Sampras Dumped At Queen’s

Tennis

Pete Sampras’ struggles continued Friday when he was ousted by Sweden’s Jonas Bjorkman in the quarterfinals of the Queen’s Club tournament in London.

The top-seeded Sampras appeared in firm control after winning the first set with ease, but his game fell apart near the end of the second and Bjorkman rallied in this key warmup for Wimbledon to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

It was the latest in a string of surprising defeats for Sampras, who has had difficulties most of the year since winning the Australian Open in January.

In Friday’s final set, World No. 1 Sampras took advantage of two double faults by Bjorkman to break back for 4-4. But in the next game, Sampras double faulted three times, blew an easy forehand volley on game point and dropped serve. Bjorkman then served out the match.

“It was a great finish, perfect,” Bjorkman said. “It was a great relief when I got match point. It took me a while to get used to the speed of the court. I tried to be patient and wait for my chances.”

Bjorkman’s return of serve was his big weapon.

“The returning of serve is my best shot, and that gives problems to big servers,” said the Swede, who has won 34 matches this year compared with 23 for Sampras.

The eighth-seeded Bjorkman advanced to a semifinal matchup against No. 16 Greg Rusedski, who overcame Australian Patrick Rafter 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 to become the first British player to reach the semifinals at Queen’s.

In the other semifinal, third-seeded Goran Ivanisevic, who downed Jerome Golmard of France 6-3, 7-6 (11-9), meets sixth-seeded Mark Philippoussis of Australia, who served 16 aces in a 6-2, 6-7 (7-4), 6-4 win over Germany’s Jens Knippschild.

Carisbo International

At Bologna, Italy, Brazil’s Gustavo Kuerten, in his first event since winning the French Open, beat top-seeded Alberto Berasategui of Spain 6-3, 6-7 (1-7), 7-5 in the quarterfinals of the Carisbo International.

Kuerten, seeded eighth in the clay-court tournament, will face Italy’s Marzio Martelli, a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 winner over No. 5 Hicham Arazi of Morocco.

Second-seeded Felix Mantilla of Spain beat Ecuador’s Nicolas Lapentti 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 and will face the winner of a match between Morocco’s Karim Alami or Spain’s Quino Munoz.

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