Rome: Where Sampras & Agassi came to play on the clay

Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi were far from clay-court specialists, but both Americans competed 11 times at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia throughout their legendary careers. Sampras won his biggest clay title at the 1994 ATP Masters 1000 event, while Agassi claimed his lone clay crown at that prestigious level in Rome in 2002 — 13 years after missing out on a match point in the 1989 final.

Sampras won just three clay titles in his career, also lifting trophies in Kitzbuhel (1992) and Atlanta (1998). In between those two, his Rome triumph was the culmination of three years of success in the Italian capital, coming on the heels of a quarter-final run in 1992 and a semi-final showing in '93. Thirteen of Sampras' 18 Rome wins came during that stretch.

The American came into the 1994 event as the World No. 1, following hard-court titles that season at Sydney, the Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami, Osaka and Tokyo. By the end of his Rome run, he owned a 27-match winning streak that he would ultimately extend to 29. Dating back to his second tournament of the year, Sampras boasted a 39-1 record in his past 40 matches after his Rome triumph.

Showing no signs of slowing down in his first clay event of the 1994 season, Sampras lost just one set in Rome, to Alex Corretja in the second round. All six of his opponents were inside the Top 50 of the PIF ATP Rankings, including countryman Aaron Krickstein in the first round and current ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi in the quarter-finals.

In an unlikely clay-court final between Sampras and Boris Becker, the American dominated in a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 victory. After saving a break point in the opening game — one of just three break points he faced in the match, all of which he saved — Sampras cruised to victory behind an 83 per cent (30/36) win rate on first serve. He would return to the Italian clay six more times, but picked up just three more match wins between 1995 and 2002.

Agassi was 19 when he reached the 1989 Rome final, at the time the biggest title match of his career. Then ranked No. 5 in the PIF ATP Rankings, he stormed through his first five matches without dropping a set — surrendering just 26 games in 10 sets — but could not convert on match point in a heartbreaking final defeat to World No. 25 Alberto Mancini of Argentina, 6-3, 4-6, 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-1.

The American then played Rome just five times between 1991 and 2001, never advancing past the third round — even in 1999, when he won Roland Garros. But drawing on his 1989 run, Agassi once again hit top form at the event in 2002.

^{_{Andre Agassi on the slide during his 2002 Rome title run. Photo Credit: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images}}

While his progress to the final was not quite as dominant, he repeated the feat of reaching the trophy round without dropping a set. This time, that trend continued in the final with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 demolition of fellow Top 10 star Tommy Haas.

“Hopefully, wherever Alberto Mancini is, he has a smile on his face for me,” Agassi said after finally earning the trophy.

Agassi remains the last American to win a clay-court ATP Masters 1000 title. Until Ben Shelton reached the Munich final this April, Agassi's Rome run was the last time an American reached a clay final above the ATP 250 level.