RE-PETE...American Pete Sampras holds aloft the Wimbledon trophy for the fourth time in his career on Sunday.

WIMBLEDON, July 6: Poor Cedric Pioline. He came in the way of a player looking for a special place among the pantheons of the sport. And, after one hour and 34 minutes, the Frenchman finished in shock and despair, trampled upon by someone who is well on his way to rewriting tennis history.

Pete Sampras, thus, won his fourth singles title at Wimbledon and 10th Grand Slam title, leaving legends like Fred Perry, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, to name a few, behind. He has just Bjorn Borg and Roy Emerson in front of him in terms of winning Grand Slam titles. But, as he said, those are mere numbers. He has set his sights far beyond that to ensure that he is the best who wielded a tennis racquet ever.

The 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 win was the culmination of a superb fortnight for Sampras, marred only by the retirement of Becker and the two sets the American lost against Petr Korda in the fourth round. And, as ever, he was simply magnificent today, finding that right blend of power and elegance, technical superiority and grace.

For his opponent, the hapless Frenchman, all the sweat he shed on various courts of the All-England Club during the last fortnight, went in vain; the final experience was rather nightmarish despite the fact that he was playing good tennis.

Pioline's biggest weapon was his backhand return of serve, the one factor that helped him reach thus far. But today, he ran into an opponent who did not allow any such liberties because he was serving like he has never done before. Yet, the Frenchman did marginally better than Sampras' previous opponents. For, he got his racquet to the ball. That was great improvement because it wasn't everybody who could have done that.

It wasn't serve alone which got the 25-year-old American his fourth title. It was the return, it was the volley, and, it was that backhand down the line. In short, it was a combination everything that goes to making a champion of such high calibre. No wonder then that they call him the greatest of them all.

Sampras lost just 17 points on his serve in the entire match. Any other statistic would pale in comparison. Such was the power and domination of his serve, that how well Pioline played seemed immaterial. Sampras was destined to win, Pioline or no Pioline.

Circumstances like these can destroy a player mentally and otherwise. Pioline, thus, came under severe pressure on his serve as he had to hold on to it at all costs. Sampras' return were light years better than Stich's which meant that his first volley suffered considerable damage. He had to play it in such a way that Sampras could not get to it. The mere presence of Sampras across the net was enough for Pioline to dump his volleys into the bottom of the net.

One cannot but help sympathise with Pioline because he had put in a lot of hard work, played some thrilling tennis only to be decimated in the end. His forlorn face, after receiving the runners-up plate, said it all. In fact, he would have been definitely relieved that it was all over. Life can only be better after this.

This was Pioline's second Grand Slam final against Sampras. The first being the 1993 US Open final. The result -- a straight-sets defeat -- was the same anyway and the talk of Pioline being a more matured player than he was four years ago came unstuck. May be, he is more mature. But, within the last four years, Sampras has left everyone behind when it comes winning Grand Slams.

``I don't know, but the serve clicked in every match I played in this tournament. That is the only shot that wins you the title. On grass, you got to have a return of serve and I think I played that well, too,'' Sampras said.

Surprisingly, Sampras got a bit tight when he was 4-3 up in the third set and serving. He went down his first, and only break point in the entire match. On break point, Pioline sent a return too long, ending his only possible chance of coming back into the match.

Fernandez, Zvereva again

American Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva of Belarus won their fourth Wimbledon women's doubles title today and their 14th Grand Slam as a team.The top seeds defeated sixth-seeded American Nicole Arendt and Manon Bollegraf of the Netherlands 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 for their second Grand Slam title this year.

Record win for Woodies

AUSTRALIANS Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde won their fifth straight Wimbledon men's doubles title today, equaling a record set almost a century ago.

Woodbridge and Woodforde -- known as the Woodies and seeded No 1 -- beat the Dutch doubles team of Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (9-7), 5-7, 6-3.

The turning point probably came in the second tiebreaker when the Australians saved four set points before winning the set. The losing Dutch pair -- seeded No 2 -- rallied in the third, coming back from 5-3 down to win 7-5.

The five straight ties a record set at the turn of the century when Reggie Doherty and Laurie Doherty won five in a row from 1897 through 1901. They also won three other times for a record eight overall.THE FINAL STATS

Sampras won 6-4 6-2 6-4

Time: One hour 34 minutes

Sampras Pioline

Aces 17 13

Double faults 2 1

First serves % 59 59

Forehand winners 5 2

Backhand winners 7 6

Volley winners 8 7

Passing winners 4 4

Return winners 6 3

Returns in % 60 39

Break points 8 1

Break points won 4 0y

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.