All-American Wimbledon Final

Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi will meet in an all-American final at Wimbledon on the Fourth of July.

A third American, Lindsay Davenport, will play for the women's title against seven-time champion Steffi Graf.

Sampras, seeking his sixth Wimbledon title in seven years, advanced to the final today by rallying to beat Britain's Tim Henman 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

Graf reached her ninth Wimbledon final, overcoming 17-year-old Mirjana Lucic 6-7 (7-3), 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour, 50 minutes.

Davenport reached her first Wimbledon championship match by routing 18-year-old qualifier Alexandra Stevenson, 6-1, 6-1, in just 47 minutes. In the process, she regained the women's No. 1 ranking from Martina Hingis.

Sampras is one victory from equaling Roy Emerson's record of 12 Grand Slam titles.

Agassi said it was fitting that he and Sampras will play on the Fourth of July.

"That speaks for itself," Agassi said. "It's certainly a highly anticipated match by many, including me. I'm looking forward to it. I haven't played Pete in a big match in a long time. There should be some fireworks out there."

Sampras has a career 13-10 record against Agassi. But they haven't met in a Grand Slam final since the 1995 U.S. Open, where Sampras won in four sets. In their only previous match at Wimbledon, Sampras won in four sets in the 1993 quarterfinals.

"You have got the luxury of seeing a number of things a contrast in play and personality, to see two guys who have grown up together and somehow have managed to bring the best out of each other," Agassi said. "The stage is set. It's time to go out there and not miss the cue."

Sampras said he and Agassi are "like night and day" in terms of personality and lifestyle. But they feed off each other in competing for Grand Slam titles.

"It's always a little different when I step on he court with Andre," he said. "It's a little different playing him than anyone else except maybe (Boris) Becker."

Andre Agassi had little trouble in his semifinal match. (AP)

Agassi's run to the final continued his remarkable resurgence. At one stage last year, he had dropped to No. 141 in the world and was playing in low-tier Challenger events.

Agassi stunned even himself by winning the French Open last month. Now he's back in the final of a tournament he won in 1992, and also back at No. 1, a ranking he last held in February 1996.

"Andre is the hottest player on tour right and for him to win the French and come here and be in contention is a heck of an effort," Sampras said. "He's going to be very tough to beat."

Agassi put on a scintillating display of baseline tennis to thwart the serve-and-volley game of Rafter.

While never being broken, he applied continuous pressure on the Australian's serve with stinging returns off both wings.

The only danger Agassi faced was at 4-5 in the first set when he saved two sets points against his serve.

Sampras looked listless in losing the first set to Henman, who broke him twice.

He received treatment on his right thigh during changeovers in the second set, but never showed signs of injury as he roared back to win the match.

Lucic, at No. 134, was the lowest ranked player to reach a Grand Slam semifinal since rankings were introduced in 1975. But she gave Graf a stern test, continuously putting pressure on her serve with return winners.

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Steffi Graf is aiming for her eighth Wimbledon championship. (AP)

Graf wore a bandage around her left thigh, though showed no sign of injury. However, she later withdrew from the mixed doubles with John McEnroe, citing a strained left thigh muscle.

Graf parried questions about whether this might be her last Wimbledon.

"It's not the time to think about that now," she said.

But Graf said it would be "tempting" to try to equal Martina Navratilova's record of nine Wimbledon singles titles.

In the opening Centre Court match, Stevenson appeared awed by the occasion as she lost the first 11 points of the match.

Down 2-0 and 0-40, Stevenson made a brief rally, winning five straight points to hold for 2-1. But Daveport then ran off four straight games to take the set in 21 minutes.

Lindsay Davenport is pumped up about her first appearance in Wimbledon's final round. (AP)

The pattern continued in the second set as Stevenson managed to win only one more game, holding serve for 3-1.

When Stevenson made another unforced error on the first match point, Davenport clenched her fist and let out a high-pitched scream of delight.

"My serve wasn't my serve today," Stevenson said. "Lindsay played very well. She just showed she's No. 1."

Davenport, who hadn't advanced past the quarterfinals here until this year, reached her second career Grand Slam final. She won the U.S. Open title last year.

"To get to the Wimbledon final, it just means to much to me, especially after being relatively overlooked, and doing it on a surface I used to hate," she said. "Playing in the final on the Fourth of July is also special."

Davenport said regaining the No. 1 ranking was secondary.

"Getting to the Wimbledon far outshines it," she said.

Davenport had some sharp words for Stevenson's mother, who has stirred controversy with her allegations of racism and lesbianism on the women's tour and a dispute over prize money.

"The mother said a lot of things," Davenport said. "I'm not sure if she's doing it for attention. They sound crazy some of them. I don't think we appreciate her commenting on our way of life."