AMERICAN Pete Sampras survived another scare as he edged past Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2) in the semi-finals of the Salem Open yesterday.
Top-seed Sampras has been in patchy form all week - being pushed to the limit by Canadian Sebastian Lereau (first round) and Germany's David Prinosil (quarter-finals).
His only straight sets win was against Pat Rafter of Australia in the second round.
'My tennis has been up-and-down but I played a good tie-break and feel I'm really competitive,' said Sampras, who is likely to regain the number one world ranking from Thomas Muster of Austria with a victory today.
'I've just got to be more consistent against Michael [Chang]. Take care of my serve, put pressure on his and not let his speed catch me.
'Michael has been very consistent this year and its a good test to see where I am. We seem to match up pretty well and it should be a good final.' Sampras is 72 ranking points behind current world number one Muster, who is also riding the crest of a winning wave having reached the semi-finals of the Estoril Open.
