Sampras Sets Up His Return to Top Spot by Beating Agassi

Pete Sampras negotiated the clay courts at the Monte Carlo Open on Wednesday to beat Andre Agassi 6-4, 7-5, in Monaco.

It is probably the big victory that will lead him to the No. 1 ranking again because Marcelo Rios, who has an injured elbow, will lose his top ranking by not playing in this event.

“I played pretty well,” Sampras said. “Andre probably missed a little bit more than he usually does. That’s clay-court tennis sometimes. You have to find a way.”

In a rivalry that once promised to be one of the best in tennis, Sampras defeated Agassi for the first time on clay, rallying after being down 2-0 in the first set and 3-0 in the second set of the second-round match.

Sampras is trying to claim the No. 1 ranking he lost to Rios. Agassi, a former No. 1, dropped to No. 141 but has since surged to No. 21.

Sampras lost the top ranking last month when he was beaten early at the Lipton tournament. Rios won that event to ascend to No. 1.

“Sure, I was disappointed I lost it,” Sampras said. “I know that it’s a long year, and the year has just started. Marcelo has had a great start to the year, but in order to maintain No. 1 you have to be consistent. I haven’t been that consistent for the first couple months.”

He lost in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, where he was defending champion. Then he lost early in his last two tournaments.

Petr Korda, ranked No. 2, has a slight chance to overtake Sampras. Korda needs to reach the final and Sampras need to lose in the next round. Korda beat Wayne Ferreira 6-1, 6-3 to advance to the third round.

In another match, Boris Becker, winding down his career but showing there is still life to his game, beat No. 3 seed Greg Rusedski, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Rusedski’s powerful serve--a record 149 mph on hard court--was blunted on clay, and Becker used well-placed serves to his opponent’s backhand to hold off break points. Becker takes on another big server, Mark Philippoussis, in the third round.

The Sampras-Agassi match turned in the 11th game with Agassi up 40-0 on his serve. A run of Agassi errors gave Sampras the game and a 6-5 lead. Then, Sampras served out the match, finishing with his sixth ace.

“I think Andre just pressed a little bit,” Sampras said. “He missed some forehands there and I just raised my level just enough to break him. It was a good comeback. I got the right points at the right time.”

Sampras took control of the first set with a run of 14 consecutive points that brought him from 3-2 down to 5-3, helped by a succession of forehand errors by Agassi.

“I was a little indecisive with my shots, more tentative,” Agassi said. “Once I get a little tentative, I don’t move as well.”

In the second set, Agassi jumped ahead, 3-0, and served for the set at 5-3. But Sampras rallied and took the final four games.

It was the first victory for Sampras in the Monte Carlo tournament in four tries.

Also, Slava Dosedel of the Czech Republic trounced No. 5 seeded Jonas Bjorkman, 6-1, 6-0, and No. 15 seeded Sergi Bruguera lost to Fabrice Santoro of France, 6-3, 6-0.

No. 4 Yevgeny Kafelnikov rallied past Mark Woodforde, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, and No. 10 Cedric Pioline stopped Sebastien Grosjean of France, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4). No. 12 Alberto Berasategui, in the finals of the last two clay tournaments, beat Daniel Vacek, 6-0, 7-6 (7-1).

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Third-seeded Jim Courier swept past Dutchman Dennis van Scheppingen, 6-2, 6-1, and rolled easily into the quarterfinals of the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Earlier in the day, Australian Andrew Ilie moved into his first career quarterfinal by defeating Argentina’s Lucas Arnold, 6-3, 6-4.

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Second-seeded Dominique van Roost was upset in straight sets in an opening-round match at the Budapest Lotto Ladies Open tennis tournament in Hungary.

Van Roost, ranked 14th in the world, was ousted, 6-4, 6-0, by Romania’s 79th-ranked Catalina Cristea. The Belgian has reached four finals this year.

Top-seeded Sandrine Testud had no problem in her opening-round match of the clay-court competition, beating Austria’s Marion Maruska, 6-3, 6-4.