Sampras, Enqvist Register Victories

Pete Sampras, seeking an end to his desert dry spell, battled past Byron Black 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 yesterday to reach the quarter-finals of the Masters Series Tennis event.

Sampras won this tournament in 1994 and 1995, but had won just one match in the previous two years.

After he scored a three-set win over Wayne Ferreira on Wednesday, Sampras again struggled against Zimbabwean qualifier Black.

Sampras appeared to be on the brink of joining a parade of upset victims, led by top seed Andre Agassi, when Black took a 0-40 lead on the American's serve in the third game of the second set.

 

Exorcise the desert demons, that's my goal, Sampras said of his thoughts at that point.

After two close calls, Sampras still seemed wary of his chances, despite the fact that only six of 16 seeds remained heading into the third round.

In the quarter-finals, Sampras meets 10th-seeded Swede Thomas Enqvist, a 6-4, 7-5 winner over Argentina's Mariano Zabaleta.

Hicham Arazi, who stunned world No 1 Agassi on Monday, also reached the quarter-finals with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 victory over qualifier Max Mirnyi of Belarus.

He next faces eighth-seeded Ecuadoran Nicolas Lapentti, who defeated unseeded Frenchman Nicolas Escude 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3). Norman defeated France's Sebastian Grosjean 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4 to line up a clash with Alex Corretja. The Spaniard came back from a 0-4 first-set deficit to beat France's Fabrice Santoro 7-6 (8-6), 6-1.

Defending champion Mark Philippoussis, seeded 12th, encountered little resistance from Tommy Haas, beating the German 6-2, 6-3. In the quarter-finals, Philippoussis will face Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands, who ousted 14th-seeded Spaniard Albert Costa 6-2, 6-3.

As the men's quarter-final match-ups were determined, Australian Open champion Lindsay Davenport secured a place in the women's final.

Davenport scored a 6-2, 6-1 win over 18-year-old Russian Elena Dementieva.