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Case of the sloppies Off-target Sampras survives, but error-prone S. Williams doesn't at Indian Wells
Posted: Wednesday March 15, 2000 11:37 PM
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) -- Pete Sampras struggled but survived in the Tennis Masters-Indians Wells tournament Wednesday, storming back from an 0-3 deficit in the third-set tiebreaker to beat Wayne Ferreira. The second-seeded Sampras, plagued by 12 double-faults, edged Ferreira 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) on a day when other seeded players wilted in the hot desert sun, including defending women's champion Serena Williams. Sampras and Ferreira had split their previous 10 matches. "Wayne has obviously played me very tough over the years," Sampras said. "He's a great shotmaker. I don't think we both played at a very high level, but it was exciting tennis. "Wayne was putting a lot of pressure on my service game. I was going for big second serves, and I threw in some doubles (double-faults), which is going to happen." Williams, the No. 3 seed, essentially played herself out of the tournament she won last year by beating Steffi Graf in the final. This time, Williams, her timing off on her groundstrokes, committed 28 unforced errors in a 6-2, 6-1 quarterfinal loss to No. 5 Mary Pierce, who made just nine unforced errors. Williams said she missed shots she normally makes, but that Pierce had something to do with that. "Every ball that I put in play, she pounced on it," said Williams, the 1999 U.S. Open champion who had won both previous matches against Pierce. "I've never seen her make that many shots consistently in her life. "There are just some days when your opponent's on and you're not on." Six seeded players fell in the second round of the men's competition - No. 3 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, No. 5 Gustavo Kuerten, No. 7 Marcelo Rios, No. 11 Tim Henman, No. 16 Lleyton Hewitt and No. 15 Greg Rusedski. Sjeng Schalken defeated Kafelnikov 7-5, 6-2; Tommy Haas downed Kuerten 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1); and Mariano Zabeleta beat Rios 7-6 (4), 6-3. Sebastien Grosjean beat Henman 6-3, 3-6, 7-5; Byron Black beat Hewitt, last week's winner in Scottsdale, Ariz., 6-3, 7-6 (5); and Max Mirnyi beat Rusedski 6-4, 6-4. Bucking the trend of upsets on a day when temperatures on the court topped 100 degrees, top-seeded Martina Hingis cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 win over No. 7 Monica Seles. The Sampras-Ferreira match was one of the best of the tournament so far, with Sampras mixing some brilliant shots among some duds during his afternoon match with the unseeded South African. Trailing 3-0 in the match-deciding tiebreaker, Sampras handcuffed Ferreira with his next two serves. Ferreira went up 4-2 when Sampras hit a forehand into the net, then it went to 4-3 when Ferreira hit a forehand long. Finally putting his second service to good use, Sampras hit a spinning serve that bounced high and straight at Ferreira, who hit an awkward backhand return that sailed out. Sampras went ahead 5-4 when his opponent netted a backhand to end a long rally, and made it 6-5 with a sizzling crosscourt forehand. With the crowd yelling, "Let's go, Pete!" Sampras miss-hit a return to make it 6-5, but then won the match when Ferreira, looking tired, hit a backhand wide. Sampras raised his arms in triumph and Ferreira, who had won five of 10 previous career matches against Sampras, slammed his racket to the court in frustration. Sampras, who hadn't played since the Australian Open in January and withdrew from last week's tournament in Arizona because of a lower back strain, was pleased that he held up through the tiring match against Ferreira. "It was hot. Not having played many matches this year, I thought I handled it pretty well," Sampras said. "We both were a little tired at the end."
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