AMERICAN Pete Sampras avoided the Swedish jinx which has cut down some
of his major rivals as he passed his first major test of the Australian
Open Tennis Championship in Melbourne yesterday.
The world's No.3, who is in the same half of the draw as second seed
Stefan Edberg, was not at his best in a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over
Sweden's unpredictable Magnus Larsson. But he still reinforced his
credentials as a title contender, and now meets Alex Antonitsch of
Austria.
Four hours of play on the outside courts were lost to rain, but once
the weather cleared, it was uneventful for leading women seeds Steffi
Graf, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, and Mary Joe Fernandez, who did not drop
a set.
Unlike Boris Becker and Ivan Lendl, victims of Swedes Anders Jarryd
and Christian Bergstrom, Sampras weathered the awkward questions posed
by Larsson, who sent down aces and double faults with abandon.
After having taken the second set 6-3, he was ready for a major upset
until the more precise ground strokes of Sampras took the steam out of
his opponent.
Austria's Thomas Muster, a semi-finalist in 1989, went down 6-2, 7-6,
6-4 to New Zealander Brett Steven.
Graf said she was happy with her form after having brushed aside
American Jennifer Santrock 6-1, 6-1 in 70 minutes. Spain's Sanchez
Vicario thrashed Peru's Laura Gildemeister 6-0, 6-1, while two-times
finalist Mary Joe Fernandez, of the United States, overcame Taiwan's
Shi-Ting Wang 7-6, 6-4.
American Jennifer Capriati, taking pills for a stomach virus, fought
back to overcome Florencia Labat of Argentina
6-7, 7-5, 6-2 in the second round. The 16-year-old Capriati, who spent
Wednesday in bed with a high fever, was stunned by the left-handed
Argentinian, whose top-spin returns blunted her power game.
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