Rafter Finds Himself Beating Agassi In Five In Brilliant Past Form At End, Aussie Wins Date With Sampras

It happened out of nowhere, as if Harry Hopman, the deceased godfather of Australian tennis, had reached down from grass court heaven and touched his shoulder with a golden wand.

“End of the fourth set. I just started finding my rhythm on my serve,” Patrick Rafter explained, recalled the moment - not knowing why then, or why at all. “I can recall serving that well in 1998, just before the U.S. Open. It’s been awhile since I served like that.”

His game suddenly transported back in time to the best tennis days of his life, Rafter in the next 25 minutes Friday beat down grimfaced Andre Agassi, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, with a near flawless display that carried him to a date with Pete Sampras in the Wimbledon final Sunday.

“It’s been a long road back. I think that’s the most satisfying part about it,” said the affable Aussie with the once bum shoulder. “It has been, probably, a big shock.”

Two hours after Rafter closed out Agassi by winning 17 of his final 18 service points, Sampras survived a shaky first set to whip the man with the potluck clothes, qualifier Vladimir Voltchkov in three sets, by 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4.

And so there will not be a pair of all-American finals with Lindsay Davenport facing Venus Williams today and Sampras vs. Agassi. But no one who watched Rafter resurrect his greatness during the last 12 days could be disappointed about the last matchup.

In one corner, Sampras, going for his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title, seventh in the last eight years and a 13th Grand Slam crown, which will leave him standing alone ahead of Roy Emerson, with whom he is currently tied.

In the other corner, the garrulous man with the droll sense of humor that would have a beer with just about anyone, including the devil, if he paid.

With the exception of a minor first-set road bump, there wasn’t much to say about Sampras’ win over Voltchkov, who arrived at Wimbledon from Minsk, Belarus, looking for a place to sleep and tennis clothes to wear.

Sampras, the No. 1 seed, called trainer Doug Spreen out in the third set to spray ointment on the sore tendon in his lower left leg. “It was sore. I wanted to cool it down a bit,” Sampras said.

The Rafter-Agassi match, however, was wonderful. It wasn’t just the high level at which it was played. It was the intriguing contrast of styles, the sweet variety of shots and the presence of two charismatic players who together hold eight Grand Slam championships.

Rafter played in-your-face tennis, serving-and-volleying and, when Agassi was serving, seizing the net through the slightest of openings. Agassi counter-punched, slamming balls at, around and over the onrushing Rafter.

And in between the two men painted masterpieces with their rackets. Lob-volleys, running lob winners, acrobatic stretch volleys, blazing service returns, interminably long slice backhand-to-backhand rallies and delicate drops shots. It was all there.

“Today was a match I couldn’t have played any better under the circumstances, on a big court against one of the best players ever,” said Rafter.

Certainly, Agassi was confident of a win. This was the third time he had played Rafter at Wimbledon and Rafter had never broken his serve. They had played in last year’s semifinal here and Agassi handled him in three.

“He played pretty much like I expected,” said Agassi. “He just did it well. I just felt that at the biggest moments of each set he continued to execute and I fell off a bit.”

Agassi had not been broken in his last three rounds, but his first serve was off most of this semifinal. “If Pat’s playing against my second serve on a regular basis, he puts pressure on it. He starts zoning in, starts getting in on it,” said Agassi.

Rafter busted Agassi’s serve for the fifth and final time to go up 4-2 in the final set. At 15-30, he jerked a backhand crosscourt at an angle so acute that Agassi had no chance at a retrieval. Then Agassi double-faulted, one of eight in this match, to make it 30-40.

On break point, Rafter brushed a shot deep to Agassi’s forehand corner and clamored in behind it, daring Andre to pass him. Agassi’s shot slapped against the net and fell back.

At 5-2, Rafter rose from his chair to serve it out and was handed new balls. In the space of about 45 seconds, he crashed a 109 mile-an-hour hook serve off the top of Agassi’s racket; stroked a 110 mile-an-hour ace to the extreme corner; stretched wide to his right for a solid volley winner; and fired a 99-mile-an-hour service winner to the corner to complete the upset.