Sampras Produces a Winning Sequel : Wimbledon: Ivanisevic says he never had a chance as American wins second consecutive title.

Re-Pete. . . . . Two-Pete . . . . call it whatever you want because it doesn’t matter to Pete Sampras. He came to Centre Court Sunday for a second consecutive Wimbledon singles championship, not a slogan.

He left with both.

Sampras overwhelmed Goran Ivanisevic, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-5), 6-0, in a match that left the defeated Croatian mumbling and muttering in disbelief. It left everyone else wondering if they had witnessed the beginnings of the next tennis dynasty.

“He play too good,” said Ivanisevic, who was seeded fourth. “I never had a chance.”

So what else is new? Nobody had a chance against the No. 1-seeded Sampras during the fortnight. He lost only one set in seven matches. If he has a weakness in his game, nobody found it.

Of course, Ivanisevic and his left-handed serve were supposed to change all that. According to Ivanisevic, Sampras would spend the day waving at blurs. The American would become a one-Wimbledon Wonder.

Instead, Sampras produced 17 aces, returned about as well as possible against Ivanisevic’s 119-m.p.h. first serve, won the two crucial tiebreakers, never lost his serve and generally humbled his once-confident opponent.

“I didn’t lose my confidence,” said Ivanisevic, who has reached the finals twice and lost each time. “I mean, he was just too good.”

And this from Ion Tiriac, a former tennis star who now serves as Ivanisevic’s manager: “Sampras is the best player, the most complete player since Rod Laver and with more power. I believe Sampras played better today than any other (day of his career) against the only guy in the world who could have beaten him.”

Sampras knew he had flirted with perfection. When he and Ivanisevic met at the net to exchange handshakes, Sampras could manage only a sheepish, “Sorry.”

Ivanisevic shrugged. Sampras tried again.

“I played too good,” Sampras said. “I couldn’t play better.”

“Oh,” said Ivanisevic, “that’s great.”

This is Sampras’ fifth Grand Slam event title, four of them won in the last 12 months. The No. 1 world ranking has been his for all but a few weeks since April of 1993. And Sampras logged less playing time to win his seven Wimbledon matches than it took Todd Martin and Boris Becker to reach the semifinals.

But the important number to remember is this: He’s only 22.

“Right now . . . . I’m feeling pretty stoked right now,” said Sampras, sending the foreign press contingent into a tizzy. (“Stoked? What is this stoked?”)

In a rare display of postmatch emotion, Sampras flung two of his prized graphite rackets into the Centre Court audience. Later he tossed a pair of shirts into the crowd.

“I should have taken all my clothes off because I won two in a row,” Sampras said.

Ivanisevic tossed his racket away, too, as well as a shirt. In retrospect, he should have tossed in the towel after the second set.

By then, Sampras had turned back every Ivanisevic challenge. When Ivanisevic kept blasting aces past him--25 in all--Sampras looked as if he wanted to yawn. When Ivanisevic was up break point in the 11th game of the first set, Sampras sent back a service winner. When Ivanisevic took a 2-1 lead in the tiebreaker, Sampras responded with six consecutive points.

On and on it went. Ivanisevic had break point in the fourth game of the second set . . . . and stuck a backhand in the net. You only get so many chances against Sampras, and Ivanisevic was blowing each precious one.

“I felt, if Goran was going to win, it was going to be a long road for him,” Sampras said. “It was very hot and I felt like I was getting on his serve more and more as the match went on, and the serve probably came down about 10 miles an hour slower in the third (set). He just got really down on himself. That’s when I raised my tennis a notch.”

If a 6-0 third-set blitzing is a notch, then Ivanisevic and everyone else on the men’s tour isn’t in a hurry to see two notches. Sampras won all but seven points in the final set. Ivanisevic couldn’t do a thing. His ace totals had fallen from 16 in the first to eight in the second to one in the third.

As the aces declined, play improved. Of the 49 minutes it took to finish the first set, there was only five minutes of actual play. And depending on the statistician, there was no point in the entire match (206 in all) that lasted longer than six shots--and there were only three of those.

“You put us on clay, sure, we’ll have some long rallies for you,” Sampras said.

But this was grass, where serves and volleys ruled. Or more correctly, where Sampras was king.

When the championship was at last his, Sampras planted a big kiss on the 18 1/2-inch-high silver gilt cup presented to him by the Duchess of Kent.

“You can write what you want, you can say what you want, but the fact is I have got two in a row and that’s something that’s going to stay with me for as long as we’re all living,” Sampras said.

Next year he goes for history. No American male has won three consecutive Wimbledon titles.

“The main concern I have is to win and focus on winning,” Sampras said. “I just hope people can appreciate how I go about my tennis and how I play.”