Sampras Sends Roddick Hacking

It was a nice try at hype, but we know legitimate rivalries. We’ve seen Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. There’s a comfort level in knowing what we’ll get when Agassi and Sampras step on the court.

Sampras vs. Andy Roddick is no Sampras vs. Agassi.

The past is still holding serve.

You could say it was the fault of Sampras that Sampras vs. Roddick could not hold its own against the best matchup in the game. Sampras never let Roddick breathe, much less see him sweat, immediately smothering him with power and precision in their quarterfinal at the U.S. Open on Thursday night.

The 17th-seeded Sampras faced only one break point, quickly erasing it in the second set, and breezed to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory against No. 11 Roddick in 90 minutes. He had 13 aces, giving him 40 in his last two matches.

The present is still holding serve.

This came after a disliked colleague, Greg Rusedski, put the 31-year-old Sampras’ game in mothballs Monday. Others were agreeing with him, looking at the Sampras who lost on grass to Alex Corretja in Davis Cup and George Bastl at Wimbledon.

“Absolutely, it fired me up,” said Sampras, who will play Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands in the semifinals on Saturday. Defending champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia will face Agassi in the other semifinal.

Schalken defeated Fernando Gonzalez of Chile in a marathon 3-hour 43-minute quarterfinal, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2).

If Schalken is an unexpected guest in the final four, Sampras was not exactly a given, either. He has not won a tournament since Wimbledon 2000, and the players were almost circling his aura like vultures.

Paul Annacone, the longtime coach and confidant of Sampras, looked at the quotes from Rusedski. As a person, he was appalled. But the pragmatist in Annacone rubbed his hands.

“For me, as a coach, it’s great motivation,” Annacone said. “He’ll use that to help him.”

During his prolonged slump, Sampras often seemed unable to establish a quick lead, letting the opponent hang around too long, which is how he even got into trouble against the likes of Bastl.

Here, the hammer came down quickly and stayed there. He won the first seven points of the match and broke Roddick in the second game, at 30. Sampras won the first set with uncommon speed, in 27 minutes, hitting a 101-mph service winner, and lost only four points on his serve in the opening set.

Roddick’s only break-point chance was in the second game of the second set and Sampras saved it with a forehand volley. In the next game, Roddick was broken at love, hitting two double faults. He had only three for the whole match.

“I gave him a little bit of a gift, a lot of a gift, in that game,” Roddick said. “Played one sloppy game in the third set, and two sloppy games, if someone’s playing well, can make you look pretty bad sometimes.”

The emotional, often theatrical Roddick was not in evidence. Sampras, who is 20-0 in night matches at the U.S. Open, was the one pumping his fists and jogging to his chair on changeovers. He relished the prime-time moment, rather than being frozen by it.

“This is what I play for,” Sampras said. “These are the big moments, playing Andy in a night match. He’s the young up-and-comer that has a great future.

“I’m pumped up. There’s no question, I kind of feed off the energy of playing at night here.”

Roddick, who hurt his left foot in the third round against Corretja, seemed almost lost at times. His backhand passing shot went missing in almost the same way it did against Rusedski at Wimbledon.

“It’s funny, if I win a match, it’s improving and it’s so solid and it’s great and it’s grand and it’s wonderful,” the 20-year-old said of his backhand and volleys. “As soon as there’s a bad match with it, it’s terrible and it [stinks] and you know, useless and whatever. Take your pick.”

Said Tarik Benhabiles, Roddick’s coach: “Pete was better. He [Roddick] wasn’t in it. It’s happened. It’s hard to explain. It’s going to take a few days to realize what happened. But basically he wasn’t there. There’s a lot to learn, a lot, a lot. Trust me.”

Roddick had defeated Sampras twice in two meetings, including the final at Houston on clay in March. But this was shortly after one of Sampras’ lowest periods, the stunning loss to Corretja on grass.

“There [were] points this year where I was second-guessing and just not that confident,” Sampras said. “It showed at times. And guys are getting a little better. They don’t have that fear factor. It just accumulated.”

The path of 2001, in which he beat Patrick Rafter and Agassi on his way to the Open final, had the same smooth upward glide of anticipation as his current run.

“Now I feel like I’m in pretty good rhythm, everything’s clicking,” Sampras said. “You kind of wait for it. I’ve been pretty patient all year, finally for it to kind of click. It’s nice that it’s happening here.”

It will be the first Grand Slam semifinal for Schalken, who survived the powerful forehand and serve of Gonzalez.

“It was not easy because he started, and I thought I was in the middle of a hurricane,” Schalken said. “He made some choices I didn’t expect. I told myself that I was down, 7-6, and he hit second serves over 120 miles per hour, then a drop shot, the weirdest balls. I thought, ‘If he’s going to play like this in my quarterfinal, I cannot make it.’ ”

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U.S. Open: Semifinals

*--* WOMEN

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*--* TODAY Coverage begins 8 a.m., Ch. 2 * Amelie Mauresmo vs. Venus Williams * Serena Williams vs. Lindsay Davenport SATURDAY Final, 5:30 p.m., Ch. 2

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*--* MEN

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*--* SATURDAY Coverage begins 8 a.m., Ch. 2 * Sjeng Schalken vs. Pete Sampras * Andre Agassi vs. Lleyton Hewitt SUNDAY Final, 1 p.m., Ch. 2

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*--* Head to Head Pete Samp ras is 4-0 agai nst semi fina l oppo nent Sjen g Scha lken . A look : Year Winner Tournament Surface Round Score 1998 Sampras Philadelphia Hard Quarterfinals 6-2, 6-2 1998 Sampras Australian Open Hard 1st round 7-5, 6-4, 6-2 1997 Sampras Philadelphia Hard Semifinals 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 1996 Sampras Key Biscayne Hard 1st round 6-3, 6-2

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*--* Lleyton Hewitt is 4-2 against semifina l opponent Andre Agassi. A look: Year Winner Tournament Surface Round Score 2002 Hewitt Cincinnati Hard Quarterfinals 7-5, 6-3 2002 Hewitt San Jose Hard Final 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 2001 Hewitt Masters Cup Hard Round robin 6-3, 6-4 2001 Agassi Indian Wells Hard Semifinal 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 1999 Agassi Los Angeles Hard Quarterfinal 5-4, ret 1998 Hewitt Adelaide Hard Semifinal 7-6, 7-6

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