Inspired Becker Chases Agassi Out of His Yard : Wimbledon: German gets out of deep hole in semifinals against top-ranked player. Ivanisevic out of luck against Sampras.

Some tennis players believe that Wimbledon plays favorites, that its ivy-covered walls embrace some and shut out the rest.

It may be true. Wimbledon seems to wistfully remember a boy of 17, a strawberry blond who leaped and cavorted on its lawns and won 10 years ago. Now a man, Boris Becker was rewarded with a sentimental journey Friday, on the anniversary of his first triumph.

His inspired play gained him a victory over Andre Agassi in the men’s singles semifinals and a place in Sunday’s final against Pete Sampras.

Becker was dominated by the top-ranked Agassi for an hour, then came from behind to win, 2-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4, 7-6 (7-1).

Sampras, seeded second and seeking his third consecutive title here, prevailed over the tempestuous Goran Ivanisevic, 7-6 (9-7), 4-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

It was the first time Becker has beaten Agassi in six years and, in explaining, Becker invoked the name of the 109-year-old tournament that he has won three times.

“Nobody should underestimate me at Wimbledon,” he said sternly. “Even when I’m down, I still have a chance and I still believe. I have the belief, deep down. I still had the hope that, even though I may lose the second set, I’m still in the third set, I’m still going to fight until the end. He has to beat me.

“Surprised? No. I have been in that situation much more than anybody else in the draw.”

Agassi was incredulous that he lost his grip on the match after a service break in the second set eroded his confidence.

“Mentally, I really had a hard time shaking off the fact that I let a 4-1, two-service-break lead slip away,” he said. “My confidence just dropped. I never emotionally rose to the occasion.

“By the end of the match, you have to say he deserved to win that one. I felt like I deserved to be up two sets to love. When it was all said and done, he picked up his level and I never managed to pick up mine.”

Agassi lost control while he was in a comfortable position: serving to go up 5-1 in the second after having won the first set.

But Becker rallied for two break points before he put an unreachable forehand into the corner. Upon getting his first service break, Becker raised his arms and paraded in a semicircle at the baseline, looking as if he was obeying some primal urge.

Before he got the crucial break, Becker said: “I was playing someone from outer space. I was hitting first serves hard, he kept passing me. He kept hitting low on my first volleys, I had to half volley all the time. On his service games [when] I had break points, he aced me. He played unbelievable. The first moment I felt, ‘Well, I have finally managed to break him,’ I managed to be in the match again.”

Becker’s next service game provided a statement of his intent. He won the game at love and served two aces for emphasis, hoping Agassi was noticing.

Agassi served at 4-3, 30-love but began to wobble. He double-faulted to let Becker in the game. Becker got the break on the strength of another shot he seemed badly out of position to retrieve. His forehand blast to a corner was sent back by an Agassi backhand that sailed wide.

Becker held a lead for the first time at 5-4, as the match turned one hour old.

As if Agassi didn’t feel badly enough about his defeat, he was reminded of the expectation that he would make it to the final against Sampras. Agassi has his part to play in the hype and excitement that a No. 1 versus No. 2 matchup provides, but he also knows that the players determine outcome of matches, not the wishes of television executives or reporters.

He nearly lost his patience with a question in that vein.

“I think you and the public, some of the public, are the only ones who believe what you write,” Agassi told reporters. “I certainly don’t. I mean, when you write that it’s going to be me and Pete in the finals, I don’t go, ‘Guess what? I won, good.’ I have a lot of work to do and I always maintain a respect for Boris.”

Sampras’ match against Ivanisevic went as expected, which was an accelerated replay of last year’s final. That game was roundly criticized for emphasis on serves, so much so that the pressure on the balls used this year was reduced to blunt the force of serves.

Friday’s match proved the change made no difference. Ivanisevic served 38 aces and Sampras 21. The average rally was two shots, although a six-stroke rally was recorded two hours 11 minutes into the match.

Ivanisevic was flatly ungracious about Sampras after the match, saying, “He didn’t play special,” and making constant reference to being unlucky.

“All the match I was unlucky,” Ivanisevic said. “I don’t know, probably I was born unlucky. I could have won this match in three sets. So many chances, and every time unlucky. I was really unlucky today. I don’t know why I can’t have luck one time in a big match, but I can’t. That’s it. I have to face that. I don’t have luck and that’s it.”

It’s unusual for a losing player to not offer even the slightest compliment or acknowledgment of the winner. At another point, Ivanisevic utterly ignored his own complicity in losing the match and brought up luck again.

“I don’t have a chance,” he said. “Every time I have a chance I’m going to be unlucky like today and that’s probably it. I mean, final, semifinal, that’s the maximum I can do, because every time something is going to happen--some stupid call or the guy is going to play good, or I’m going to be unlucky.”

Sampras would not allow himself to be drawn into the discussion, except to smile wryly and say, “Sometimes it takes a little bit of luck to win.”