TENNIS ROUNDUP : Revenge Is Nice for Sampras

Top-seeded Pete Sampras avenged a Davis Cup loss Friday by beating France’s Henri Leconte, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, in the quarterfinals of the Nice Open.

Second-seeded Guy Forget was eliminated by Javier Sanchez of Spain, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3.

Leconte defeated Sampras in the final of the Davis Cup in December to propel France to the victory over the United States.

“I’m not surprised because I couldn’t play any worse than when I played Henri last year,” Sampras said. “Henri got hot in the second set, but I regained composure in the third.”

Sampras will play Gabriel Markus of Argentina, who defeated Thierry Champion of France, 7-5, 6-4.

Sanchez, seeded seventh, will play Fabrice Santoro of France, who eliminated Magnus Larsson, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3).

Sanchez, ranked No. 37 in the world, didn’t lose his serve against the seventh-ranked Forget.

Andre Agassi, who had appeared to be regaining his form after his recent U.S. Davis Cup victories, stumbled again in the quarterfinals of the USTA clay-court championships at Tampa, Fla.

Franco Davin of Argentina upset the second-seeded Agassi, 6-4, 7-6 (7-0), marking the seventh consecutive tournament this year in which the American has not fulfilled his seeding.

After the loss, Agassi refused to attend a post-match news conference. Through an interpreter, Davin said: “I think he was tired in the tiebreak and I didn’t want to go to the third set.”

Davin, a left-hander ranked No. 77, will face third-seeded MaliVai Washington and fourth-seeded Jaime Yzaga will play Switzerland’s Claudio Mezzadri in the semifinals today.

Washington came from a set and two match points down to beat unseeded Marcelo Filippini of Uruguay, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-4. Yzaga of Peru outlasted Australia’s unseeded Mark Woodforde, 4-6, 6-0, 7-5. Mezzadri beat Spain’s Marcos Gorriz, 7-5, 6-1.

Agassi made a string of forehand errors to give Davin a 5-4 lead in the first set, but the Argentine needed five set points before clinching the set on another Agassi forehand error.

In the second set, Agassi blew three set points at 5-4. Later, he made six consecutive errors to give Davin a 6-0 lead in the tiebreaker. The Argentine closed out the match with cross-court forehand winner.

Jim Courier, the world’s top-ranked player, defeated South African Gary Muller, 6-2, 6-1, to cruise into the semifinals of the Hong Kong Open.

Courier lost only six points on his serve as he advanced along with third-seeded Michael Chang, who had no trouble against Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands, 6-3, 6-2, in his quarterfinal match.

Chang meets Australian Todd Woodbridge in the semifinals. Woodbridge received a walkover from American Kevin Curren, who injured his ankle Thursday.

Injury also affected Japan’s Shuzo Matsuoka, who lost to fourth-seeded Brad Gilbert, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1, in the other quarterfinal.

After winning the first set, Matsuoka strained a thigh muscle, which required treatment. Gilbert took advantage and won a semifinal berth against Courier.

Courier was confident of his chances. “I am feeling very relaxed and I am having an extremely good time,” he said.

Heavy rains on Friday forced the cancellation of all matches at the Virginia Slims of Houston.

Top-ranked Monica Seles will play Argentina’s Bettina Fulco-Villella in one of the quarterfinals. The winner of that match will play the winner between Laura Gildemeister of Peru and American Gigi Fernandez.

The other semifinal pits the winner of the Katerina Maleeva-Sandra Cecchini match against Zina Garrison, who won her quarterfinal against 14-year-old Iva Majoli of Croatia Thursday.