Misery for Sampras but Agassi bounces back

Ossian Shine

Pete Sampras squandered a host of chances on his way to a 6-7 6-3 6-4 defeat by Spain's Alex Calatrava in the first round of the Hamburg Masters on Monday.

But fellow-American heavyweight Andre Agassi underlined his French Open credentials with a powerful 6-1 6-4 victory over Italy's Davide Sanguinetti.

Sampras was joined at the Hamburg exit by ninth-seeded Briton Tim Henman. Henman called his defeat "appalling" after losing 6-1 6-4 to world number 96 Lars Burgsmueller.

Sampras, the holder of a record 13 Grand Slam titles allowed a one-set lead to slip and missed three break back points in the final game of his match on Centre Court as he slid to defeat.

The loss was a further blow to the American's preparations for the French Open, the only Grand Slam title he has never won.

Fourth-seeded Sampras, who lost in the first round of last week's Rome Masters to Israel's Harel Levy, put up a brave fight, saving seven match points, but he has still failed to win on clay this year.

"I definitely had my chances out there," a dejected Sampras said. "But I couldn't make any of them so I am pretty disappointed after that result.

"I played well, though, and have to give him credit."

LOOKING AHEAD
Marcelo Rios earlier shrugged off his recent brush with the law to beat Spain's Carlos Moya in a battle of former world number ones on a sun-drenched Centre Court.

Rios is to stand trial in Italy on charges of resisting arrest and attacking two policemen during a night out in Rome, Italian police said on Monday,

The police added, however, that Rios was unlikely to appear in court to answer the charges and could be represented by a lawyer.

Rios, 25, and four other Chileans, including a coach and an ATP official, were briefly held by police last week after a drunken night out in Rome's Trastevere district.

Police said the five men clambered into a taxi even though the driver objected, telling them the cab was only licensed to carry four passengers.

The driver stopped another taxi and two of the passengers switched cars. Rios, his coach and the ATP official remained in the first taxi.

During the trip, the three fooled around and allegedly hit the driver, police said. Rios then attacked two officers who were called to the scene to restore order.

But he barely put a foot wrong on Monday on the way to a 6-4 6-4 victory that put him into the second round of the $2.95 million tournament.

"You've got to look forward," the Chilean said. "(Last week) was a bad situation... and things could have been avoided, but now I just want to look forward. I want to get on with playing good tennis now."

CLASS APART
Agassi looked a class apart from the player who lost in the first round to Calatrava in Rome last week as he took Sanguinetti to task.

"I had put in a lot of practice since that match last week and so I was anxious to play," he said.

"Looking back to last week I pressed a little too hard? playing on clay is different and I am pleased with my performance today."

Henman, though, was less than pleased after his defeat at the hands of Burgsmueller.

"I couldn't have felt better coming into this match and I couldn't have played worse. I am staggered, it was appalling," the Briton said.

Spain's Alberto Martin made full use of his last-minute lucky-loser entry into the tournament by beating three-times champion Andrei Medvedev of the Ukraine in the first round.

Martin, who came into the draw on Monday morning after German Alexander Popp withdrew with a viral infection, crushed the 1999 French Open finalist 6-3 6-0.

Martin, who lost in the final round of qualifying on Sunday to Argentine Agustin Calleri, will play compatriot Calatrava in the second round.

American Todd Martin showed a welcome return to form when he beat 13th-seeded Swede Thomas Enqvist 6-2 7-6, while Levy easily defeated Anthony Dupuis 6-2 6-3.

In other action Roger Federer, seeded 16th, fell to Argentine Franco Squillari while 12th seed Sebastien Grosjean needed three sets to get past Jonas Bjorkman 6-2 3-6 6-0.