Sampras Closes Agassi’s Show in the Theater Where It Started : U.S. Open: Tears flow after a 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 victory over the defending champion.

In a different place, under different circumstances and for different reasons, Pete Sampras sat in a chair on a tennis court, buried his head in a towel and sobbed.

Sampras’ tears in January at the Australian Open reflected his sadness at the illness of his coach and friend, Tim Gullikson. Sunday’s tears sprang from joy, relief and triumph, for Sampras had beaten Andre Agassi and won the U.S. Open men’s singles title.

Sampras dispatched Andre Agassi, 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, in a hard-fought two hours 28 minutes, raised his arms, then plopped into a chair. Sampras leaned forward and cried. Then, grinning and sniffling, Sampras looked into a television camera and said, “This one’s for you, Timmy.”

As he had when he won at Wimbledon earlier this summer, Sampras dedicated his seventh Grand Slam tournament title to Gullikson, who is suffering from brain cancer and watched from his home outside Chicago as his pupil won his third U.S. Open.

The triumph was important for Sampras, but more important was testing his game against the No. 1 player in the world and finding nothing lacking. In front of 19,950 at the National Tennis Center, Sampras’ tennis was nearly seamless. His biggest weapon was his serve. He sent 24 aces at the best service return player in the game.

No matter what Sampras does the rest of the year he will not overtake Agassi for No. 1, but both agreed that the man who won two Grand Slam event titles had the better season.

“Being No. 1 is great, but after the first hour it doesn’t make a bit of difference, because you’ve still got every guy in the tournament wanting to beat you,” Agassi said. “Pete has won two Slams. I’d have to say that, come December 31st, he’s feeling better about the year than I [will].”

The much-anticipated all-American final did little to resolve what promises to be a long-term tug-of-war for men’s tennis dominance. It is a rivalry so even that Sunday’s match at last tilted the statistical scales. Their head-to-head record had been tied, 8-8; in Grand Slam events they were 3-3 and they had played in two Grand Slam finals with each winning once.

Sampras had won only three tournaments this year before Sunday, and he was having what he acknowledged was a so-so season. Agassi won everything except Wimbledon and the French Open, beginning with beating a depleted Sampras in the Australian Open final. Agassi brought a 26-match winning streak into the final.

Titles are nice, but Sampras confirmed that he’s a Grand Slam kind of guy.

“In my mind, the major titles are the most important thing,” Sampras said.

To have won his nation’s championship, beating the defending champion, meant much to Sampras, who came into this tournament last year unprepared and out of shape.

On Sunday, Sampras, 24, was Agassi’s superior when points called for athleticism, and none so much as the first set point.

Agassi was serving at 4-5 and had fended off one break point. Sampras maneuvered to another. It proved to be the longest point of the match. The players pushed each other back and forth, side to side, hitting potent shots that would have been winners against a lesser foe.

A rowdy crowd was enthralled. Sampras broke the spell with a backhand winner down the line and punctuated his feat with a fist-pumping salute to the crowd.

“It was probably one of the best points I’ve ever been a part of,” Sampras said. “We were both running each other around. That was a huge point.”

With the conditions not conducive to great tennis, the players persevered as the sun set. It was the Open’s first cool day, and the wind swirled.

Sampras’ serve never really lapsed, as it had at times throughout the tournament. He won the sixth game of the fourth set by serving four consecutive aces. He won his next service game with three service winners, topped off with an ace.

“If you are hitting 1-2-3 on the line, it doesn’t matter if you don’t know where it’s going or not,” Agassi said.

Sampras broke Agassi to go up, 6-5, in the fourth set and put himself in a position he is uniquely suited to: serving for the match.

He began the last game with an ace and ended it with another.

Agassi, 25, was last year’s unforeseen U.S. Open champion. His wrist operation kept him off the tour for two months, and his ranking dropped at the same speed as his confidence. He entered last year’s Open unseeded and left with the trophy and his self-esteem fully renewed.

Sunday, he was gracious in defeat.

“This is where it all started for me last year,” Agassi said. “I had a wonderful run. I wouldn’t rather lose it to any guy, other than the one standing next to me.”

Open Notes

U.S. Davis Cup captain Tom Gullikson announced his team for the semifinal against Sweden, Sept. 22 at Las Vegas. As expected, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras will play singles and Todd Martin and Jonathan Stark will play doubles. Sweden is expected to have a team of Thomas Enqvist, Mats Wilander, Jonas Bjorkman and Stefan Edberg. The winner will play the winner of the Germany-Russia semifinal played that same weekend at Moscow.