Sampras Bounced Early Again

France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu, the last of the 48 players to get into the main draw, stunned Pete Sampras, 6-3, 6-7 (9), 6-4, in a second-round match at the TD Waterhouse Cup on Tuesday night at Commack, N.Y.

Sampras has not won a tournament since Wimbledon in 2000, the last of his record 13 Grand Slam titles. The non-winning streak has reached 33 consecutive tournaments and next up is the U.S. Open, which starts Monday.

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Top-seeded, three-time champion Venus Williams maintained her perfect record in the Pilot Pen with a 6-2, 6-4 second-round victory over Meghann Shaughnessy at New Haven, Conn.

Second-seeded Lindsay Davenport defeated Iroda Tulyganova of Uzbekistan, 6-4, 7-5 (3), to reach the quarterfinals.

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Four Americans top the women’s seedings in the U.S. Open for the first time since 1983, led by Serena Williams, who will be aiming for her third consecutive Grand Slam title.

Williams’ sister, two-time defending champion Venus, is seeded No. 2. Jennifer Capriati is seeded third and Davenport is No. 4 for the year’s final Grand Slam.

Nineteen years ago, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert Lloyd, Andrea Jaeger, Tracy Austin and Pam Shriver were seeded 1-5.

Defending champion Lleyton Hewitt was seeded No. 1 in the men’s field, followed by Marat Safin, Tommy Haas, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Tim Henman and two-time champion Andre Agassi. Sampras, a four-time Open champion, is seeded No. 17.