Pete Sampras survives Black scare

Sampras, the No 3 seed who beat Black 6-7 (9/11), 3-6 6-3 7-5 6-3, will play Czech Slava Dosedel who took care of Argentina’s Franco Squillari 7-5 6-2, 6-3. They were joined in the round of 16 by American Chris Woodruff, Australian big-hitter Mark Philippoussis and Briton Tim Henman.

Sampras’ game, with the roof closed on a rainy day, was far from perfect and he had to fight back from two sets down in an error-ridden match.

The 12-time Grand Slam winner and two-time Australian Open champion was completely off key in the first two sets, missing volleys and misjudging cross-court shots, making more winners than Black but accumulating an astonishing 32 unforced errors.

Kournikova romancing The Scud?: A tanned Kournikova easily dispatched Kveta Hrdlickova 2-6 6-2 6-3 after a first set hiccup for a probable next round encounter with Lindsay Davenport.

But the media were more interested in rumours that she’s romantically linked with Mark Philippoussis. “Well, we’re just friends. I know him from Florida. I’ve known him for a very long time,” she said, but would not deny romance was involved.

The pair were allegedly spotted kissing passionately in a car park underneath Centre Court and the teen queen sat in the crowd watching The Scud demolish compatriot Andrew Ille 6-4, 7-6, 6-1 for a probable Agassi meeting in the next round.

Pierce looked comfortable in her 6-2 6-4 win over Miriam Oremans and will next play Ai Sugiyama of Japan. Schnyder, on come-back trail after personal problems last year, found it more difficult against Russia’s Nadejda Petrova, being taken to three sets before romping home 7-6 4-6 6-2.

Another woman on her way back, Jennifer Capriati, eased into a fourth round encounter with Schnyder by beating Chinese wildcard Yi Jing-Qian 6-4 6-4, but had trouble with the windy conditions.

Halard-Decugis, in her 11th appearance here, beat Russian Elena Dementeiva 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Woodruff, ranked 51, outplayed local favourite Richard Fromberg 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 to earn a fourth round clash with No 11 seed Henman who beat Sebastien Grosjean of France 6-1, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6.

How the Seeds Fared

Men’s singles (3rd round): 1-Andre Agassi (US) bt Mariano Zabaleta (Arg) 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, 3-Pete Sampras (US) bt Wayne Black (Zim) 6-7 (9-11), 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3, 11-Tim Henman (GB) bt Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) 6-1, 6-4, 4-6 7-6 (8-6), 16-Mark Philippoussis (Aus) bt Andrew Ilie (Aus) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1

Women’s singles (3rd round): 2-Lindsay Davenport (US) bt Alina Jidkova (Rus) 6-0, 6-1; 4-Mary Pierce (Fra) bt Miriam Oremans (Ned) 6-2 6-4, 9-Julie Halard-Decugis (Fra) bt Elena Dementieva (Rus) 3-6 6-4 6-2, 11-Anna Kournikova (Rus) bt Kveta Hrdlickova (Cze) 2-6 6-3 6-4

Other Third Round Results

Men’s singles (3rd round): Slava Dosedel (Czech) bt Franco Squillari (Arg) 7-5 6-2 6-3, Chris Woodruff (US) bt Richard Fromberg (Aust) 6-1 6-4 7-6 (8-6), Hicham Arazi (Mar) bt Fernando Vicente (Spa) 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 Nicolas Escude (Fra) bt Andreas Vinciguerra (Swe) 6-4, 6-4, 6-3

Women’s singles (3rd round): Jennifer Capriati (US) bt Yi Jing-Qian (China) 6-4 6-4, Patty Schnyder (Swi) bt Nadejda Petrova (Rus) 7-6 (8-6) 4-6 6-2, Jana Kandarr (Ger) bt Sonya Jeyaseelan (Can) 6-2, 0-6, 6-3, Ai Sugiyama (Jap) bt Asa Carlsson (Swe) 6-4 4-6 6-3, Jana Kandarr (Ger) bt Sonya Jeyaseelan (Can) 6-2, 0-6, 6-3