Lleyton Hewitt had not expected to win a grand slam title, assuming he was going to win one at all, for another three or four years. But like most things in his short life, he arrived well ahead of schedule with a 7-6, 6-1, 6-1 demolition of Pete Sampras on Sunday.

"It's a good feeling," said Hewitt, "but it's going to be very tough from now on". Last year's winner Marat Safin of Russia would echo that.

He captured a total of seven titles in 2000. This year he has none. Yet, both should take comfort, at least as far as the four majors are concerned, from the records of both Sampras and Andre Agassi.

After winning the US Open as a 19-year-old in 1990, it took Sampras until the summer of 1993 at Wimbledon before he savoured his second slam success.

Similarly, Agassi won at Wimbledon in 1992 and then waited two years before taking the US Open title. So it remains far too early to assess whether either Hewitt or Safin will go on to become multiple grand slam champions, or whether they will forever remain one-slam wonders.

Other equally ambitious young men - Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero, Roger Federer of Switzerland and Andy Roddick of the United States - must be hoping to make the breakthrough next year, while the middle guard will be attempting to hold back this new generation and at the same time take advantage of the inevitable decline of Sampras and Agassi.

Such is the level of competition within the men's game, that it may be that nobody will be dominant during the next decade. Safin has the power game to rule the world, but is as yet mentally fragile, while Hewitt possesses the sort of unbending determination and willpower that have startled both friend and foe alike and which could propel him to many triumphs.

As yet he is not much loved, particularly in his home country. At various times he has criticised Australian fans, refused to co-operate with his national media, enraged large sections of his country by referring to a tennis official as "a spastic" during the French Open and then 10 days ago was embroiled in row involving a black linesman.

"I copped a lot of flak for something I really didn't mean at all," said the recalcitrant Hewitt. "It's one of the toughest things I have had to block during a tennis event. You know, to be able to do that at 20 years of age shows how mentally tough I've been over the last few days."

Whether Hewitt meant it or not is largely irrelevant. He was perceived to be in the wrong and must quickly learn to curb his tongue in public, in the same way that he is learning how to control himself on court.

Until recently his fist-pumping, chest-thumping histrionics, coupled with the trademark roars of "Come on!" were an integral part of his game. Much less so now.

Such was his level of intensity on almost every point that there were those who feared, with justification, that he would burn himself out. Hewitt has had to learn how to cope with the power-hitters from an early age.

"I don't have the biggest game." he said. "I'm not the tallest or the strongest guy out there, so I've had to learn how to counter-punch those bigger guys. I've had to work on my return of serve since I was nine or 10."

Sampras considers Hewitt a better returner than Agassi. "Lleyton is quicker. Maybe he doesn't have quite the power of Andre, but he doesn't miss. The speed of his hands and feet are phenomenal. Last year, Safin overpowered me. Hewitt outplayed me." So he did.

Unlike at Wimbledon, the US Open chose to stick with the computer rankings for the purposes of seeding. If they had taken past records into account, Sampras, a four-times winner of the title, would have been much higher than 10th seed. As it was, he found himself playing three former US Open winners - Pat Rafter, Agassi and then Safin - in the three rounds immediately prior to the final.

By the time Sampras faced Hewitt, his legs had gone. Two matches in the space of two days, the semi-final and the final, was just too much, as it had been last year. So, for the first time since 1989, the 30-year-old Sampras may finish a year without a tournament win of any kind.

His 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6 quarter-final victory over Agassi was the finest of the tournament - indeed one the best of all-time according to many, a judgment somewhat clouded by nostalgia.

"I got through some tough matches and beat some great players," said Sampras. "But to get to this point and not get the grand prize is a little deflating. But Lleyton was just too good."

--(Guardian Service)