Ilie upsets Sampras in first round at Scottsdale

Top-seed Pete Sampras stumbled out of the gate again as he was upset by Australian Andrew Ilie in opening-round play at the $400,000 Franklin Templeton Tennis Classic on Tuesday.

Sampras double-faulted at match point as the 24-year-old Ilie took a 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 victory in his first meeting against the 13-time Grand Slam champion.

While Sampras remains snake-bitten -- never having advanced past the second-round here in four appearances -- defending champion Lleyton Hewitt coasted past Spaniard David Sanchez, 6-1 6-3 in 64 minutes.

"I'd never even seen him play before so I just went out there and didn't even worry how he played," Hewitt said. "I knew that if I played my game, and was aggressive, I would win pretty comfortably."

Sampras was anything but comfortable.

Ilie ran Sampras all over the court in the one-hour, 52-minute stunner despite 12 aces from the American.

"I'm hitting the ball okay, I just haven't played that many matches," said Sampras.

Sampras, 29, took the opening set, sweeping the final four games, before Ilie leveled the match by dominating the second-set tiebreaker.

"I let him back in the match and before I knew it, it was a dog fight," said Sampras who reached the round of 16 at the Australian Open and lost in his first match at Memphis last month in his only two previous tournaments this year.

Said Ilie: "I was looking forward to playing Pete. I have been waiting and waiting all these years. Finally I got the chance and I'm happy I didn't disappoint myself."

The two players battled evenly in the deciding second set until at 5-4, 30-40, Sampras committed his fifth double fault to end the match.

Sampras said he felt rusty.

"I don't have a lot of matches and you struggle a little with confidence," he said. "The only thing I can do at this point is go back to the practice courts and play my way out of it.

"I had a lot of chances to win today's match but just couldn't pull it out," he said. "I had an off-day but still felt I played well enough to win. You have to give him credit, he made some great shots. But on the other hand, I let him play that well. I let him into the match."

Ilie was pumped up by his big victory.

"It was a very competitive match and I was pleased with the way I played," said Ilie. "It's just good to get one-up on him. It's something to brag about later on."

"Once I started making him play a lot of balls, it came down to whoever hits the ball harder from the baseline," he added. "Once I pushed him back a little bit he was in a little bit of trouble."