Sampras Soaks Up Ambience

A touch of Wimbledon, namely last year’s men’s finalists, Pete Sampras and Patrick Rafter, brought some punch and panache to the main stadium at the Tennis Garden Friday.

It was properly broken in when Sampras and Rafter produced more than two hours of compelling shot-making in the quarterfinals at the Tennis Masters Series. The third-seeded Sampras defeated No. 11 Rafter, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, in the best men’s match on that court since it opened last year.

“It was good tennis,” Sampras said. “Felt like it brought back memories of Wimbledon last year.

“For the first set and a half, I was having a hard time returning his serve. It wasn’t until the middle of the second set, until the end of the match, that I felt like I finally got ahold of his serve.”

Wimbledon revisited. Last summer, Sampras defeated Rafter for his seventh Wimbledon singles title and record-setting 13th Grand Slam event championship, rallying from a one-set deficit. Rafter led 4-1 in the second-set tiebreaker before Sampras recovered, winning in four sets.

The level of play here was incredibly high, considering Sampras came in on a three-match losing streak, having last won a title at Wimbledon. He had eight aces, no double faults and only seven unforced errors. Rafter had nine aces and didn’t double fault.

But Rafter didn’t feel the Wimbledon connection.,

“I didn’t put myself into a position where I had a real good opportunity to win,” he said. “Even though the score line was very close, I didn’t put enough pressure on him in the second and third sets.”

This is the best Sampras has fared at Indian Wells since he won the event in 1995. He volleyed sharply, moved well from side to side and relished the challenge against Rafter.

“It was a good atmosphere,” Sampras said. “It finally kicked in today. People were into it. He had his Australian fans. I had some of the Palm Springs locals rooting for me. It was fun to be part of that.”

Today, Sampras will play seventh-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia in the semifinals. He is 10-2 against Kafelnikov and has not lost to him since the semifinals of the 1996 French Open. They have not played since 1998.

Kafelnikov stopped the seven-match winning streak of Jan-Michael Gambill, winning, 6-4, 6-3. Gambill had taken out the top-seeded player, Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil on Thursday.

In another quarterfinal, Lleyton Hewitt of Australia defeated Nicolas Escude of France, 6-1, 6-3. Hewitt will meet fourth-seeded Andre Agassi in the second semifinal. Agassi beat Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador, 6-2, 6-1, in the quarterfinals.

Agassi took control early, breaking Lapentti in the third game. In all, he broke Lapentti’s serve six times. The conditions were windy, but Agassi handled the elements, committing only 13 unforced errors.

“It was tough out there, really windy. I don’t mind the wind so much,” Agassi said. “He just never seemed to get comfortable out there.”

Agassi is 1-1 against Hewitt, and much is being made of the new generation versus the old generation.

The 20-year-old Hewitt is the youngest player remaining in the field. Agassi turns 31 next month, Sampras will be 30 in August and Kafelnikov is 27.

“I think they’ve got plenty of good years left in them, no doubt about that,” Hewitt said.

“Gee, you know, if you throw Agassi, Sampras, Rafter, Kafelnikov in that bracket, there’s plenty of Grand Slams between those four guys.”

Said Agassi: “Everybody in the semis here is playing well and has the possibility of winning this tournament, whether you are 30 or 20. I always assess from inside the lines. I think it’s going to be a tough match tomorrow. Likewise with Pete and Yevgeny. You have to get it done on the court regardless of what the poster says.”

Sampras and Kafelnikov, though of the same generation, have their own good-natured sparring battles. It has to do with money.

“I like Yevgeny,” Sampras said. “I tease him all the time because he loves making money. He has his private jet. He plays every week. He’s a capitalist.”

This was the $40-million man talking about an $18-million man. And that’s just career prize money at the start of 2001. Kafelnikov recently sold his jet, and Sampras has teased him about that, too.

“It’s not smart to buy a jet. You want to lease one,” Sampras said, smiling. “That’s the way I’ve done it. You know, it’s the way he lives his life. He’s a big investor, a big gambler. I find it kind of amusing.”

Sampras said Kafelnikov, the Russian capitalist, deals with the teasing well. That is, when he is listening to Sampras.

“He’s usually on his cell phone, calling his broker,” he said. “It’s been a hard week for him, I guess.”