Sampras Masters Muster In Semis
Pete Sampras exposed all the glitches in Thomas Muster’s computer program, baffling him from the baseline and confounding him all over the court today to reach the final of the Australian Open.
Not content simply to serve 16 aces and rule at the net with his usual flair, Sampras came up with the most unexpected shots in a 6-1, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 triumph that moved him within one win of his second Australian title and ninth Grand Slam tournament championship.
Facing Sampras in Sunday’s final will be Spain’s Carlos Moya, who has emerged from obscurity to stardom after beating defending champion Boris Becker in the first round and Michael Chang in the semifinals.
“He’s very confident, he has nothing to lose, and it’ll be a good fight on Sunday,” Sampras said of Moya, a player he has never met. “I feel pretty fresh. I have one more match left in me.”
Muster, who had programmed Sampras’ style and tendencies into a computer in hopes of upsetting the top seed, couldn’t have entered such shots as the lob that Sampras ran down or the running backhand that flew ankle-high around the post for a winner in the corner.
Muster acknowledged Sampras’ brilliance by raising both hands and bowing in homage.
Like Becker coming out of nowhere to win his first Wimbledon, like Sampras cracking 100 aces for his first U.S. Open title, Moya’s sudden appearance in his first major final heralds the arrival of a new force in the game.
A Spaniard with movie star looks and a swashbuckling style on court, the 20-year-old Moya is no accidental tourist who happened upon a lucky draw and a few breaks after one undistinguished trip around the Grand Slam circuit.
He is the genuine article, a complete player from the baseline to the net, so good he could make beating Chang look easy in their 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 match Thursday.
Sampras, Moya knows, is No. 1, “but I beat No. 2 and No. 6. I’m not going to go on the court (with a losing attitude) in the final. There were 128 players on the first day. Now we are only two.
“He would be the favorite two weeks (ago), but now I don’t know if he would be the favorite.”