Sampras falls to Hewitt — Hewitt is the king at Queen’s

Sampras struggled on his forehand and had no answer to Hewitt’s superb serving and backcourt play in the final of the traditional pre-Wimbledon warm-up.

It was sixth seed Hewitt’s fourth ATP title of the year, his sixth in all, and gave him revenge for his three-set loss to Sampras, whom he had never previously beaten, in the queen’s semi-finals last year.

Prinosil wins

HALLE: Germany’s David Prinosil defeated former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek 6-3, 6-2 on Sunday to win the final of the $one million grass court tournament in Halle.

It was only the third career title for the German, a wild card entry who is ranked a modest 81st in the ATP points race.

Prinosil defeated top seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) in his semifinal. Dutchman Krajicek, the 1996 Wimbledon champion, beat Michael chang 6-2, 6-1 to reach the final.

“It was some of the best tennis I ever played,” said the 27-year-old Prinosil, who earned $137,000 for the victory.

Krajicek had no answer to the German’s well-placed serves, which thundered down the court at 200 kmph.

Prinosil broke his opponent in the fifth game of the opening set, which he then went on to win. He grabbed an early break in the second, going on to clinch the match in 61 minutes.

“David had a very good game. He was the better player on the day,” said Krajicek.

The 12,500 crowd were also happy with the performance of the German, who has been slow to recover his form since undergoing an operation on his foot in December.

Prinosil’s next goal is Wimbledon, where he will have to go through the qualifying stages before the tournament begins on June 26.

“I’ll give London a call. Perhaps I’ll be able to get a wild card,” he said after his victory.