TENNIS ROUNDUP : Sampras Rallies to Beat Courier in ATP World Final

Pete Sampras is ending the season on a roll--one he hopes lasts right through the Davis Cup finals.

Sampras rallied to beat top-seeded Jim Courier, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 6-4, to win the Assn. of Tennis Professionals Tour World Championship Sunday at Frankfurt, Germany.

It was the first all-American final since 1979, when John McEnroe defeated Arthur Ashe.

Although the tournament officially ended the ATP Tour season, Sampras won’t be able to join Courier on vacation. Sampras and Andre Agassi will play singles when when the United States meets France in the final in Lyon from Nov. 29-Dec. 1.

Sampras, last year’s U.S. Open and Grand Slam Cup champion, is on a hot streak after an early season slump. He has won 36 of 42 matches since Aug. 1, after compiling only a 16-11 record before that. Sampras also won a tournament in Lyon in the second half of the year.

Sunday’s final was the youngest in the history of the ATP event. Sampras is 20, and Courier is 21. But McEnroe remains the youngest winner. He was 19 when he beat Ashe.

Sampras collected $1 million in the tournament, including $625,000 for winning the title. He needed 3 hours 10 minutes to beat his good friend and former doubles partner.

“When he is hot, he is hot, he can knock you off the floor. He goes for shots most of us wouldn’t even think of hitting,� Courier said. “It was his day today.�

Sampras, ranked seventh in the world and playing in his second season-ending championship, won the second set when Courier hit the net with a forehand.

“He went for my shot and I missed it,� Courier said of the turning point in the match.

Sampras’s big serve started coming together in the third set, and he allowed Courier only five points on his serve as he broke for a 4-2 lead and took the set, 6-3.

Monica Seles hit more consistent groundstrokes than Jennifer Capriati to win the Virginia Slims of Philadelphia, 7-5, 6-1, in a match that included a total of only 11 trips to the net by both players.

Thirty-two unforced errors were too much for Capriati, 15, to overcome.

“Whenever Jennifer and I play, it’s great tennis,� said Seles, who had 18 unforced errors but won all seven points when she went to the net. “We both hit the ball as hard as we could, and I had to play well to win.�

The victory was the ninth for Seles in 15 tournaments this year. She has played in the finals of all 15 events.

“But last year, when I got to the finals, I won them all,� she said. “This year in the finals, I was not the same player as I was in the semifinals. That’s something I want to improve on next year.�

Capriati, the fourth-seeded player and the world’s sixth-ranked player, lost to Seles for the fourth time in five meetings. She was playing in her first tournament since losing to Seles in three sets in the semifinals of the U.S. Open in September.