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Double down Safin knocked out by Hrbaty; Sampras beaten by Martin
Updated: Wednesday February 14, 2001 3:27 PM
MELBOURNE, Australia (CNNSI) -- Pete Sampras' 13-match winning streak against Todd Martin has come to an end. Martin upset the No. 3 seed 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the Australian Open's fourth round Sunday, preventing an anticipated quarterfinal between Sampras and defending champion Andre Agassi. Agassi's five-set semifinal victory over Sampras was considered the most memorable match of last year's Open. Agassi reached the quarters here after struggling for a set and a half with the unpredictability of Australian Andrew Ilie, whose exuberance and acrobatic shotmaking had the partisan crowd laughing, chanting and sensing an upset. But he rallied for a 6-7 (1), 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 victory. No. 14 Dominik Hrbaty knocked out No. 2 Marat Safin, the U.S. Open champion. In the quarterfinals, he will meet two-time U.S. Open winner Patrick Rafter, who beat No. 8 Tim Henman 6-2, 6-3, 6-3. No. 4 Magnus Norman, a semifinalist last year, is now the top seed remaining in the draw. Greg Rusedski knocked out No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten in the second round. Sampras, who has won 13 Grand Slam tournaments, was 17-2 against Martin before Sunday, and had won their last 13 meetings, going back to 1995. This time, "I just ran into a hot player," said Sampras, who had been pushed to five sets by Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela in his previous match. Martin broke for 5-3 in the second set, 2-1 in the third and 3-2 in the fourth, when he sent shots zipping past the onrushing Sampras on the last three points. Five games later, he reached match point with a backhand crosscourt touch volley, and then pounded in a serve that Sampras backhanded into the net. Martin patted Sampras on the back as they walked off, and said later, "Pete's a friend of mine, and I don't like to see him lose. If he has to lose, I'd just as soon have it be to me." Martin, who wore a large icepack on his right elbow after the match, said he decided to stick with his own game. "Every time I've ever played Pete I kept on making adjustments along the way instead of sticking to my guns and really having a shootout with him," he said. "Today I finally stuck to my guns." For past matches, he said, he had not absorbed similar advice. "Nothing feels better than to know that I did something today that I've never done before. The two times I beat Pete before I didn't feel like I was committed to doing it the right way," Martin said. Now he has to beat an opponent, Agassi, who leads 12-5 in their past meetings and has won the last four. Martin, a U.S. Open finalist in 1999 and semifinalist last year, served 16 aces to 21 by Sampras. "Todd has got one of the best returns in the game," Sampras said. "He returned serve as well as he ever has. ... I always felt like I was under pressure on my service games." He added, "It's disappointing and it's not the way I wanted to start the year. It's not like I learned a lesson. I was given a lesson." Except for the French Open, his notorious weak spot, Sampras has not lost before the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament since the 1997 U.S. Open. He has won seven of the last eight Wimbledons. Against Ilie, from 3-3 in the second set, No. 6 seed Agassi won nine consecutive games to take control. "I must say it's much more enjoyable watching him than playing against him," Agassi said. "Sometimes you feel like you're watching when you're out there playing against him, because he really hits some shots that you just can't believe a person can even attempt, let alone make." The followthrough on one backhand nearly drove Ilie spinning into the ground like a corkscrew. And when he lofted a lob over Agassi on break point for a 2-1 lead in the second set, a jubilant Ilie made a vulgar gesture with his racket -- the sort performed by heavy metal guitarists. The crowd loved it. "I didn't mean any disrespect to Andre," Ilie said. "It was just a celebration that got that way. It was a long point, and I was really happy." In women's matches, No. 4 Monica Seles ended the 13-match winning streak of 18-year-old Justine Henin, coming back from 2-4 in both of the last two sets for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory. She advanced to a quarterfinal meeting with No. 12 Jennifer Capriati, who had to come back from 1-5 to win 7-5, 6-1 against Spain's Marta Marrero. Anna Kournikova reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal in 3 1-2 years by beating Barbara Rittner 6-3, 6-1. The eighth-seeded Kournikova will next play defending champion Lindsay Davenport, who eliminated No. 15 Kim Clijsters 6-4, 6-0. Kournikova trailed 2-3 in the first set, then held serve in a 24-point game and dominated after that. The showing is her best in a major tournament since Wimbledon in 1997, when she reached the semifinals as a 16-year-old. "It feels like yesterday. Time flies, huh?" Kournikova said, smiling. "It's great to be playing so well in a Grand Slam again." Davenport, seeded second, lost just six points on her first serve and faced only a single break point, which she won. "My serve really helped me," she said. "That was really the key. It's so important if you can hold your serve and be consistent that way. That enabled me to be a little more free on my returns." Among those in the center court crowd for the first match of the morning was Clijster's boyfriend, Lleyton Hewitt. He had a short night's sleep after losing to Carlos Moya in the final match of the third round, 4-6, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5, which ended at 1:16 a.m. Sunday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
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