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Sampras cruises through first week

The former No. 1 looks like himself again after another Open victory in straight sets.

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 2, 2001

NEW YORK -- Pete Sampras wasn't perfect. He double-faulted, blew two easy volleys and dumped an overhead into the net.

That was in the first game.

But for the most part Saturday, Sampras played like the Pete of old, dominating with his serve and blanketing the net to beat Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 and reach the fourth round at the U.S. Open.

The performance suggested Sampras may be ready to make a run this week at his fifth Open title and his first tournament title since Wimbledon last year.

"Everything is in place," he said. "I'm very hungry. I'm mentally fine. I'm physically fine. Everything is in one piece. I can't complain about the way the first week has gone."

Sampras started the tournament in a yearlong slump, saddled with a No. 10 seeding, his lowest since winning the first of his record 13 Grand Slam titles at the 1990 Open.

But through three rounds he has yet to drop a set, winning three tiebreakers, and he was particularly polished against Youzhny. Sampras lost seven points on his first serve, never faced a break point and won 52 points at the net.

"The entire tennis world was waiting for a statement from Pete Sampras," U.S. Davis Cup captain Pat McEnroe said. "I think we got that statement today. It was a very impressive performance."

It gets tougher this week. Sampras' opponent Monday is two-time champion Pat Rafter, who beat 26th-seeded Nicolas Lapentti 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, 6-2. The Sampras-Rafter winner likely would face two-time champ Andre Agassi, who also won Saturday.

"I'm going to have my hands full," Sampras said. "It's a tough section of the draw for all of us. There are a lot of U.S. Open titles in that little section, but that's the way the draw went, and let's play it."

Agassi had the same attitude.

"You've got to beat the best to win here," he said. "Sometimes you play the best before the final."

The No. 2-seeded Agassi beat qualifier Ramon Delgado 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. His next opponent is No. 13 Roger Federer, who ended Sampras' reign at Wimbledon two months ago.

Defending champion Marat Safin, seeded third, beat Hicham Arazi 7-5, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

The expanded seeding system protected the top players in the early rounds, just as intended, and the tournament remained mostly upset-free.

The seven top-seeded men and the 11 top women were still alive, but a prominent upset loser was No. 9 Tim Henman, who blew a 3-0 lead in the fifth set and lost to Xavier Malisse 6-7 (8-6), 6-3, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. The match carried extra meaning for both players because Malisse hired Henman's coach, David Felgate, this year.

"I did what David told me to do -- not always, but I tried to," Malisse said.

Women's defending champion Venus Williams, seeded fourth, beat Lisa Raymond 6-3, 6-4 but was unhappy with her serve.

"It seems I never play as well as I want to in the early rounds, but I just seem to get better in the later rounds," Williams said. "My hope is that will be the trend at this tournament also."

No. 2 Jennifer Capriati fell behind 4-1 and had 34 unforced errors but rallied over Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-4, 6-4.

"I feel pretty good," said Capriati, the defending French Open and Australian Open champion. "But it's going to get a lot tougher."

No. 5 Kim Clijsters, No. 8 Amelie Mauresmo, No. 9 Nathalie Tauziat and No. 11 Elena Dementieva won.

Saturday's conditions seemed to put extra spring into Sampras' 30-year-old legs. Because the wind played havoc with lobs and passing shots, he charged to the net behind every serve and many of his service returns, and Youzhny crumpled under the pressure.

"I decided I'm just going to come in until the cows come home," Sampras said.

He won't be able to do that when he plays Rafter, who like Sampras plays a serve-and-volley game that keeps opponents on the defensive. Sampras swept their previous three meetings to take an 11-4 lead in the rivalry, but Rafter won their most recent U.S. Open match in the 1998 semifinals.

Today's featured matches

MEN: Alex Corretja (11) vs. Andy Roddick (18), Gustavo Kuerten (1) vs. Max Mirnyi, Lleyton Hewitt (4) vs. Albert Portas (25), Albert Costa vs. Goran Ivanisevic (15), David Nalbandian vs. Yevgeny Kafelnikov (7), Jiri Novak vs. Tommy Haas (16), Tommy Robredo vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero (5), Arnaud Clement (12) vs. Carlos Moya (17).

WOMEN: Lindsay Davenport (3) vs. Elena Likhovtseva (21), Serena Williams (10) vs. Justine Henin (6), Martina Hingis (1) vs. Jelena Dokic (14), Daja Bedanova vs. Monica Seles (7).

TODAY ON TV: 11 a.m., Ch. 10; 7 p.m., USA.

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