Friday, August 14, 1998
MASON -- No. 2-ranked Pete Sampras got his first first-hand look at Jan-Michael Gambill, 21, on Thursday and came away impressed with the up-and-coming U.S. standout.
Sampras got past Gambill 7-6 (3), 6-4, but only broke his serve once and watched Gambill belt 15 aces -- five in the first two games of the match.
"He's got a good game," said Sampras, the top seed and defending champion at the Great American Insurance ATP Championship.
"His serve was very big. I had a hard time reading it. I had no idea where he was going most of the first set . . . He's got a good future."
Gambill, ranked No. 60, hits with two hands from both sides. Sampras tried to serve wide to Gambill's forehand, which caused him problems.
"When I lost in the second set, he didn't really do anything special," Gambill said. "I made some stupid errors and gave him that game basically.
"It was kind of a quick experience (1 hour, 13 minutes). This was how I expected it to be, and that's how it probably will be in the future when we play."
Ouch!
Petr Korda came into the interview room Thursday with an ice pack on his knee after his three-set victory over Goran Ivanisevic. The problem? Well, seems Korda hit himself with his racket on an overhead follow-through during the last game.
"I'm probably going to have to learn how to overhead again," he said, laughing. "I don't know how it happened, but I hit quite hard because I couldn't stop my motion."
Tickets left
There are more than 1,500 tickets remaining for today and Saturday's early sessions but fewer than 200 for today's and Saturday's evening sessions. Fewer than 450 tickets remain for Sunday's championship.
Wake up!
Doubles team David Roditi and Michael Tebbutt noticed a fan sleeping in the stands during their quarterfinal match Thursday. So they started softly hitting tennis balls into the stands in his vicinity, careful not to hit him, as the crowd laughed. The man finally woke up, but not because of Roditi and Tebbutt.
Consent to advise?
An experiment at five tournaments this season -- allowing coaches to confer with players twice during a match -- could become a reality in the future.
"Reactions were split," ATP spokesman Joe Lynch said. "Not every player has a coach and some think this could be a disadvantage to them."
Coaching was permitted for two minutes during ths first changeover in the first and second sets during the tournaments in Hong Kong, Munich, Atlanta, Gstaad and Los Angeles.
"Andre (Agassi) reached the finals in Munich and won Atlanta," Lynch said. "Andre's coach, Brad Gilbert, is in favor of it. It will be discussed again at the U.S. Open by the ATP Players Council."
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