TENNIS ROUNDUP : Sampras Is a Winner Over Edberg

Pete Sampras advanced to the final of the $1.4-million ATP Championship by defeating Stefan Edberg of Sweden, 6-2, 6-3, Saturday at Mason, Ohio.

Sampras, the third-ranked player in the world, will play eighth-seeded Ivan Lendl for the title today. Lendl beat Michael Chang, 6-3, 6-2. Lendl, who has not won a tournament in a year, was never challenged, jumping to a 5-1 lead in the first set and a 3-0 lead in the second.

“I was really pumped up and motivated to beat him,” Sampras said. “I returned a little bit better than he did. I served really well . . . and I put a lot of pressure on his service. I think I made him feel that if he missed his first serve, I’d be all over his second serve.”

Edberg, ranked No. 2, played well all week but couldn’t get on track Saturday.

“I got off to a bad start and never really caught up to him again,” Edberg said. “He picked up some really good shots, even some half-volleys--he was flicking them for winners.”

Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, Edberg’s serve failed him. He said Friday that he didn’t know how long he could continue serving as well as he had been. Edberg, a two-time ATP champion, did not lose a set in three matches before Saturday.

Sampras said: “Even on his first serve, he was playing back. Right there, I knew he wasn’t really on today.”

Although Sampras has never won the ATP Championship, he has made it to the final two years in a row.

Sampras struggled early in the week, twice needing three sets to advance, and survived a match point against Mark Woodforde.

Against Edberg, Sampras said: “I was getting line calls, getting the breaks. Everything was going my way today.”

Top-seeded Karel Novacek of Czechoslovakia reached the final of the $365,000 Czechoslovak Open at Prague with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory over countryman David Rikl.

Novacek will play Franco Davin of Argentina, who completed a darkness-interrupted 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Jonas Svensson of Sweden, then beat countryman Guillermo Perez-Roldan, 6-2, 6-2, in the other semifinal.