Tough Draw for Sampras

As much as Pete Sampras has struggled over the last two years, he has managed to play terrific tennis during the U.S. Open.

That won’t be as easy this time, thanks to Wednesday’s draw at New York.

The four-time Open champion, seeded 17th, could face 15th-seeded Guillermo Canas in the third round, No. 3 Tommy Haas in the fourth, followed by either No. 5 Tim Henman or No. 11 Andy Roddick. And that’s just to reach the semifinals.

The year’s final Grand Slam tournament starts Monday, and Serena and Venus Williams will be expected to meet in a Grand Slam final for the third consecutive time.

Top-seeded Serena got a more favorable draw than Venus, the two-time defending Open champion. No. 2-seeded Venus has Jennifer Capriati, Monica Seles and Martina Hingis on her side of the field.

The earliest Serena could face a top-20 player is in the fourth round, against 15th-seeded Anastasia Myskina. Serena opens against Corina Morariu, who recently returned to action after fighting leukemia.

The women’s round-of-eight matchups could be: Serena Williams vs. No. 8 Justine Henin; Venus Williams vs. Seles; No. 3 Capriati vs. No. 7 Kim Clijsters; and No. 4 Lindsay Davenport vs. No. 5 Jelena Dokic.

Andre Agassi, seeded sixth, doesn’t figure to be tested until a possible fourth-round match against No. 9 Carlos Moya of Spain.

Top-seed Lleyton Hewitt, who beat Sampras in last year’s Open final, might have some early tests.

Hewitt, the Wimbledon champion, could meet hard-serving Greg Rusedski in the second round. Rusedski beat Hewitt in Indianapolis this month.

Hewitt also could face No. 25 James Blake in the third round, the same point at which they met during the 2001 Open when Blake pushed Hewitt to five sets in a match marred by Hewitt’s outburst at a linesman that some interpreted as racially tinged.

Meanwhile, Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson, seeded 12th, said in Sweden that he will pull out because of a shoulder injury.

The potential men’s quarterfinals: Hewitt vs. No. 8 Albert Costa, this year’s French Open champion; No. 2 Marat Safin vs. No. 7 Juan Carlos Ferrero; Haas vs. Henman; and No. 4 Yevgeny Kafelnikov vs. Agassi.

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Hingis outlasted hard-hitting Alexandra Stevenson, 7-5, 6-4, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Pilot Pen at New Haven, Conn.

The fifth-seeded Hingis will next face Myskina, an unseeded Russian who upset fourth-seeded Henin of Belgium, 7-6 (2), 6-2.

Dokic, the third-seeded player, pulled out because of a sore hamstring.

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Jan-Michael Gambill outlasted Stefan Koubek of Austria, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, in the second round of the TD Waterhouse Cup at Commack, N.Y. Second-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland was upset by Nicolas Massu of Chile, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-3.

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Complete U.S. Open draw on D11.