Sampras beats Agassi to win at Kooyong

Pete Sampras underlined that he means business at next week's Australian Open by beating his great rival Andre Agassi 7-6 6-7 6-3 in the Kooyong Classic final on Saturday.

Sampras played some sublime tennis to capture the title in front of 7,500 fans at the Kooyong club.

Agassi, who had won the traditional warm-up event the last two years before also winning the first grand slam of the year in 2000 and 2001, had chances to retain his title but on each occasion let Sampras off the hook.

"He came up with the goods in the third set...I did not come up with the goods in the first set. That's what happened out there," Agassi said afterwards.

The two are seeded to meet in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open which starts on Monday.

Agassi, seeded third at Melbourne Park, started the match well under bright sunshine on Kooyong's centre court.

He broke in the very first game when Sampras nudged a volley beyond the baseline and kept the lead, hitting well from the back.

But Sampras, the Open's eighth seed, hit back when Agassi served for the set, levelling for 5-5.

He stepped up a gear and beat Agassi in the opening tiebreak 8-6 with some incisive volleying and accurate serving.

Agassi, who trails Sampras 18-14 in head-to-head matches, played himself back into the match winning a second set tiebreak by the same score.

But a single break in the second game of the deciding set was all Sampras needed as the winner of a record 13 grand slam titles served out for the trophy 6-3 after 105 minutes.