TENNIS : With Chance for No. 1, Sampras Still on Track

Pete Sampras, the remaining American in the Stockholm Open at Sweden, overcame Petr Korda in three sets Friday to reach the semifinals.

Sampras, ranked No. 2 and seeded third in the $1.3-million event, won the quarterfinal, 7-6 (7-4), 5-7, 6-3, at the Globe Arena.

Should Sampras win the tournament, he will move to No. 1 on the ATP rankings for the first time in his career.

Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia, who leads the ATP Tour with more than 800 aces this year, eliminated three-time defending champion Boris Becker in a power duel, 7-5, 6-4.

Ivanisevic, seeded fourth, will take on No. 2 Stefan Edberg of Sweden in today’s semifinals. Edberg downed unseeded Arnaud Boetsch of France, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).

Becker, who has struggled all season, dropped to his lowest ATP ranking since July of 1985 when he fell to 10th before the start of this tournament.

After splitting the first two sets, Sampras broke the fifth-seeded Korda at the start of the third. The American, serving well throughout the match, was never broken in the set. But he fell behind, 15-40, in the sixth game. He saved the first break point with an ace, his 14th in the match, then scored a forehand winner before eventually holding his serve to 4-2.

Sampras broke the Czech’s serve again in the ninth game, clinching the semifinal berth on his second match point as Korda’s volley sailed long.

“I think we both played a pretty good match,” Sampras said. “I’ve had a few tough matches with him in the past. It seems we raise our game against each other because we respect each other a lot.”

Sampras will meet No. 8 Guy Forget of France in the semifinals. Forget edged Henrik Holm of Sweden in a seesaw match, 7-5, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-2), that lasted almost three hours.

For Sampras, it was the third consecutive year that he reached at least the quarterfinals in this tournament.

He made the final eight in 1990 and last year he also gained the semifinals. Both times eventual champion Becker stopped him.

“Hopefully, I will make my first final tomorrow,” Sampras said. “I always seem to play very well at this time of the year and I like the surface.”