NEW YORK -- Eleven years ago, when the world was a kinder, gentler place, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi wandered onto the Grand Slam stage for the first time. They were young and fearless and went full-throttle all the time.

	Pete Sampras is in a 17-tournament slump, but it didn't show against Andre Agassi.

Sampras emerged from that memorable encounter here at the National Tennis Center with a straight-sets victory against Agassi and the two went on to dominate their tennis generation, winning 20 Grand Slam titles. On Wednesday night, older and considerably wiser, they again found themselves on opposite sides of the court.

And the results were glorious.

In 52 taut, nerve-wracking games, over three hours and 32 minutes, neither player allowed his serve to be broken, not even once. It was Sampras who survived 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) and advanced to a Saturday semifinal with defending champion Marat Safin.

"Probably as good as it gets," Sampras said, speaking for most who watched it. "The atmosphere was phenomenal. It was really, really close.

"I thought, going into the match, it could be a classic, and I think it was. It lived up to all the hype, I felt."

Said Agassi: "A match like this just boils down to a few shots -- and that's the difficulty in it and the beauty in it. You've got to give credit where credit is due. Pete played the big points better."

Four tie-breakers? You can't be serious. In eight previous Grand Slam meetings, Sampras and Agassi only combined for four tie-breakers. And so, the 32nd meeting between the two went to Sampras, who now holds an 18-14 edge. Still, it was his first victory in the past four matches against Agassi.

It was billed as a delicious matchup of Sampras, perhaps the game's best server ever, and Agassi, one of history's best returners. Sampras would charge the net at every opportunity -- attack, attack, attack -- and Agassi would skitter along the baseline, hitting deep, deep groundstrokes.

But now, in the 30-something twilight of their careers, both athletes are no longer unconscious or predictable, for that matter. They rely more on tactical intrigue and guile. They have actually grown, as so many do with age, to be ... conservative.

Both players served ludicrously large, even on second serves. Sampras had 25 aces, but Agassi countered with 18 of his own. But Sampras did not come rushing willy-nilly to net; respectful of Agassi's passing ability, he picked his spots.

This was a different Pete Sampras than has been on display recently. There was an intensity in his brown eyes that has been lacking, an almost brutal sense of urgency. He didn't look like an athlete that hadn't won a title since last year's Wimbledon, a string of futility that has encompassed 14 months and 17 tournaments.

The first set was chaotic on its own terms. Agassi saved three break points in the fourth game alone. With Sampras serving big, Agassi couldn't cash his one break chance and scuffled his way into a tiebreaker.

Sampras put together an ace and an unreturnable serve to take a 6-3 lead and give himself three set points. Agassi won them all, to push the breaker to 6-all. Agassi earned a set point himself, but double-faulted for 7-all. Fuming, he aced Sampras for an 8-7 lead and another set point.

	Andre Agassi was unable to break Pete Sampras serve and Sampras' did not break his.

Agassi easily handled Sampras' second serve, then drove a hard, low backhand, which Sampras could only push into the net with a forehand volley. Thus, the first set went to Agassi and, in retrospect, probably the match as well.

In the past, the winner of the first set had taken 24 of the 31 previous matches between them and that seemed to bode well for Agassi, who had previously won 49 of 50 matches at the U.S. Open after winning the first set. The conditioning factor swung heavily in Agassi's favor, although it wasn't as muggy as September in New York sometimes is. For while Agassi, at 31, is more than 15 months older than Sampras, he is in better shape. The longer the match went, both men understood, the better Agassi's chances.

Both players sailed along on serve and right into another tiebreaker. Retreating, Sampras hit a backhand cross-court winner past Agassi, who was sliding toward the net, for a 1-0 lead. Two big serves later and it was 3-0 and Sampras was never challenged again. With the score 6-2, Agassi sent a screamer over the net at Sampras' midsection. Somehow, Sampras deftly got his racket on the ball and pushed it into the open court for the second set.

Sampras immediately launched into an uncharacteristic fist-pumping display, his most visibly emotional moment of the evening, and the capacity crowd of 23,033 went similarly berserk.

The third set, naturally, careened into a tiebreaker, as well. At this juncture, Agassi was oddly complacent -- something beyond conservative. On three occasions, Agassi appeared to be tentative; he hit two unforced backhands long and netted a makeable forehand.

"You have to execute, and Pete did," Agassi said. "But I missed a couple of shots that maybe normally I wouldn't have. But you also feel his intensity pick up. You also feel his court position a little bit sharper there on a couple of short forehands.

"I didn't feel like I could just, you know, just hit a solid shot. I feel like I had to step up and win it, and sometimes that brings out, you know, a great quality of shot. Other times it causes you to force it."

Sampras closed the deal with an ace down the middle (No. 17) and then one outside (No. 18) to take a two-sets-to-one lead.

Both players survived a break point late in the fourth set, but they hung on for the inevitable fourth tie-breaker. Agassi actually took a 3-1 lead before Sampras rallied with aces Nos. 24 and 25 to run ahead, 4-3.

Sampras had three match points and Agassi saved two of them. But, in the end, he dumped a nervous-looking forehand into the net and Sampras walked regally to the net with both arms raised.

"Everyone's concerned about me," he said last week. "If I didn't win here, it would be a disappointing year. But I'm not that worried about it. I feel like I've got many years left. All this retirement talk has gotten a little bit carried away. So there's no reason to panic if I don't win this year's U.S. Open. I could go out and win three next year, so ...it can be done, even when you hit 30."

Although his No. 10 seeding, his lowest since 1990, has forced him to follow a difficult path, it could still happen for Sampras. He has already had to go through Patrick Rafter, the 1997 and 1998 champion, and Agassi, the 1994 and 1999 winner. Next up: Russian Marat Safin, who happens to be the defending champion.

Safin won that title by hammering Sampras in last year's straight-sets final.

"The last time I played Marat here, I was humbled," Sampras said. "But it's a new year and Saturday's a new day.

"I'm not content by any means. I think I still have a few good matches in me."

Greg Garber is a senior writer for ESPN.com.

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