NEW YORK -- He had been humiliated here the past two years by boorish 20-year-olds in the U.S. Open final. He had not won a tournament in 26 months or even reached a final this season. Married life and impending fatherhood have admittedly claimed an increasing share of his time and attention.

	Pete Sampras celebrates defeating Andre Agassi 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.

And yet, all the while, he quietly, repeatedly insisted he had one more big (read Major) win left in him.

Sunday, in the soft, fading sunlight at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Pete Sampras was young again. His serve crackled with electricity. His elegant volleys were crisp and clean. He ran balls down with gusto and covered the net with almost jaunty abandon.

And though he labored over the last two sets, Sampras ultimately prevailed. On the stage of his very first Grand Slam singles title at the age of 19, Sampras ran his record Grand Slam titles total to a dizzying 14.

He humbled Andre Agassi 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. Was it the most satisfying of all his Slams?

"This one might take the cake," Sampras said. "I never thought anything would surpass what happened at Wimbledon a couple of years ago. But the way I've been playing this year, kind of come through this and play the way I did today, it was awesome.

"This might be my biggest achievement, to come through adversity and win the Open."

Agassi, Sampras' only rival for more than a decade, paid his respects.

"I've said the same thing for years now," Agassi said. "His game is able to raise itself at the right time. While the discipline and the daily grind of what it takes to be at the best, at the top, has obviously gotten tougher for him, there's still a danger in the way he plays and how good he is. Anybody that says something different is really ignorant."

There was speculation before the match that Sampras might retire if he won. Afterward, Sampras sounded like he was going to play at least another year.

"I'm going to have to weigh it up in the next couple months to see where I'm at," Sampras said. "I still want to play. I love to play. But to beat a rival like Andre in a major tournament at the U.S. Open, a storybook ending, it might be nice to stop."

"But…but I still want to compete, you know? Right now it's hard to really talk about -- I mean, my head's spinning."

While Sampras' advancing years (he just turned 31) and declining game have been the subject of much discussion, Agassi is actually 16 months older. A day after a draining four-set victory over defending champion Lleyton Hewitt, Agassi was not his usual spry self; his nifty footwork was a tad off.

"I just was flat," Agassi observed. "I tried to get myself into the match and had to work pretty hard just to give myself a chance. Just was never quite enough."

Had he won, Agassi would have been the oldest winner in a men's Grand Slam in three decades. As it was, this was the first U.S. Open final between two 30-something men in the Open Era that extends back to 1968.

Sampras, for his part, became the oldest man to win the U.S. Open since Ken Rosewall in 1970.

In truth, the 34th meeting between the two was not a classic. Sampras, who now has 20 victories against Agassi -- six of nine in Grand Slams -- dictated the match with his still-seething serve. He lashed 33 aces and, more important, his second serve was lethal.

"Wheeewh," Agassi sighed when Sampras' serve came up in the post-match interview. "I was having a hard time getting on to it and getting off the mark and making any sort of impact at all."

Sampras, the No. 17 seed, announced himself with a giddy, 129 mph serve. And then it got worse for Agassi, the No. 6 seed.

The first four games were perfectly clean, with the servers winning each of the 16 points. It looked like the two were on a path to the kind of match that captivated people here a year ago. Neither player lost his serve over four magical sets and Sampras won the last three of the four tiebreakers.

	“	It might feel probably more special to him than any of (the 14 Slams) just because any time you ask more of yourself, it feels that much more of an accomplishment. ”
		— Andre Agassi

Agassi was serving to level the first set at 4-all, when Sampras asserted himself. Applying relentless pressure at net, Sampras earned two break points and converted the first when Agassi, seeing Sampras lurking at net, jerked a backhand wide.

Serving for the first set at 5-3, Sampras' serve dictated policy -- good and bad. Three aces and two double-faults left him looking at three set points and one break point for Agassi. Sampras saved the breaker with an ace down the middle that clipped the line. On the last set point, Sampras' serve and backhand volley were too good for Agassi. Sampras screamed and pumped his fist and it seemed to be 1990 all over again.

The second set reinforced that suspicion. Sampras broke Agassi in the first and seventh games, but wavered in the eighth, when Agassi broke him for the first time. Sampras pumped another ace down the middle to take the second set and it looked like Agassi would go the straight-sets route.

Just when it looked like the third set was headed toward a tiebreaker, Agassi produced his best tennis. He broke Sampras in a wild five-deuce game. With the fans cheering when Sampras missed a first serve on set points, he hit a big second serve that almost took Agassi off the court. The return, a weak backhand, sat up for Sampras who seemed to stiffen as he flicked what looked to be an easy forehand volley into an empty court. It caught the net and Agassi had finally won a set.

"I felt like I still had a little ways to go to secure the momentum," Agassi said. "I felt like now I had a chance to do it."

With Sampras slowing perceptibly -- feeling the effects of his fifth match in seven days -- Agassi continued to press. His goal: to extend the points and wear Sampras down. The fifth game was a monumental seven-deuce, 12-minute game Sampras finally reeled in on the 20th point.

"It was a massive game," Sampras said. "It was huge turning point."

Sampras nearly broke Agassi in the seventh game when at 15-30, he hit a forehand that was called long. Replays showed the ball on the line, but instead of 15-40, it was 30-all. Sampras would have won the game with his subsequent huge return, but all it got him was a break point. Agassi, serving big, escaped with a 4-3 lead.

As he grew more tired, Sampras began to labor on his service games. He took all of the allowable time, and more, and Agassi, perhaps the greatest returner of serve the game has ever seen, started finding the range.

Sampras broke through one final time in the ninth game. On the third breaker, Sampras cracked a forehand service return that Agassi could only duff into the net.

Serving for the match, Sampras poured everything he had left into his serves. The first was unreturnable, the second one prompted Agassi to hit a forehand long. The third was a 119-mph ace down the middle. At 40-15, Sampras served and moved to net, where he flashed a backhand volley into the open court.

He stood there, in wide-eyed euphoria. He clapped his hand to his head -- as if he couldn't comprehend what happened.

"It might feel probably more special to him than any of (the 14 Slams)," Agassi said, "just because any time you ask more of yourself, it feels that much more of an accomplishment."

Clearly, both players relished the moment. They have met in the Open final here four times now and this last encounter was largely unlooked for, even by them.

"It's hard to say what the future is going to hold for us," Sampras said. "You know, to meet in major finals, players are too good today -- where we were five years ago when we were dominating, now, this could be it for us.

"But maybe next year we'll do it again."

Greg Garber is a senior writer at ESPN.com.