TENNIS / AUSTRALIAN OPEN : Sampras Stays in Touch for Victory

Brett Steven’s strategy might have been creative, but it did not score many points.

He tried to lull Pete Sampras out of his game, but the third-seeded player didn’t lose his touch, serving 14 aces and winning, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3, during a quarterfinal that was delayed 45 minutes by rain Wednesday.

“I was hoping he was going to get bored out there, so I’d have a chance,” Steven said. “But he stayed interested too long.

“Whenever he wanted, he’d produce an ace or a passing shot. When he had the chance, he played magnificently.”

Also advancing to the semifinals was No. 14 Michael Stich, who beat No. 11 Guy Forget, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Stich, whose serve was never broken, led 6-4, 6-4, 1-1 when the rain came, but the delay did nothing to break his rhythm.

In a long day and night of competition Tuesday, Monica Seles outlasted Julie Halard, 6-2, 6-7 (7-5), 6-0; and Gabriela Sabatini overcame Mary Pierce, 4-6, 7-6 (14-12), 6-0, in a match that ended at 1:45 a.m. Australian time. In the semifinals, Seles will play Sabatini and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario will face Steffi Graf.

The competition was elongated by rain and a men’s doubles match in which Australia’s Laurie Warder and South Africa’s Danie Visser beat Jim Grabb and Richey Reneberg, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 4-6, 22-20. That took 5 hours 12 minutes.

The trouble began when a light sprinkle in the late afternoon led tournament referee Peter Bellenger to move that doubles match from Court 1 to the stadium court with its retractable roof.

The match was in the 16th game of the fifth set but went on for almost two more hours, keeping Seles and Halard, Sabatini and Pierce in the locker room and leaving locked-out fans fuming.

Women’s Tennis Assn. tour director Pam Whytcross twice asked for the match to be switched back outside, but Bellenger refused.

Bellenger later acknowledged his gamble had backfired.

“At 8-7 in the fifth it could have been finished in 10 minutes,” Bellenger said. “I felt it was a fair bet. History proved I was wrong.”