NEW YORK -- Eleven years ago, to the day, 19-year-old Pete Sampras, a lithe serve-and-volley assassin, won the first of his record 13 Grand Slam singles titles here at the U.S. Open.

	Lleyton Hewitt had plenty of chances to celebrate during his 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-1 victory over Pete Sampras.

His past two visits to this ultimate stage, however, have ended in disaster, even humiliation. Sampras' volleys were sluggish, his confidence tepid -- the only thing served has been youth.

A year ago it was Russian Marat Safin, 20, who blinded Sampras in straight sets. This time it was another 20-year-old in his first Grand Slam final, Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, who torched Sampras 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-1 in Sunday's somber U.S. Open final.

"I lost to a great champion," Sampras said on the court in Arthur Ashe Stadium. "You're going to see this Lleyton Hewitt guy for the next 10 years -- like you saw me."

Was it a coincidence or actually poignant that Sampras referred to himself in the past tense?

For Hewitt, life in the present tense is a logical progression after reaching last year's semifinal here, where he lost to Sampras.

"Walking out there to play Pete Sampras in your first-ever Grand Slam final ... I didn't want to let the chance sort of slip by, that's for sure," Hewitt said.

"I looked at the names on the trophy, it was sitting in front of me. To see the guys who have held up this trophy, to now have my name under those guys ... it's an unbelievable feeling."

Safin overpowered Sampras but Hewitt, a feisty counter-puncher, killed Sampras softly with artfully placed passing shots. He had only 13 unforced errors in the match, three in the last two sets.

Sampras, now 30, looked even older and outmatched than he did last year. Against Safin, he won 10 games; Hewitt only gave him eight -- his worst defeat at the U.S. Open in a dozen years. And now, after a magnificent run through three former champions, the haunting question will beg itself again: Is Pete Sampras finished?

"I think I've proven this week that I can still win Slams," Sampras said. "There's no question in my mind. There's always going to be younger, stronger, quicker players in all sports. As you get older, it gets more difficult.

"But, you know, my game is still there. But I just ran into two players that played about as well as they played throughout the whole tournament. They just saved it for me."

For the record, Sampras has now gone 18 tournaments without a title, a streak that encompasses a staggering 427 days. For the first time in nine years, Sampras will not bring a Grand Slam trophy home.

No. 10-seeded Sampras had held serve in 87 consecutive games coming into the match, but Hewitt, the No. 4 seed, managed six breaks in Sampras' 13 service games.

	“	I lost to a great champion. You're going to see this Lleyton Hewitt guy for the next 10 years -- like you saw me. ”
		— Pete Sampras

The key to Sampras' game has always been his serve, but he's backed it up with a stout volley or two or three. Sampras, who had been volleying well all through the fortnight, was not sharp against Hewitt. He looked sluggish, particularly on his initial volley. Was it the emotional and physical toll of defeating former champions Patrick Rafter, Andre Agassi and Marat Safin? Or was it that Hewitt runs down balls so quickly and applies relentless pressure? Or, perhaps, both of the above.

"He forces you into a lot of errors," Sampras said. "He is so quick, you feel you have to hit a great volley or something on the line. If you don't hit it quite firm enough or deep enough, he's going to have an easy pass."

Sampras added that Hewitt has supplanted Agassi as the best service returner in the game.

"That's a big compliment," Hewitt said. "I've had to work on little areas of my game because I don't have the biggest game, you know, with the serve. The return of serve has been something I've had to work on since I was nine or 10, playing the bigger guys."

Sampras came into the match with that amazing string of service holds, but Hewitt ended it on the very first game. He smoked a second serve down the line with a vicious forehand for a surprise break.

"That wasn't a start I was looking for," Sampras said.

Of course, Sampras returned the favor immediately, breaking Hewitt at love.

Both players were, understandably, nervous in the early going. The swirling winds made it difficult to get a feel for the court. Sampras' strategy was to take something off his legendary heat and move the ball around on the hustling Hewitt, and he never seemed to get the groundstrokes calibrated.

Inevitably, the feeling-out process ended in a first-set tiebreaker. When the two met a year ago in the U.S. Open semifinals, Hewitt actually held a set point in the opening tiebreaker. He wound up losing in a straight-sets match that was decided by another tiebreaker.

Sampras opened with a classic big serve out wide, but Hewitt surprised him by tracking it down and cracking a return that left Sampras with a tough forehand volley. He dumped it into the net and a tone had been set.

The decisive stroke was a backhand pass down the line that gave Hewitt a 5-3 lead lead. Set point was a spirited affair, but Sampras' backhand volley -- which had been working well to that point -- sailed long.

Hewitt consistently hounded Sampras' usually secure serve and, finally, broke through in the fourth game. It wasn't a fluke, either; he stroked no fewer than five winners in the four-deuce game. The last two points, however, were identical backhand volleys into the net from Sampras, who stubbornly kept serving to Hewitt's well-honed backhand.

That gave Hewitt a 3-1 lead, a turn of events, Sampras said, that discouraged him for the first time in the match. Sampras' next serve was the beginning of the end. Sampras, one of the best serve-and-volleyers ever, didn't always follow his first serve to net. Hewitt broke him again, for the third time in nine service games, and served out the second set.

On match point -- tellingly on Sampras' serve -- Hewitt crushed a first serve with a backhand cross-court winner. In his excitement, he slipped and fell on his back, even as he pumped his fists.

It was the only time all day he was at a disadvantage.

"It was a good run," Sampras said, referring to the 2001 Open but speaking for the last two. "Unfortunately, I ran into a young guy that was a little bit too good."