Andre Agassi put together an impeccable array of serves and returns to stun top-seed and defending champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-2 and make the men's final of the U.S. Open tennis championships in New York an all-American affair.
It appeared from the onset of the match that Hewitt would prove too much for the older Agassi by taking an early 3-0 lead in the first set. But Agassi would then win six of the next seven games and take a 1-0 lead.
Agassi did have a chance at 6-5 to serve for the second set, but Hewitt broke the American to send the set into a tiebreak. Agassi would win the tiebreak and take a 2-0 lead.
Hewitt, however, stayed alive and won the third set tiebreak impressively, but then in the fourth set it was Agassi, who despite being 11 years older than his opponent, appeared to be the fresher player as he won going away.
Agassi will now play compatriot and 17th-seed Pete Sampras, who continued to confound his critics, who say he's too old to win a Grand Slam event, by taking out 24th-seeded Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands, 7-6, 7-6, 6-2.
Sampras was able to beat Schalken in successive tiebreaks after both players held serve in the first two sets. Sampras then broke a tired Schalken early in the third set and cruised to victory.
The Sampras-Agassi final comes on the heels of last year's epic quarterfinal match at the U.S. Open where Sampras prevailed in four grueling sets. All four sets went to a tiebreak and neither player had his serve broken.