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Men's Tennis
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Women's Tennis
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| Monday, May 14 |
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| Sampras yet to win on clay in 2001 Associated Press | |||
HAMBURG, Germany – Looking more vulnerable as the French
Open approaches, Pete Sampras was beaten in the first round of his
second straight clay-court tournament.
He lost to Spain's Alex Calatrava 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4 on Monday as
the men began play at the German Open. Calatrava, who defeated
Andre Agassi at the Italian Open, needed eight match points to
complete the victory.
The French Open begins in two weeks, and Sampras hardly seems in
position to capture the only Grand Slam title to elude him.
"It's disappointing – two weeks in a row I lost 6-4 in the
third," said Sampras, seeded fourth. "I'm there, I'm just not
converting the big points.
"I definitely had my chances out there but I couldn't make any
of them. ... I played well, though, and have to give him credit."
Agassi, seeded third, had no trouble recovering from his
opening-round defeat at the Italian Open last week, downing Italy's
Davide Sanguinetti 6-1, 6-4.
"It felt good," said Agassi, who lost to Calatrava in just 69
minutes in his first European clay match of the season. "It was a
lot more comfortable this week than last week. But it's normal. You
can't just expect to show up on red clay for the first time of the
season and play great.
"After playing on hard court most of the year, your instinct is
to take control of every single shot and that's what I did last
week. This time I was more patient, I wasn't forcing so much."
In his 2001 debut on clay last week in Rome, Sampras was knocked
out in the first round of the Italian Open by Israel's Harel Levy
7-5, 2-6, 6-4.
Sampras has been training rigorously for Paris but so far has
little to show for it. He was weakened by a viral infection before
the recent tournament in Monte Carlo.
"It would have been nice to win a match," said Sampras, who
won his seventh Wimbledon title last summer. "I need to play and
win to gain some confidence against these players."
In a match between former No. 1 players, Marcelo Rios of Chile
downed Carlos Moya of Spain 6-4, 6-4. Last week, Rios was arrested
in Rome and accused of attacking two police officers following his
second-round loss to Juan Carlos Ferrero.
"That was a bad situation ... and things could have been
avoided, but now I just want to look forward," Rios said. "I want
to get on with playing good tennis now."
Jan-Michael Gambill, seeded 14th, defeated German wildcard Axel
Pretzsch 6-2, 7-5, and Michael Chang downed Magnus Gustafsson of
Sweden 6-4, 6-4.
Todd Martin defeated 13th-seeded Thomas Enqvist of Sweden 6-2
7-6 (5), while German wild card Lars Burgsmuller upset Tim Henman
6-1, 6-4.
"It was appalling," Henman said. "I couldn't have felt better
and I couldn't have played worse. When you come to a match and play
as badly as that, it leaves you a bit shocked."
Also, Levy downed French qualifier Anthony Dupuis 6-2 6-3.
In the women's event that ended Sunday, France's Amelie Mauresmo
beat Jennifer Capriati 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 to win the title. Mauresmo ran
her record to a tour-best 27-2 this year. She will pass Serena
Williams in the rankings and move to No. 6.
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ALSO SEE Monday's results Ferrero solves Kuerten, grabs Italian Open title Rios charged with attacking two police officers, cab driver AUDIO/VIDEO   Pete Sampras talks about coming up short for the second straight week.wav: 184 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 | |
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