John McEnroe won seven majors in his heyday, but before Friday night he had never won a match against the man considered by many the greatest to pick up a tennis racket.
"Now I can tell my kids I beat Pete Sampras once," said the 49-year-old McEnroe after his 2-6, 7-5, 10-4 victory in the Champions Cup Boston at Agganis Arena over the man who won a record 14 major titles.
McEnroe clinched a berth in today's championship match by beating Sampras.
Aaron Krickstein defeated Mikael Pernfors, 6-2, 6-3, last night to set up a final against McEnroe.
Wayne Ferreira will play Jim Courier in the third-place match.
Overwhelmed in the first set against Sampras, McEnroe hung around and earned a break in the 11th game of the second. He fired five aces in the tiebreaker, during which Sampras was hampered by a back problem.
McEnroe lost to Sampras three times on the ATP Tour. It was the first Champions Series loss for Sampras, who was 13-0 on the over-30 tour.
Sampras withdrew from his match with Courier last night. "I will be going for an MRI to get to the root of the [back] problem," said Sampras. "I look forward to coming back to Boston again next year to try to win the title."
