Pete Sampras outplayed Todd Woodbridge in straight sets in the semifinals today and moved to within one victory of winning his fourth Wimbledon title in five years.
One day after ousting Boris Becker, another three-time champion, in a match that had the atmosphere of a final, Sampras coasted to a 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) victory over the unseeded Australian in what could have been a routine first-rounder.Only the rain stopped Sampras from wrapping up the match more quickly. The start of the match was delayed 1 hour, 40 minutes by a downpour, and play was suspended by rain with Sampras up 1-0 in the second set. The total playing time was 1:44.
Sampras simply played on a different plane than Woodbridge, a doubles star who had never reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam in singles before.
Woodbridge has won eight Grand Slam doubles titles, including four straight at Wimbledon with Mark Woodforde. But chances are the two "Woodies" wouldn't have been able to beat Sampras on this day.
Sampras' opponent in Sunday's final will be the winner of the other semifinal between 1991 champion Michael Stich and Cedric Pioline.
Sampras is odds-on favorite to win the title he won three straight years from 1993-95. It would be his 10th Grand Slam title and put him only two behind Roy Emerson's all-time record of 12.
The only consolation for Woodbridge was that he became the first player to break Sampras' serve since Mikael Tillstrom did in the fourth game of their first-round match. But he broke only once and failed on five other break chances.
Sampras had won 97 consecutive service games until Woodbridge broke him in the fourth game of the third set. The Australian raised his level after that, finding his timing on Sampras' shots and forcing a tiebreaker.
From 4-3 in the tiebreaker, Sampras won three straight points to close out the match, finishing with a service winner down the middle which Woodbridge just barely got his racket on. He had 10 aces for the match.
The women's final is set for Saturday, with 16-year-old Martina Hingis bidding to become the youngest Wimbledon champion since Charlotte "Lottie" Dodd won in 1887 at the age of 15.
Her opponent will be 28-year-old Jana Novotna, who scored a 6-4, 6-2 victory in a grudge match against former doubles partner Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the semifinals.
Novotna has been burdened with a "choker" label ever since blowing a 4-1 lead in the final set against Steffi Graf in the 1993 final.
"I'm a different person from 1993 and I will play much calmer," Novotna said.
With men's tennis already suffering a shortage of stars, Becker's farewell to Wimbledon was the last thing the game needs.
"I feel like I've been punched in the stomach," said former three-time champion John McEnroe, now working as an NBC commentator. "It's a blow to the men's game to lose one of the biggest personalities we have had in 12 years and it just shows how bad the sport of tennis is."
Sampras, the No. 1 player who shuns the role of superstar, also admitted that tennis will be in trouble following Becker's decision to quit Wimbledon and wind down his career.
"It's a huge impact for tennis," Sampras said. "He's brought a lot of money to the game. He's the Michael Jordan of Germany. He's got personality. He's got a presence about him that not a lot of players have. So that's going to be missed.
"He's one of the best players that ever played and the game needs some personality, and it needs a rivalry. We've just got to find something, I guess."
With Becker bowing out, Stich retiring this year and Andre Agassi's future uncertain, there are virtually no players to generate excitement the way Tiger Woods has done for golf.
Sampras vs. Becker was the best thing going in men's tennis since Sampras vs. Agassi. That all-American rivalry has fizzled out completely, with Agassi disappearing from the tour and showing no signs of making a fulltime return.
That's why Sampras was so stunned when Becker broke the news to him at the net following their quarterfinal.
"He said, `This is my last match at Wimbledon,' and I was like, `What?' " Sampras said. "I was surprised. I walked off the court feeling a little bit strange."