Sampras knocks Rafter out

HANOVER, Nov 14: Pete Sampras imposed his game on Patrick Rafter for the eighth straight time today, scoring a 6-4, 6-1 win to knock the Au...

HANOVER, Nov 14: Pete Sampras imposed his game on Patrick Rafter for the eighth straight time today, scoring a 6-4, 6-1 win to knock the Australian out of semifinal contention at the 3.3 million ATP World Championship.

Sampras qualified from the Red round-robin Group by virtue of his straight-sets win in one hour. That scoreline also gave Spain8217;s Carlos Moya the second semifinal place from the group.

Rafter, Moya and Sampras all finished with 2-1 records, but the three-time holder Sampras and Moya earned the places due to highest percentage of sets and games won respectively.

Swede Jonas Bjorkman was facing world No 2 Michael Chang later with the winner joining Sampras, Moya and Russian Yevgeny Kafelikov in the final four at the season wrapup tournament.

8220;I8217;m on cloud nine. Everything was perfect today,8221; said Sampras, now into the semifinals for a sixth consecutive year. Sampras overwhelmed Rafter in front of a crowd which was keen for a Rafter win. Sampras struck 28 winners to Rafter8217;s 13 and had a mere 10 unforced errors.

In a meaningless match in the evening, Kafelnikov was to play Briton Tim Henman, the second injury substitute to be utilised this week.

Henman, who is competing simultaneously at the British nationals, won a local match this morning, was driven to an airport and boarded a private jet laid on by Hanover organisers to reach Germany for the Kafelnikov match 8212; worth 100,000 to the world No 17 if he was to win.

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Henman was due back in Britain tonight in time to resume play at the Nationals tomorrow.

Henman was eighth man down the ladder as officials tried overnight to find a replacement for Bruguera, who withdrew due to a lower back injury. Bruguera lost a round-robin match yesterday, then all but said he could not continue.

Thomas Muster had already been tapped to replace Briton Greg Rusedski hamstring injury and took a loss to Moya last night.