Sampras falls to teenager Roddick

American teen-ager Andy Roddick swept Pete Sampras out of the Ericsson Open in straight sets on Sunday.

Roddick, 18, defeated fourth-seeded Sampras, three times a winner of this tournament, 7-6 6-3 in the third round to record his first win over a player ranked in the top 10.

"The way he competes, the way he plays, he really is the future," said an admiring Sampras, gracious in defeat. "He's the beginning of a new American breed. I'm obviously older than he is and so I'm trying to fend him off."

The match turned in Roddick's favour in the first set tiebreak when the world's top-ranked junior last year reeled off the first four points, one of them coming from a Sampras double fault.

Roddick held his nerve in the second set, never allowing Sampras a break point on his service.

When Sampras's weak, backhand pass attempt struck the bottom of the net on match point Roddick held his head in disbelief, took off his hat and shook his hero's hand.

"I think I did make a statement by beating my first top 10 player and probably the greatest player of all time," said Roddick.

Roddick will next play Romanian Andrei Pavel, who upset Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean, the 1999 finalist.

"I'm still hungry," said Roddick, who also beat another former number one, Marcelo Rios of Chile, in straight sets in the second round.

KAFELNIKOV ALSO FALLS

Fifth seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov, winner of the Australian Open in 1999 as well as the French in 1996, also bowed out -- 6-4 6-1 to Argentine Gaston Gaudio.

The Russian, whose concentration appeared to wane after a tough first set, made 36 unforced errors to Gaudio's 15.

Unseeded Jan-Michael Gambill, who won his second careertitle at Delray Beach earlier in the month, posted another credible performance in ousting 14th-seeded Thomas Enqvist of Sweden 7-5 6-7 (7-9) 6-1.

Gambill won the match despite the fact that he has a stretched nerve in his arm that is leaving him with constant pins and needle feelings in the limb.

"The arm has felt better, but frankly I'm amazed," said Gambill, who upset the top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten in the third round of Indian Wells last week.

WOMEN'S FAVOURITES ADVANCE

On the women's side, Australian Open champion Jennifer Capriati continued her career revival when she swept past Mariana Diaz-Oliva of Argentina 6-1 6-1 in just 56 minutes to reach the fourth round.

Capriati is happy with her form and enjoying a purple patch after winning her first grand slam in Australia.

"I mean coming off of Australia, that win there, I'm definitely more confident and mentally tough," she said.

The Williams sisters had very different third-round outings with Serena struggling to beat little-known Iroda Tulyaganova of Uzbekistan 3-6 6-3 6-2, while Venus dropped only four games in dismissing fellow-American Sandra Cacic 6-2 6-2.

"I'm not too pleased about the match," the fifth-seeded Serena Williams said. "It's kind of scary the way I played."

Top-seeded Martina Hingis lost only one game in her 6-1 6-0 victory over Tatiana Panova of Russia.