Sampras thundershower soaks Siemerink

MASON CINCINNATI, AUG 11: Pete Sampras outlasted a thunderstorm delay and a 20-point tie-breaker to beat Jan Siemerink of The Netherlan...

MASON CINCINNATI, AUG 11: Pete Sampras outlasted a thunderstorm delay and a 20-point tie-breaker to beat Jan Siemerink of The Netherlands 7-6 11-9, 6-4 last night in a second-round match at the 2.45 million ATP championship.

Sampras, ranked No 1 in the world for a record 272 weeks, has won 18 consecutive matches, the fourth-longest streak of his career. He has collected three titles in that span, including Wimbledon.

Sampras got into trouble when he failed to hold serve in game three of the first set. But with Sampras trailing 4-3, he was at double-break point against Siemerink when the deluge hit the ATP tennis centre just north of Cincinnati.

When play resumed 64 minutes later, Sampras won the break point to get back on serve and set the course toward the tie-breaker.

Even then, Sampras had to rally from triple-set point in the tie-breaker. Siemerink helped with a double-fault, and Sampras won a point on what he called 8220;one of the few backhand lob winners I8217;ve hit in my career8221;.

Other results

Tim Henman Britain bt John Van Lottum The Netherlands 6-2, 6-1; Gustavo Kuerten Brazil bt Alberto Martin Spain 6-2, 6-3; Richard Krajicek Netherlands bt Ivan Ljubicic Croatia 6-1, 6-3; Todd Martin US bt Ramon Delgado Paraguay 6-4, 5-7, 6-2; Albert Costa Spain bt Andrew Ilie Aus 6-4, 3-6, 6-2; Nicolas Kiefer Ger bt Sebastian Grosjean Fra 7-5, 6-3; Nicolas Lapentti Ecuador bt Vincent Spadea 6-2, 6-2; Rainier Schuttler Ger w/o Thomas Johansson Sweden; Michael Chang US bt Marat Safin Rus 6-3, 6-4; Jim Courier US bt Goran Ivanisevic Croatia 7-6, 6-2; Jonas Bjorkman Sweden bt Andrei Pavel Rom 6-4, 7-5; Jan-Michael Gambill bt Sjeng Schalken Netherlands 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; Chris Woodruff bt Wayne Ferreira SA 6-3, 6-4.

Huber advances

MANHATTAN BEACH: Anke Huber8217;s experience overcame enthusiastic but error-prone Alexandra Stevenson 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the Acura Classic tennis tournament.

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Sixth-seeded Serena Williams, playing her first tournament in two months, struggled to get by Elena Likhovtseva of Russia 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

In other matches, No 7 Barbara Schett of Austria beat Ines Gorrochategui of Argentina 6-3, 6-2, while No 8 Sandrine Testud of France was upset 6-1, 6-3 by doubles specialist Corina Morariu.

Other results

Lisa Raymond bt Mirjana Lucic 6-3, 6-1; Ruxandra Dragomir bt Anne Kremer 2-6, 7-6 10-8, 6-2; Patty Schnyder bt Magui Serna 6-3, 6-4; Natasha Zvereva bt Irina Spirlea of Romania 6-4, 6-7 7-4, 7-5.