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Men's Tennis
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Women's Tennis
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| Thursday, May 31 |
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| Blanco topples Sampras in straight sets Reuters | |||
PARIS -- Fifth-seeded Pete Sampras was
knocked out of the French Open in the second round 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2
by Spain's Galo Blanco on Thursday, leaving his Grand Slam
collection incomplete for another year.
Sampras, who arrived at Roland Garros desperately seeking a
French crown to add to his record 13 Grand Slam titles, once
again could not come to grips with the slow Parisian clay and
failed to put together back-to-back wins at Roland Garros for
the fourth successive year.
"It's very frustrating, I knew what I had to do in that
match and I just have to give him credit," Sampras said.
"He came out with some clean passing shots. He had me on my
heels and dictated all the baseline points. He just played
better than I did -- plain and simple."
In the final game, Sampras wasted four break points against
Blanco, who is ranked 76th in the world. The Spaniard closed out
the match when the fifth-seeded Sampras buried his last forehand
into the net.
Hitting the soles of his shoes in frustration, Sampras made 21
unforced errors and served eight double faults during the match.
One of only two players to beat Spanish No. 4 seed Juan
Carlos Ferrero on clay this season, Blanco will take on
Germany's Lars Burgsmuller in the third round.
Third seed Andre Agassi, who has yet to drop a set in the tournament, made light work of Frenchman Julien Boutter 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
Boutter beat Spaniard Albert Costa in the first round but he
had no answer to the American's fierce service returns and
groundstrokes.
Agassi, who was cheered on by his girlfriend Steffi Graf in
the stands, will play either Fernando Meligeni of Brazil or
Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti in the third round.
Carlos Moya, the 1998 French Open
champion, saw his hopes of a second title dashed on Thursday as
he lost 1-6, 6-1, 7-6, 6-7, 6-2 to fellow Spaniard David Sanchez.
After an uncertain start, the unheralded Sanchez out-served
the former world number one to book a third-round clash with
Roger Federer of Switzerland. Before this week Sanchez had lost his only two Grand Slam
matches in straight sets in the U.S. and Australian Opens.
No. 2 seed Marat Safin overcame a toe
injury and gutsy Spaniard Alex Calatrava in five gruelling sets
6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3. Next, Safin will play Fabrice Santoro.
No. 10 Sebastien Grosjean cruised to a 6-2, 6-2,
6-2 win over Norwegian qualifier Jan Frode Andersen and No. 16
Franco Squillari recovered to defeat Sweden's Andreas Vinciguerra
2-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.
No. 13 Alex Corretja went to the next round in straight sets,
but former world No. 1 Marcelo Rios was beaten by French wild card
Nicolas Coutelot. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories | |
ALSO SEE French Open favorites Kuerten, Ferrero dominate Belgian teens advance to third round AUDIO/VIDEO   Pete Sampras will talk things over with his coach following Thursday's straight set loss (Courtesy: USA Network).wav: 222 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 | |
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