Sampras ties Emerson

Pete Sampras has claimed his 6th Wimbledon title, and in doing so tied former great Roy Emerson for the most number of grand slams ever won. Sampras beat Andre Agassi in an exciting final, though in straight sets. Sampras now holds 12 grand slam titles, and has an excellent chance to surpass Emerson's record over the next 3 or so years.

Sampras' efforts have shown that he is still almost unbeatable on the grass-courts at Wimbledon. However, in the quarter-finals the American champion dodged a bullet when Australian Mark Philippoussis was forced to retire. Philippoussi had won the first set by 6-4, and had been dominating play when he sustained a knee injury after hitting a forehand. After having lost to Sampras in straight sets the past 2 years, this looked to be a real turning point for the Aussie; but unfortunately now that can only be speculation.

Meanwhile Andre Agassi has continued to demonstrate his versatility, riding on a wave of confidence all the way through to this year's Wimbledon final. Although he had a relatively kind draw, Agassi did have a good win over world number 2 Pat Rafter in the semi-finals. In this match he was able to dominate the Australian through his penetrating returns. In the final however, Agassi had no answer to Sampras' superior service power. Agassi sucumbed by a score of 6-3, 6-4, 7-5.

Rafter himself had an excellent Wimbledon, passing the 4th round for the first time in his career and making the semi-finals. Along the way he had good wins over the big-serving Todd Martin, and a resurgent Boris Becker who had his final Wimbledon. Rafter's display against Becker was a particularly impressive, athletic display which showed up the German's lack of fitness and match-practise.

Once again Tim Henman made the semi-finals, only to fall to Pete Sampras for the second year in a row. Henman rides on crowd support, but seems to lack the weapons to beat Sampras when in form on grass. The other local favourite was Greg Rusedski, who fell to Philippoussis in an exciting 4th round match.

That's all for now. The next edition will be available on July 28. Cheers!

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