In the other semi-final, No 1 seed Pete Sampras beat No 12 seed and crowd favourite Tim Henman 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Ivanisevic put on an animated display after winning 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-7 (7-5), 15-13 in a match that lasted three hours, 22 minutes, with the final set alone going 1:19.

He fell to his knees, tapped the grass with his hand and held his clenched fists in the air when Krajicek the 1996 champion netted a backhand volley to end the match in the 28th game of the final set.

The Croatian ripped off his bandana, tossed two towels into the stands, clapped to the crowd and held up his left index finger in a No 1 salute as he walked off the Centre Court.

``The fifth set was a just a horror-thriller,'' he said. ``I never saw somebody serving like that in my life. They were just bombs. I couldn't even react. `I said,just keep your serve. He has to miss a couple of first serves.' and that happened at 13-14.''

Ivanisevic reached the final for the third time, having lost in the 1992 and 1994 championship matches. He has never won a Grand Slam title and came into this tournament after winning only one match in his five previous Slam events.Sampras, who hasn't dropped a set till the semi-finals, is seeking his fifth title in six years.

Playing in his 11th Wimbledon, Ivanisevic came in with few expectations and was overlooked as a serious contender. Ranked No 25, he was only seeded because of his past record at Wimbledon.

``This means a lot,'' he said. ``A lot of people said, `He's gone. He's never going to be back.' But I worked hard the last six months and Wimbledon came at the right time.''

Old guard holds sway SO MUCH for all that talk about teen-agers taking over women's tennis. The old ladies are doing just fine, thank you.

Martina Hingis, Venus and Serena Williams, Anna Kournikova and Mirjana Lucic will bewatching on television if they bother to watch at all when the Wimbledon women's final is played tomorrow.

The two finalists are among the oldest players on the tour 30-year-old Nathalie Tauziat and 29-year-old Jana Novotna. Together, they represent the oldest Wimbledon finalists since Betty Stove (32) and Virginia Wade (31) in 1977.

``Sometimes it seems like the older the better,'' said Hingis, outplayed by Novotna in straight sets in yesterday's semifinals.

``If you see Tauziat on the other side in the finals, it's amazing. I hope it's going to be like that with me also, the others, the smarter, the cleverer, the better.''

The women gave way to the men's semifinals today, with defending champion Pete Sampras facing Britain's Tim Henman, and 1996 champ Richard Krajicek playing two-time finalist Goran Ivanisevic.

Age seemed irrelevant yesterday as Novotna sprinted, jumped and covered the court with ease in her 6-4, 6-4 victory over the defending champion, avenging a three-set defeat to a16-year-old Hingis in last year's final.

Novotna said it was natural for so much attention to be focused on the young players but the veterans still have a key advantage.Novotna also has another edge: Royal support.

Five years ago, the world watched as Novotna sobbed on the shoulder of the Duchess of Kent after blowing a 4-1 lead in the third set of the final against Steffi Graf.

Novotna resumed her bond with the Duchess last year after losing in the final to Hingis. The two exchanged warm greetings and the Duchess gave Novotna some special words of encouragement.