AUSTRALIAN OPEN : SAMPRAS BEATS HEAT AND MOYA, WINS AUSTRALIAN.

Byline: Steve Wilstein Associated Press 

Pete Sampras, threatened only by strings popping in suffocating heat, sliced, diced and slammed young Carlos Moya in straight sets today to capture a second Australian Open title and ninth major championship.

Sampras' 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 victory over the 20-year-old surprise from Spain - the most one-sided Australian final in eight years - separated the No. 1 American from all but one of the greats of the open era.

Only Bjorn Borg, with 11 Grand Slam titles, has more majors than Sampras since the start of open tennis in 1968. Sampras had been tied at eight with Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl. Roy Emerson leads the list with 12, Rod Laver won 11 - only five in open play - and Bill Tilden captured 10 in the 1920s and '30s.

Sampras served 12 aces to Moya's two, but it wasn't sheer power that earned him this title. With the temperature 90 degrees in the shade and well over 100 degrees on court, Sampras sacrificed speed for placement as he kept Moya guessing where the ball was going next.

Unlike earlier matches this tournament and in the U.S. Open he won last year, Sampras coped easily with the heat this time. He seemed to be playing so effortlessly that the crowd and Moya were lulled into watching him as if expecting winner after winner. Sampras obliged with 38 winners - 11 on volleys - while the baseline-hugging Moya managed only 13 winners and no volleys.

``Pete, we want a fourth set!'' a spectator yelled after Sampras took a 3-1 lead on his serve in the third set.

Sampras responded with a forehand-drop-shot winner on the next point.

Sampras had no desire to let this match go longer than necessary, and only a shortage of string or rackets could have stopped him on this day. He popped a string in the second game of the match, another one two games later, two more in the second set, and another in the third set.

Sampras had played enough tennis in this tournament, surviving two five-setters as he did in the U.S. Open. But this victory extended Sampras' Grand Slam winning streak to 14 matches.

``It's hot out here, y'know,'' Sampras told the crowd, which had seen him fall in the third round last year, a year after his late coach, Tim Gullikson, was diagnosed here with brain cancer.

``Last year was a real tough year for me. My coach, Tim Gullikson. . .,'' Sampras began, then stopped a moment. ``But I had the support from my family, my good friends, and that got me through.''

Moya, the first Spanish man to reach the Australian Open final since Andres Gimeno, leaped from No. 25 to No. 9 after beating defending champion Boris Becker in the first round and No. 2 Michael Chang in the semifinals.

But Moya couldn't cope with the variety of spins, slices and volleys Sampras threw at him. Sampras, who usually slugs serves in the 120 mph range, closed out the first game of the match with a 97 mph ace. Most of his other aces weren't much faster, in part because of the soft balls and humid, heavy air, and in part because he went for angles and kick instead of just brute power.

Sampras also exploited the weakness he found in Moya's two-fisted backhand. Though Moya had been able to get away with that chink in previous matches, winning on the strength of his topspin forehand and all-court craft, he found himself on the defensive too often and unable to go to the net.

Sampras broke him for a 3-1 lead in the first set, broke him again to finish off the first set, and from then on the match was devoid of drama.

``He showed why he is No. 1 in the world,'' Moya told the fans, who had voted him the sexiest player in the tournament because of his movie-star looks and shoulder-length dark hair. ``The crowd gave me support throughout the tournament and made me feel like I was playing at home. Probably without you, I wouldn't have made it here.''

Mixed result: Former USC All-American Rick Leach and Manon Bollegraf beat Larisa Neiland and John-Laffnie de Jager 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5 for the mixed doubles championship of the Australian Open.

Leach, who also has four men's doubles titles in Grand Slams, won the Australian mixed doubles in 1995 with Natasha Zvereva and the Wimbledon event in 1990 with Zina Garrison Jackson.

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Photo

Photo: Pete Sampras won his ninth Gran Slam title by beating Carlos Moya in straight sets.

Associated Press