-American final against Todd Martin at the Queen’s Club grass-court tournament.

Sampras defeated Apell, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, while Martin beat South African qualifier Christo van Rensburg, 6-1, 6-4.

Today’s final will be a rematch of this year’s Australian Open, won by Sampras in straight sets.

Sampras, frustrated by Apell’s return of service in the first two sets, turned the match around against the 127th-ranked player with five consecutive points after falling behind, 5-2, in the second-set tiebreaker.

One game earlier, the top-seeded Sampras had stayed alive with a service winner on match point.

“I wasn’t worried about the match point because it was on my serve,” Sampras said. “But then I was 2-5 down in the tiebreaker that followed, and I was concerned. It was in his hands to win. I got lucky.”

A brilliant forehand passing shot down the line brought Sampras back to 3-5 in the tiebreaker. He then followed with three more winners and his 10th ace of the match.

Apell broke Sampras to start the third set and held serve to go ahead, 2-0, but he won only five more points as Sampras won the final six games.

“For a while there he was kicking my butt,” Sampras said. “I really started playing some good tennis in the third set. Before that I wasn’t playing so well, but he had a lot to do with it. On a scale of 10, I would say I played a 6.5.”

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Americans Zina Garrison-Jackson and Lori McNeil advanced to the final of the grass-court tournament in Birmingham, England.

Top-seeded Garrison-Jackson beat Nathalie Tauziat of France, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, while second-seeded McNeil rallied to defeat Brenda Schultz of the Netherlands, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Today’s match will be a rematch of the 1993 final in which McNeil defeated Garrison-Jackson in three sets.

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Dutchman Richard Krajicek used his powerful serve to beat Henri Leconte of France, 6-4, 6-4, in the semifinals of the Rosmalen Grass Court championships in the Netherlands.

Krajicek broke Leconte’s serve in the last game of both sets to advance to the final against fifth-seeded Karsten Braasch, who defeated David Adams of Australia, 6-4, 6-4.