TENNIS ROUNDUP : Upsets Are Served by Forget, Ivanisevic

Pete Sampras lost a chance to take over as the world’s top-ranked tennis player when he was beaten Saturday by hard-serving Frenchman Guy Forget in the semifinals of the Stockholm Open.

Forget, seeded eighth in the $1.3-million tournament and the first French finalist since Henri Leconte won in 1982, will face Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia in today’s final.

Forget defeated Sampras, 7-6 (13-11), 7-6 (7-4). Ivanisevic had 13 aces against Stefan Edberg and blitzed the Swede, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8), in the other semifinal, the fourth consecutive loss for Edberg against Ivanisevic this year.

Sampras needed to win the tournament to claim the top spot in the ATP rankings for the first time in his career.

“If I’m not No. 1 this year I won’t be too disappointed,” Sampras said.

Sampras, 21, who fell to Boris Becker in this tournament the past two years, failed to break Forget.

“I couldn’t get my racket on any of his serves when I had my break points,” Sampras said. “What can you do when he’s serving so well? He had the big shots at the right time.”