Thursday, June 27, 2002
Sampras, Agassi ousted at Wimbledon
The Associated Press
WIMBLEDON, England — First Pete Sampras, then Andre Agassi. The two biggest American names in men's tennis lost in the second round at Wimbledon in stunning upsets Wednesday.
On an amazing day at the All England Club, second-seeded Marat Safin also was eliminated.
On a court nicknamed the “graveyard of champions,” Sampras rallied from two sets down but came up short 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4 against George Bastl, a Swiss player ranked 145th in the world.
It was the seven-time champion's earliest exit from the grass-court championships in 11 years.
Later, on Centre Court, the third-seeded Agassi — champion in 1992 — went down in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-2, to 67th-ranked Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand.
In the past two days, the tournament lost five of the men's top eight seeded players. No.7 Roger Federer and No.8 Thomas Johansson lost Tuesday.
With Agassi and Sampras out, Richard Krajicek is the only remaining former champion left in the draw.
The Dutchman, winner in 1996 and playing his first major tournament in two years after elbow surgery, served 32 aces and outlasted American James Blake 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 11-9. The match lasted 3 hours, 7 minutes.
Krajicek next faces Srichaphan.
Agassi's one-sided defeat — which took only 1:47 — perhaps was a bigger surprise than Sampras' ouster. While Sampras' game has been in decline, Agassi has been playing well and he was considered a stronger con tender for the title.
“I'm a little stunned. I'm certainly disappointed,” he said. “I never found my rhythm out there today. I played a very average match against a guy who's taking it to me and deserved to win.”
Srichaphan came into the match with a Grand Slam record of 5-10 and had won only two matches at Wimbledon.
But he played the match of his life Wednesday against the only player to win all four Grand Slam singles titles since Rod Laver in 1968.
“My goal was to win the opening round,” Srichaphan said. “Then, when I saw I would play Andre in the next round, I thought, "That's it for me.' I had nothing to lose, just go on court and enjoy. I just played my best today.”
Agassi usually dominates matches with his punishing baseline game, but he was on the defensive. Srichaphan dictated the points, moving Agassi from side to side with ground strokes.
Agassi had 35 unforced errors, 10 more than Srichaphan. The Thai player served 15 aces and broke Agassi six times.
Safin was ousted 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (1) by Belgium's Olivier Rochus.
No.2 Serena Williams sailed into the women's third round with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Francesca Schiavone of Italy, and No.3 Jennifer Capriati was a 6-2, 6-1 winner over Marta Marrero of Spain.
Sampras experienced one of the worst defeats of his career against Bastl, who had won just one previous grass-court match. Bastl made it into the draw Sunday as a “lucky loser” from qualifying after Spain's Felix Mantilla pulled out because of a knee injury.
For much of his match, Sampras appeared out of sorts. He made glaring unforced errors, struggled with his serve, failed to run full-out for some shots and was nowhere near the player who has won a record 13 Grand Slam singles titles.
“I wasn't at my best,” he said. “But I felt like I was going to win the match, even though I was down two sets to love.”
Sampras lost in the second round at Wimbledon in 1991. Since then, he has won a record seven singles championships, including four straight from 1997-2000. He lost in the fourth round last year to Federer.
But Sampras hasn't won a tournament since Wimbledon in 2000 and came into the tournament with his lowest seeding (No.6) in 11 years. Wednesday's defeat inevitably will raise questions about the future of the man considered the greatest grass-court player in history.
But Sampras said he intends to return next year.
“You know, I'm not going to end my time here with that loss,” he said. “I want to end it on a high note, and so I plan on being back. ... As long as I feel like I can continue to win majors and contend, I'll just continue to play.”
Bastl, who played collegiately at South Florida and Southern California, had lost in the first round of the six previous grass-court tournaments he played.
“It's a nice story isn't it?” he said. “I gave myself chances because I was prac ticing on grass for the last three weeks. I had won my last three matches and I knew my game was improving match by match. I felt I would have some sort of a chance.”
Sampras, who is used to playing on Centre Court or Court 1, looked out of place on Court 2 — a small, intimate court that seats about 3,000.
He's the latest champion to lose on that court, joining a list that includes John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Ilie Nastase, Krajicek, Agassi and Pat Cash.
“When I heard about it, I wasn't happy about it,” Sampras said of his court assignment.
Earlier, Rochus outplayed Safin on Centre Court.
Safin leads the ATP Champions Race, which counts points in tournaments this year, but couldn't handle the 63rd-ranked Rochus.
The result wasn't totally unexpected: Rochus had beaten Safin once before and extended him to five sets at the French Open last month.
Safin finished with 45 un forced errors, compared to 10 for Rochus. Safin had 21 aces but eight double faults.
In another men's upset Wednesday, Australia's Mark Philippoussis beat No.14 Thomas Enqvist of Sweden 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 to move into the third round. Fifth-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov beat France's Nicolas Thomann 7-6 (8), 6-2, 6-2.
Four seeded women's players were eliminated.
Mary Pierce, a former French Open champion who has been struggling with injuries, ousted eighth-seeded countrywoman Sandrine Testud 6-3, 6-4.
American Chanda Rubin, who won last week's warmup tournament at Eastbourne, beat No.14 Iroda Tulyagonova of Uzbekistan 6-3, 6-1.
Miriam Oremans beat No.13 Meghann Shaughnessy of the United States 7-5, 6-3. French Open semifinalist Clarisa Fernandez, seeded No.30, lost 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Els Callens.
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Sampras, Agassi ousted at Wimbledon
