Contrasting wins for Sampras, Agassi

‘‘He should take his prize money when he is done here and go and buy some perspective,’’ said Agassi who had an easy walk in his third round encounter with German David Prinosil.

‘‘At the end of the day I would be hard pressed to spend time with a person who thinks making hundreds of thousands of dollars is not enough money.’’

Sampras chipped in: ‘‘I think we’re all overpaid. We play a sport and we get paid very well.’’

The 13-time Grand Slam winner though earned his pay today. In heat that pipped 40 degrees Celcius on court, Pistol Pete struggled to shoot down Argentina’s Juan Igancio Chela, battling for an energy-sapping three hours eight minutes for his 6-4, 4-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory.

In contrast, Agassi spent just 1 hour and 8 minutes on court before Prinosil succumbed to heat exhaustion, giving the six-time Slam champion a 7-6 (11/9), 5-0 win and a crack at Todd Martin. Aussie favourite and 12th seed Pat Rafter also advanced, with a straight sets 6-4, 6-1, 7-5 beating of Swiss Michel Kratochvil.

Joining him in the fourth round are Marat Safin and Lindsay Davenport, the number two seeds respectively, who eased past Michal Tabera and Silvia Farina Elia.

But French 13th seed Cedric Pioline and compatriot Sandrine Testud, the 14th seed, wilted in the Melbourne heat and crashed out.

Crowd favourite Anna Kournikova also threw a tantrum but made it to the last 16 despite dropping a set against doubles partner Barbara Schett.

‘‘Ice, get me some ice,’’ she shouted at a ballboy during one of the handovers. She later claimed she had just been ‘‘asking’’ for ice in a cup after being given some wrapped in a towel. Italian umpire Laura Ceccarelli was also on the receiving end of a few Siberian blasts as Kournikova pulled back from the abyss of yet another premature exit from a Grand Slam tournament.

There was no such drama for love-struck 15th seed Kim Clijsters who demolished Spain’s Nuria Llagostera 6-0, 6-1.

She will now meet Davenport who finally found some form to breeze past Silvia Farina Elia of Italy 6-2, 6-1. Davenport acknowledged that 17-year-old Clijsters would provide her with a tougher challenge than anything she has faced so far.

19 fined in five day’s
MELBOURNE: Five days into the Australian Open and 19 players have been hit with fines for code violations.

France’s Fabrice Santoro leads the pack after being ordered to pay $ 5,000 for unsportsmanlike behavior towards an official following his second round loss to Canadian Daniel Nestor.

Several players have been fined for racquet abuse including Germany’s David Prinosil whose $ 2,000 fine was reduced to $ 1,000 on appeal.

Switzerland’s Marc Rosset and American Jan-Michael Gambill were fined $ 500 for the same offence.

Ukraine’s Andrei Medvedev was hit with a $ 1,000 bill for verbal obscenities during his loss to Sweden’s Andreas Vinciguerra.