Thursday, August 10, 2000
A wet and weird day in Mason
Agassi, Norman out; Sampras, Kuerten move on
By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Pete Sampras tosses a football while waiting out a rain delay Wednesday night.
(Ernest Coleman photos)
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MASON — Late Wednesday night, the rain finally stopped. So did the upsets.
After an afternoon when two of the top three seeds were bounced and nearly everything else was washed out, the Tennis Masters Series Cincinnati draw returned to form.
Andre Agassi and Magnus Norman are the casualties. But Pete Sampras and Gustavo Kuerten — the defending champion and ATP Champions Race leader, respectively — led the march into the round of 16.
The big news was Agassi, the top seed, retiring because of recurring back pain during his match with Fernando Vicente.
Andre Agassi after retiring.
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Norman, No.2 in the Champions Race, was upset 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3 by Slava Dosedel.
Sampras survived a big-serve assault from 19-year-old qualifier Taylor Dent, winning 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3). Dent, who had to receive a wild-card invitation just to reach the qualifier for this event, served 15 aces. Sampras survived despite 11 double-faults.
Kuerten benefitted from a five-hour rain delay during his match with Gianluca Pozzi. Kuerten led just 6-5 when he called for a trainer, apparently to examine a wrist injury, but the rain came and gave him time to recover. When play resumed, he rolled to a 7-5, 6-3 victory.
Two second-round matches were not played Wednesday: Thomas Enqvist vs. Harel Levy, and Fabrice Santoro vs. Sebastien Grosjean. They will play this morning, and the winners will play again today.
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