TENNIS ROUNDUP : Sampras, Courier, Becker Fall in Canada

The stars fell like dominoes on Thursday at the Canadian Open.

The top three seeded players--Pete Sampras, Jim Courier of the United States and Boris Becker of Germany--were all losers in the third round at Montreal.

Sampras, the world’s top-ranked player, lost in straight sets to unseeded Brett Steven of New Zealand, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3. Steven, ranked No. 45 in the world, needed 1 hour 50 minutes to knock Sampras out.

Mikael Pernfors of Sweden continued his remarkable comeback on the men’s tennis tour with a 6-3, 6-2 upset of Courier.

“It shows that I can beat the good players when they play bad,” Pernfors said after dispatching the world’s second-ranked player.

Pernfors’ upset, a surprise in a tournament that was holding close to form, came in the early afternoon, just before heavy rain forced a short delay in play.

The other major upset followed the delay, as 13th-seeded Todd Martin eliminated third-seeded Becker, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3).

If it can be considered an upset, defending champion Andre Agassi, the 11th-seeded player, upset fifth-seed Michael Chang, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. Agassi had slipped to No. 31 in the world.

Another seeded player went out when Richey Reneberg ousted No. 9 Wayne Ferreira of South Africa, 6-3, 6-2.

Sixth-seeded Petr Korda of the Czech Republic was the first seeded player to reach the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over No. 12 Henrik Holm of Sweden.

Pernfors was a rising star in the mid-1980s, reaching a career-high ranking of 10th in 1986, when he lost the French Open final to Ivan Lendl.

But he was slowed first by a knee injury and then by an Achilles’ tendon injury that required surgery in 1990. His world ranking dropped to 1,001 in March, 1991, before bouncing back to 239 by the end of that year. He’s No. 95 now.

“In the last two years, I’ve wanted to come back and see if I can play well again,” said Pernfors, a former NCAA champion at Georgia. “I’ve had such a good time playing tennis, and that’s why I kept going.

“If I can stay healthy, I don’t think I’ll get to the top 20 again, but if I can reach the top 40 or 50, I’ll be happy.”

When asked what he missed most during the nearly two years of injury recovery, he replied: “Three-foot putts.”

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Top-seeded Conchita Martinez reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Hard Court Championships at Stratton Mountain, Vt., by thrashing Jeri Ingram, 6-1, 6-1.

Martinez, the world’s sixth-ranked player, took only 43 minutes to dispatch Ingram, ranked 274th.

Also advancing to the quarterfinals were No. 3 Helena Sukova, No. 4 Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere, No. 5 Zina Garrison-Jackson, No. 8 Tami Whitlinger, No. 12 Claudia Porwik and unseeded Beate Reinstadler and Jolene Watanabe.

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Local favorite Paul Haarhuis ousted top-seeded Sergi Bruguera, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Dutch Open at Hilversum, the Netherlands.

Bruguera, winner of the French Open, was one of four seeded players knocked out in the second round.

Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden defeated sixth-seeded Russian Andrei Chesnokov, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2; Carlos Costa of Spain beat No. 7 Fabrice Santoro, 6-2, 6-4, and Richard Fromberg of Australia outlasted eighth-seeded German Marc Goellner, 6-7 (7-3), 6-3, 7-6 (9-7).