Moya shocks Sampras

The victory was particularly sweet for the 21-year-old who was crushed in straight sets by Sampras in January’s Australia Open final in their only previous encounter.

“Pete was obviously not at his best today but it’s never easy to beat him,” said Moya, who relied on powerful ground strokes to wear down his opponent.

“I’ve beaten the number one in the world and it’s a great victory for me,” he added. “He made a lot of mistakes but that’s because I made him fight for every point.”

Sampras is already assured of ending the year in the number one spot for the fifth consecutive time to tie the record set by Jimmy Connors and has lost a round-robin match every time he won the ATP tour finals — in 1991, 1994 and last year.

“I struggled with my rackets and my form today but I’m not packing,” he said. “I’ll stick around and try to qualify for the semi-finals.”

After losing the first set, the Australian and Wimbledon champion gave the impression he could fight his way back into the match by saving two match points in the second set to force a tie-break which he won 7-4.

But Moya, the youngest player in the Hanover elite, underlined his determination by opening up a 5-0 lead in the decisive set.

The next two games went to Sampras but in the following, he hit a forehand into the net on match point.

“Even after taking the second set, I wasn’t all that confident,” he said.“ I felt I wasn’t on top of it like I should have been.”

Sampras, who had lost to Moya yesterday in a practice match in the high-tech hall hosting the tournament, said his rival had been favoured by a relatively slow court.

But the conditions could now help the defending champion when he meets the two other players in his group, Australian Patrick Rafter and Briton Greg Rusedski.

“Maybe it will be an advantage,” he said. “It’s definitely not a court for serve and volley and it will give me time to prepare my shots against Pat and Greg.”