Open Favorites Weather a Storm

Finally, after a three-day honeymoon, conditions at the tidy new National Tennis Center became nasty, tedious and confused here Thursday.

In other words, much like the U.S. Open the tennis world has come to know.

A threatened storm finally arrived, causing a five-hour delay, scheduling problems and snarled traffic.

Just as planes were rerouted at nearby La Guardia Airport, matches were shuffled. Some players, such as French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten and opponent Sjeng Schalken, were sent to three courts before settling on their eventual grounds. Lindsay Davenport was rescheduled five times and, at 9:10 p.m., finally began playing.

Cutthroat card games and backgammon tournaments broke out in the players’ lounge and compact discs were swapped, but mostly, antsy players flopped on couches and waited for the rain to stop.

“Delays are always a bit of a pain,” Mary Joe Fernandez said. “We got here at 9:30, had to wait around. Didn’t really get a chance to practice because it never really stopped [raining]. It’s frustrating, because you just don’t know when you’re going to get on.”

The few second-round matches that did get finished went according to form. Pete Sampras defeated Patrick Baur, 7-5, 6-4, 6-3. Sixth-seeded Alex Corretja of Spain defeated Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic, 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

Fernandez beat Rita Grande of Italy, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, and top-seeded Martina Hingis needed only 44 minutes to dispatch Denisa Chladkova of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-2. Tenth-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain defeated Meilen Tu of Porter Ranch, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.

The Fernandez match was the only one of three scheduled for the Arthur Ashe Stadium to be completed. Once that match was finished, USTA officials sent the remaining day matches to other courts, so the night match would not be affected.

For their money and trouble, day patrons saw the 1-hour 46-minute Fernandez match and five hours of rain.

Corretja sweated through the rain’s leftover humidity and constant pressure from Ulihrach. He had hardly finished and toweled off before he was bombarded with questions about the possibility of playing Sampras. They are the highest remaining seeded players in the top half of the draw and could--after last year’s dramatic quarterfinal matchup--meet in the semifinals this time.

“Are you kidding, or what?” Corretja said. “It’s so difficult to win one match here, just to think about the semifinals would be stupid for both persons.”

Sampras, too, was unwilling to mentally revisit the match in which he vomited on court. Still, because of shifting courts, he played Thursday on the same court where he played Corretja last year.

Like everyone else, Sampras was rescheduled, but with minimal discomfort. He was sent to Stadium 2, the court on which he won his four Open titles. Despite familiar surroundings, Sampras seemed out of sorts and vulnerable.

He was his usual slow-starting self against Baur of Germany. Baur was the second qualifier Sampras has played here and, from the level of his play, it’s a good thing he has not faced tougher players.

Baur, No. 338 and the oldest player in the men’s draw at 32, pressed Sampras in the first set and lost his serve only four times in the match. Baur double-faulted to lose his serve and the first set.

Despite picking up the pace in the second set, Sampras was still pressed.

Afterward, the top-seeded Sampras said he was pleased with his play and noted that Baur had played with abandon common to an underdog.

“These guys come out with nothing to lose, anything is possible,” he said.

Sampras, usually associated with the calmer, more classic clothing issued by his sponsor, is here wearing black tennis shoes, trimmed in red and white. Andre Agassi has always been on fashion’s cutting edge and is wearing a pink shirt here.

Sampras said the shoes were “making a statement,” but he was at a loss to say what it was.

“Once I saw them, I liked them,” he said. “This is New York City, I thought, ‘Why not?’ With me wearing something so radical . . . I’m going to stay away from the pink. We’re just talking shoes here, we’re not talking body piercing.”

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Today’s Featured Matches

WOMEN, Third Round

* Anke Huber (8) vs. Venus Williams

* Mary Pierce (9) vs. Natasha Zvereva

MEN, Second Round

* Michael Chang (2) vs. Jeff Salzenstein

* Andre Agassi vs. Adrian Voinea