A Wet and Wild Open Sprinkles In Some Fun

Fitting 17 singles matches into about a six-hour time frame was never going to be easy, not as hard as slipping into one of Serena Williams’ self-dubbed catsuits, but still a tight fit on Monday.

Seventeen did not go into six at the U.S. Open, but it certainly made for compelling theater on another inclement day. Rain forced another unrelenting delay, trashing the schedule for the second day in a row.

Play did not start until 6:18 p.m. EDT, a fourth-round match between No. 4 Lindsay Davenport and No. 13 Silvia Farina Elia of Italy, which Davenport won quickly, 6-3, 6-1, in 58 minutes. In what is believed to be an Open first, officials started a match after 11 p.m., sending out Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco and Wayne Ferreira of South Africa. Aynaoui prevailed, 3-6, 7-5, 7-5, 7-6 (3), to close out the schedule at 2:14 a.m.

In between was some of the most entertaining tennis in the shortest time period ever seen at the Open, in quality and quantity.

Back-to-back on Louis Armstrong Stadium, came the roars of the old lion of U.S. tennis (Pete Sampras) and, well, the young lion (Andy Roddick).

Those ear-shattering noises from that court were not from planes flying overhead. First, the No. 17 Sampras, an Open finalist last year, defeated Greg Rusedski of Great Britain, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, followed by No. 11 Andy Roddick, who beat Alex Corretja of Spain, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6 (6). Both were third-round matches.

Sampras and Rusedski had nearly played a set Sunday before rain suspended action. On Monday, Sampras had to sit around all day, and then started against Rusedski in a fairly tight spot, serving at 4-5. He got out of it by fighting off another set point, his third, in the 12th game.

In the first-set tiebreaker, Rusedski led 3-1, but Sampras finished strongly, winning six of the last seven points.

But he was unable to sustain the momentum, dropping the second set, 6-4, losing his serve in the third game. That was the pattern. An emotional high point in the match would almost certainly result in a low spell.

For all of Sampras’ troubles, there was a positive: Rusedski was on the other side.

The Canadian-turned-Brit is something of a target in New York, taking his share of verbal abuse here over the years after consistently losing epics, tightening at the most critical moments.

“I enjoyed playing,” said Sampras, who will meet Tommy Haas of Germany in the fourth round. “That’s why I’m still here because I look forward to the challenge, and each match gets a little bit tougher.”

Rusedski and Sampras have never been close, to put it mildly. On the court, Rusedski complained to the chair umpire that Sampras was getting favorable treatment. But that was nothing compared to afterward.

“Unfortunately, when it counted, I gave him a little bit too much respect,” Rusedski said. “You can’t give a player that status, that much leeway.”

So he quit respecting him on the spot and predicted he would lose to Haas today. Rusedski then made another harsh comparison about Sampras, who is five years older than anybody in his half of the draw.

“If he doesn’t get to the finals, he’s going to take a big drop,” he said. “The men’s game is tough. If you lose a step, look what happened to [Michael] Chang so far. I mean, the guy was one of the greatest players ever. He lost one step, half a step. This is very tough.”

The calmest American male on the premises was No. 6 Andre Agassi, who had little trouble against Jan-Michael Gambill, winning, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3, in the fourth round. Agassi, who has not dropped a set, was asked to comment on Rusedski’s remarks.

“I would deduce from that comment that Greg really didn’t like the way he played,” Agassi said.

Calm is not always a word associated with Roddick. He finished at about 12:15 a.m. local time, and his match against Corretja became increasingly spirited. Late in the third set, Corretja called the chair umpire a word not suitable for publication, and Roddick used some choice words to capture his excitement.

“He’s going to fight till the end,” said Roddick, who will play Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina tonight in the fourth round. “He [Corretja] is in great shape. He has no problem going five sets. Alex doesn’t miss much. On the last point, I didn’t want to miss.”

The last point, which was Roddick’s fourth match point, came after an intense baseline rally. The youngster was still breathing hard during his TV interview. “I just finished about a 253-stroke rally,” he said.

Action was more orderly on the women’s side. There were only two upsets, most notably No. 11 Daniela Hantuchova’s 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (4) victory against No. 8 Justine Henin of Belgium in the fourth round. The 19-year-old Slovak hurt her ankle and right thumb in a scary-looking tumble against Henin in the second set when the court got slippery on Sunday just before action stopped.

“It was one of the toughest matches I ever played,” Hantuchova said.

“I hurt the ankle and I realized the thumb was even worse. During the night, the ankle even started to hurt worse.”

She had the thumb and wrist wrapped but had the tape removed after losing the second set. The second surprise was caused by No. 10 Amelie Mauresmo of France, who beat No. 7 Kim Clijsters of Belgium, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

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At a Glance

Highlights Monday of the $16.17-million U.S. Open tennis championships:

Weather: Rainy and cool with a high of 68. Rain delayed the start of play more than seven hours.

Attendance: Day session: 30,863. Night session: 18,273. Total: 49,136.

Winners: Men, third round: No. 3 Tommy Haas, No. 17 Pete Sampras, No. 28 Fernando Gonzalez. Fourth round: No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, No. 6 Andre Agassi. Women, fourth round: No. 3 Jennifer Capriati, No. 4 Lindsay Davenport, No. 10 Amelie Mauresmo, No. 11 Daniela Hantuchova.

Losers: Men, third round: No. 7 Juan Carlos Ferrero, No. 29 Thomas Enqvist, No. 33 Greg Rusedski. Women, fourth round: No. 7 Kim Clijsters, No. 8 Justine Henin, No. 13 Silvia Farina Elia.

Stat of the day: 64 of 100 matches scheduled for Monday were postponed.

Quote of the day: “He’s a great player from the past. You’re used to seeing Pete Sampras, 13 Grand Slam champion. It’s not the same player.”--Greg Rusedski.

Featured matches: Women, Chanda Rubin (14) vs. Venus Williams (2); Martina Hingis (9), Switzerland, vs. Monica Seles (6); Daniela Hantuchova (11), Slovakia, vs. Serena Williams (1). Men, Pete Sampras (17) vs. Tommy Haas (3), Germany; Andy Roddick (11) vs. Juan Ignacio Chela (26), Argentina.