Sampras Sails, Courier Sinks : Tennis: Top-ranked player beats Vacek in straight sets. No. 11 player loses to Gaudenzi.

Life on the men’s tennis tour continues to be an ocean liner for Pete Sampras and an iceberg for Jim Courier.

Sampras, the No. 1 player in the world and the No. 1-seeded men’s player here, floated through his second-round match on Stadium Court Friday night at the U.S. Open, beating Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

Sampras was supposed to be a bit suspect coming into this tournament, not having played since July 17 because of an ankle injury. But he played Vacek in the second round here last year, with a sound ankle, and lost a set. So Sampras’ easy ride Friday night was simply more bad news for future opponents, none of whom look the least bit formidable at this stage, because the earliest he can face a seeded player now is the semifinals.

“The long layover, maybe that’s working to my advantage now,” Sampras said. “I’m especially fresh mentally. If anything, I’m excited to get out there and play.”

If anything, Courier is not. He came up on the tour about the same time as Sampras and got to be No. 1 before Sampras did. But Friday afternoon, he crashed and sank on the Stadium court. His opponent, Andrea Gaudenzi of Italy, who won, 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, had heretofore distinguished himself by climbing into an umpire’s chair in a recent tournament, while opponent Goran Ivanisevic took a bathroom break, and announcing to the crowd: “Game, Set, Match, Gaudenzi.”

So Courier, down to No. 12 in the world and seeded No. 11 here, has now been reduced to losing to comedians, hardly a laughing matter for such a serious player.

At 24, Courier remains a player of stature, with four Grand Slam titles and a spot in the final here in 1991. But the last year or so has been a struggle, and Courier even threatened to quit the tour permanently, or perhaps indefinitely, after a loss a few weeks ago in Indianapolis to well-known Alex Corretja of Spain. Courier looked good in a straight-set victory over Aaron Krickstein on Tuesday night, but he clearly wasn’t hitting on all cylinders against Gaudenzi, even though he fought hard and saved six match points before succumbing.

“I’m disappointed with the result, but pleased with the effort,” Courier said.

Tennis Notes

Besides Jim Courier, the only other upset victim on the men’s side was No. 8 Andrei Medvedev of Ukraine, a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 victim of Karel Novacek of the Czech Republic. . . . Seeded men Michael Stich of Germany (4), Stefan Edberg of Sweden (5) and Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia advanced, as did former USC player Byron Black of Zimbabwe and one of last year’s finalists, Cedric Pioline of France. . . . Besides the losses of Conchita Martinez (3) and Mary Joe Fernandez (9), Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain (2), Kimiko Date of Japan (5) and Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina (8) won in straight sets.

Friday night’s crowd was a near packed house of 20,565, and there was divided opinion as to how many came to see yet another Pete Sampras rout and how many came to see New York’s current favorite clown act/doubles team, the Jensen brothers, who played after Sampras. . . . Sampras’ news conference got through the sore ankle stuff and the how-well-can-you-really-play questions quickly, and progressed to important new information, such as that Sampras, at 6 feet 1, used to be able to dunk a basketball but hasn’t tried it for a while, and that he can hit a golf ball 300 yards with regularity, “But then I can never find it.”