Sampras battles elements to set up dream final

Pete Sampras battled Scott Draper and fought against swirling, violent winds to beat the Australian 6-2 7-6 at the Kooyong Classic on Friday and set up a final day clash with Andre Agassi.

"That wasn't a day to play tennis," he said afterwards. "That was a day to fly a kite.

"It was by far the windiest conditions I have ever played through...it just wasn't easy as we saw from every aspect of the court."

Although pleased with the win, the match on Kooyong's Centre Court failed in its objective -- to give Sampras valid match practice ahead of next week's Australian Open.

"You just couldn't get any timing," the American said.

"It was hard to work on anything out there. It was hard to get any rhythm, hard to get any rhythm on the serve, it is kind of a guessing game where the ball is going to go.

"It is no fun to play in. The winner I guess is the player who guesses where the ball is going to go. It is not really tennis."

Sampras said that had he not had a match at the eight-man invitational event, he would not have practised in those conditions.

NOT PRETTY

"I wouldn't want to play tennis in this. I would rather play golf in this weather, but that wouldn't be pretty either."

Agassi had reached the final of the round robin Open warm-up on Thursday and played in perfect conditions.

But Sampras said his match had not been a waste of time.

"I guess if it is windy next week, like it could be, a match like this can help you out.

"It tells you that you have to be prepared for anything when you play here in Melbourne, the heat, the wind."

Sampras said he was looking forward to his final warm-up on Saturday.

"It is the toughest test I could find before the Australian Open."

"Andre is in pretty good form. He loves playing in these conditions.

"I will just see where I am at. You have to be at the top of your game to beat Andre and hopefully the conditions will be a little bit calmer and we can actually play some tennis.

"It will be competitive, trust me. We have such a history together."

In other action at Kooyong, America's Taylor Dent beat Open fourth seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6-4 7-6 and Alex Corretja left German Tommy Haas without a win in three matches here, the Spaniard winning 6-7 6-4 6-4.