Points won by each set: [ 35-38, 35-37, 33-23, 27-14 ]
Points won directly on serve:
54 % Ivanisevic – 64 of 117
44 % Sampras – 55 of 125
The first out of four meetings between them at Wimbledon #, the only one won by Ivanisevic (and the only one played on Court No. 1). Sampras lost the second set in a tie-break 5/7 (the first won 7/4) after one mini-break that Ivanisevic obtained with a backhand return winner for a 2:0 lead, but it didn’t affect the American at all – in his previous two wins over the Croat, he had lost the 2nd sets in tie-breaks too (Munich ’90, Paris ’91). He was leading 4:3* in the 3rd set, and up to that moment he was serving like a machine as well as his opponent. Then something completely unexpected happened in the 9th game – Sampras made a terrible volley mistake trailing 0/30, was broken at ‘love’ and lost his fighting spirit being easily broken two times in his next four service games. Ivanisevic went through his 20 service games not being forced to play ‘deuce’ even once! I remember that after such a brilliant service performance, I thought Agassi was chanceless in the final, but his return skills were much better than those Sampras possessed…