Any Given Night, Result the Same for Sampras at Open

Move over, Jay Leno and David Letterman.

Pete Sampras seemed determined to take over as the King of Late Night with an overpowering 6-3, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Justin Gimelstob Wednesday night in the second round of the U.S. Open.

Sampras, a four-time U.S. Open champion, is 14-0 under the lights at the National Tennis Center.

Only Martina Navratilova, who was 16-0 after dark, had a better record in night matches at the U.S. Open. Chris Evert was 14-0, and Andre Agassi is 18-2.

“Night matches here in New York are always special,” Sampras said after ending the match with four consecutive aces, the last at 125 mph. “You’re keyed up and there’s a lot of focus on the match. . . .

“The atmosphere is nice. It’s definitely unique.

“Historically, I’ve done well.”

Earlier in the evening, on a day when no seeded players fell, top-seeded Martina Hingis of Switzerland stormed past Kristina Brandi, 6-1, 6-1, in 44 minutes, making only four unforced errors in easily advancing to the third round.

“I’m going to play doubles and mixed doubles tomorrow,” Hingis said, “so matches like tonight, you just want to get them out of the way as soon as possible. Especially the night matches--you don’t want to stay out there too long. . . .

“I think I just played a very good match--almost no mistakes.”

Third-seeded Venus Williams and sixth-seeded Monica Seles moved into the third round before nightfall; Williams beating Kveta Hrdlickova of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-1, for her 21st consecutive victory, and Seles winning, 6-3, 6-4, over Anne Kremer of Luxembourg.

“Twenty-one, yeah, it’s nice,” said Williams, who has won four consecutive tournaments, Wimbledon among them, since losing to Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario of Spain in the quarterfinals of the French Open. “It’s been a long time since I’ve experienced a loss.”

In the men’s play, third-seeded Magnus Norman of Sweden scored a 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Paul Goldstein and sixth-seeded Marat Safin of Russia opened with a 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4 victory over Thierry Guardiola of France.

Sampras, whose fourth seeding is his lowest in a Grand Slam event since he was seeded sixth in this tournament in 1991, had dropped the opening set in a Wimbledon victory over Gimelstob.

“Obviously, tonight I was a little bit sharper,” said Sampras, who was hampered by a shin injury at Wimbledon and had to rally from a terrible start to take out Gimelstob.

This time, it was Gimelstob who was hurting after suffering a back injury that sidelined him for 10 days this month.

“I got off to a decent start,” said Gimelstob, who had double break point in the first game, “but he was just playing too good. I couldn’t hang with him. . . .

“I mean, four aces [to close out the match]? Even when I felt like I was on the ball, it was just a little bit out of reach. Even when I was guessing right and I felt like I was there, it would just skid away a little bit, or he had great movement on the ball.

“He was moving the ball around well and placing it well and obviously hitting it hard.”

Sampras, who had 13 aces, said he is glad to be back at the U.S. Open after pulling out last year because of a back injury on the eve of his opening-round match.

“I’m more appreciative of playing this year versus being [holed] up in my house for two weeks during the tournament,” he said. “But I’m not treating this Open any different than past Opens.”

Gimelstob said Sampras seems more relaxed after winning his 13th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, breaking Roy Emerson’s all-time record.

“I think he’s pretty secure with his place in history,” Gimelstob said. “I think now he’s actually playing for fun.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Featured Matches

The schedule of highlighted matches on the show courts and others involving seeded players. Play begins on all courts at 8 a.m. PDT:

Day Session

* Lindsay Davenport (2) vs. Kim Clijsters, Belgium

* Andre Agassi (1) vs. Arnaud Clement, France

* Mary Pierce (4), France, vs. Magdalena Maleeva, Bulgaria

* Yevgeny Kafelnikov (5), Russia, vs. Alexander Popp,

Germany

* Anna Kournikova (12), Russia, vs. Sandra Kleinova, Czech Republic

Night Session

* Serena Williams (5) vs. Nadejda Petrova, Russia

* Thomas Enqvist (7), Sweden, vs. Chris Woodruff

Glance

* Today on TV: USA, 8:30 a.m., 4:30 p.m.

* Statistics of the day: 29 and two--winners for Venus Williams and her opponent, Kveta Hrdlickova.

* Quote of the day: “I feel very honored to play on center court today. It’s great to be appreciated more in the States than maybe somewhere else.” --Magnus Norman