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Sampras taken to five sets, early hours by Escude

Pete Sampras finished with an ace in 3 hours, 50 minutes. Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Pete Sampras wasted three match points in a fourth-set tiebreaker and another three in the decisive fifth set before overcoming No. 30 Nicolas Escude with an ace in an epic clash Saturday at the Australian Open.

The former No. 1 needed all the experience that winning 13 Grand Slam titles has given him to advance to a fourth-round showdown against Marat Safin on a 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3 win over Escude.

Sampras led the tiebreaker 6-3 in the fourth before he double faulted and the Frenchman lucked a winner off a miscued return to get back on serve. On set point, Escude produced a running crosscourt forehand to level the match at two sets apiece.

The 30-year-old American raced to a 4-0 lead in the deciding set before Escude won eight consecutive points to pull to 4-2. After going to 40-0, he had two unforced errors before pulling to 5-2 when Escude dumped a forehand into the net.

With wife Bridgette Wilson cheering from the sidelines, Sampras got another three match points before Escude saved three points to pull from 0-40 to deuce and then reduce the margin to 5-3.

Serving for the set, Sampras fired an ace to go 30-15 and got another two match points when Escude netted a backhand return. He finished with an ace in 3 hours, 50 minutes.

"It was good tennis out there," Sampras said. "We had our chances. I let it slip away in the fourth. I got a bit tight there, but I rebounded very quickly.

"It doesn't get easier, Marat Safin in the next."

Sampras said his experience helped in the fifth.

"It's just being out there in a lot of big matches," he said. "When I was younger it might have taken me a few matches to recover from that. It's a matter of keeping your composure and I think I did that pretty well."

Escude, who set a Grand Slam record when he notched three come-from-behind wins en route to the Australian Open semifinals in 1998, said it was a miracle to win the fourth set and that made it more difficult to accept the loss.

But Escude, who led France to a Davis Cup victory over Australia in the final at Melbourne Park last December, said the five-set match might have been too taxing on Sampras.

"I lost against a great Pete Sampras, while playing a super match... (but) when I realize how I feel now, I honestly don't imagine Pete going right through. Particularly as he comes up against Marat in the next round and Marat is a great returner and server."

Safin, the 2000 U.S. Open champion and the only other player still in contention in the men's draw who has won a major, had a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over Mikhail Youzhny

"I'm feeling great, playing great and getting more and more confident," Safin said. "I'm looking forward to playing Pete, he's the greatest."

Tommy Haas, seeded seventh and the second highest ranking player still in the tournament, had a narrow escape against veteran American Todd Martin, a quarterfinalist here last year.

Haas won 6-7 (8), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 but had to come back from a break down in the fourth.

On match point, Haas fired a booming first serve and Martin's return floated long, sending the German into a fourth-round match against No. 11 Roger Federer of Switzerland.

Federer beat Rainer Schuettler 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), 6-4.

Jennifer Capriati lost a set for the first time in the tournament. AP

Women's champion Jennifer Capriati changed clothes between sets and then changed up a gear, shrugging off her latest hip problem to advance into the fourth round at the Australian Open.

The top-ranked Capriati lost her opening service game in each set during a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 win over Eleni Daniilidou, a 19-year-old Greek who rose from No. 320 to No. 84 last year.

Daniilidou, playing in her third Grand Slam event, had a two-game lead before Capriati won six consecutive games.

Capriati needed her left thigh strapped in the third game of the second set. Although, she said the new tape was just for "cosmetic" reasons because existing strapping supporting her right, injured hip was rubbing on her skin and causing rash.

After losing the second set she changed clothing in a bathroom break, swapping her pink and white two-piece outfit for a blue dress that ushered a new attitude.

She lost her opening serve on a close call, then won the next six games and served out with an ace on match point.

"In the third set, I don't think I let her play any more. I stepped it up and got real aggressive there," said Capriati, who conceded just six points in the last five games.

"This is good for me, to have this kind of match," she added. "I didn't think I was going to win the whole time, but I still felt confident even though I lost that second set."

Two Belgians beat the last two Australians in the draw.

No. 4 Kim Clijsters, last year's French Open runner-up, beat wild-card entry Cindy Watson 6-1, 6-2 and No. 6 Justin Henin overcame Nicole Pratt in a first set containing seven breaks of serve before winning 6-4, 6-0.

In other women's matches, German Marlene Weingartner beat No. 10 Meghann Shaughnessy 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, while No. 7 Amelie Mauresmo, the 1999 runner-up, saved two set points before she rallied to beat Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn 7-6 (3), 6-1.

No. 12 Elena Dementieva beat No. 23 Magui Serna 6-1, 6-2; No. 20 Rita Grande beat No. 16 Iroda Tulyaganova 6-3, 5-7, 6-4; and Janette Husarova defeated No. 24 Ai Sugiyama 6-2, 6-3.

In other men's matches, No. 23 Nicolas Lapentti rallied for a 4-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Argentina's Gaston Gaudio in 4 hours, 11 minutes and, in another absorbing five-setter, Wayne Ferreira rallied to beat Ivan Ljubicic 4-6, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3, 7-5.

Andrei Pavel, seeded 25th, became the 23rd seeded men's player to be bow out, losing 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-4 to Albert Costa of Spain.

Former No. 1 Marcelo Rios produced the shot of the tournament with a behind-the-back return in his 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (3) over Alberto Martin.

Martin lost that point but won the game to pull to 6-5 in the third, although Rios' confidence rattled the Spaniard and he wasted three set points in the next game.

Rios, a finalist here in 1998, played a cricket-style shot to a half-volley that Martin smashed at his feet to get match point in the tiebreaker. He sealed it when Martin netted a forehand return.

"Everything is so fast -- you do it and you haven't got time to enjoy it, you got to play the next point," said Rios. "I got to see on TV, when they put it 'Points of the Day', I'm going to enjoy it then."

Martin had ousted No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt in the first round.

In a major doubles upset, defending champion and top-seeded pair Jonas Bjorkman and Todd Woodbridge lost 6-3, 6-4 to Czech pair Tomas Cibulec and Daniel Vacek in the second round.

 

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