Sampras' 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 demolition of fourth-seed Andre Agassi was by far the most devastating of defeats for the newly-crowned world number one. Billed as one of the great finals to be had in a long, long time turned out to be an anti-climax with Sampras playing in the `zone' giving the Las Vegan absolutely no chance whatsoever.

But Lindsay Davenport, the big-serving American, added her a fascinating tailpiece to Steffi Graf's career her when she just ripped past the German 6-4, 7-5 to add a Wimbledon title to the US Open she had won earlier. The power tennis of the tall and lanky American thus cleaned out, once and for all, thelegend who began the domination of power in the early '80s.

Davenport then extended her glorious run into the doubles too, partnering Corina Morariu. The American pair, seeded seven, beat South African Mariaan de Swardt and Elena Tatarkova of Ukraine, the ninth seeds, 6-4 6-4 on Court One.

Soon after the American girl's breakthrough win here, Sampras became the second player in tennis to win 12 Grand Slam titles, equalling Australian Roy Emerson's record. Struggling all along and even down right lucky to escape the Mark Philippoussis onslaught in the round of eight, the top seed unleashed his seemingly unending array of strokes which delighted the packed Centre Court no end.

Sampras was all over Agassi and the momentum he gained in the first set, coming through after being 0-40 in the seventh game, turned the game on its head. In that game, Sampras had five big serves which put so much pressure on Agassi that he dropped is game in the next.

``The first set was the kind of momentum I needed and itcarried on to the second, and then the third he kept on putting pressure on me, and I came up with some big stuff at the right time. And the next thing I knew I was serving, and I got it done,'' Sampras said.

``I'm still spinning a little bit,'' he said. ``I haven't thought about it much, and just getting off the court it's a little overwhelming to have won what I have won, to be honest. I don't know how I do it, I really don't. It's going to take its time to sink in, but now it's just getting over with the match and I'm still spinning.''

``It's so hard to explain the feeling that I felt serving for the match. All of a sudden the match is on your racquet and you start breathing heavier. I just went for it and I hit a great second serve and that's the one shot you need to win here is a second serve, and it was a great shot. I surprised myself,'' Sampras said.

Poor Agassi. He did everything he could possibly have done but still came out second best. "I've got to give full credit to Pete for the way heplayed. ``He played some impeccable tennis at the most important times and I didnt come up with better stuff than he did,'' Agassi said. ``You got to weather his storm and that's when I had my opportunities, but his storm was too strong today. I couldn't do it,'' he added.