Sampras socks it to qualifier at Garros

Sitting on his chair in socks dyed orange by clay and sweat, Pete Sampras looked a sorry sight as he tried to work out how to salvage his French Open dream during the fifth set changeovers in his dramatic first-round match at Roland Garros on Tuesday.

The American's glazed eyes suggested his mind was far away, perhaps dreaming of that green and pleasant land called Wimbledon, where the grass is fast and clean and the first serves do not come back.

But far from throwing in his perspiration-soaked towel, the 29-year-old American showed grit and determination to save three match points and complete a traumatic 6-3 4-6 6-2 3-6 8-6 victory against gutsy French qualifier Cedric Kauffmann on the Court Suzanne Lenglen.

"It's a challenge but I'm not going to hand it over to these guys," said Sampras, who has never reached the final at Roland Garros. He lost in the first round last year and has not gone beyond the third round since 1996.

"There's no reason to give up, this is the one title that's given me the most problems, I'm still alive, I'm still kicking and as long as I'm in the tournament I'm a threat.

"I thought I was down and out there for a second," added the fifth seed, who is longing to complete his Grand Slam collection by winning on his least favourite surface.

"I don't think I played the right way. I stayed back too much. I got into those long gruelling rallies which is not my strength.

"But I hung in there at the right moments. You tell yourself you are struggling a bit. At that point I told myself to be a bit more aggressive.

"It clicked at the right time. Today was a struggle but all you can say is I got through it and I am still alive."

CHALLENGER CIRCUIT

Reminded that 25-year-old Kauffmann had lost a match to Gene Meyer, a former Wimbledon and US Open quarter-finalist some 20 years his senior in January, Sampras said: "That makes me feel very good!"

But he was full of praise for an opponent who had only played one Grand Slam match before -- at last year's U.S. Open -- and is usually found on the challenger circuit.

He was especially impressed by the astonishing smash Kauffmann produced to send a Sampras overhead back past the American's ears to change the course of the second set.

"That was a big point, it changed the whole momentum," said Sampras. "It was a crucial moment in the match, you've got to give him credit.

"I'd never seen him play, I heard a little about him, he's got great wheels, a good counterpuncher. He played great he made me work really hard."

Sampras knows he will have to improve quickly if he is to progress any further on his least favourite surface -- his next opponent is Galo Blanco, one of Spain's clay specialists.

"I've got to sharpen up a little bit," he said. "There's no question I feel I can raise it a little bit which I'll have to do.

"An attacking player can do well here, the last one was (Stefan) Edberg some time ago but it can be done.

"Grass court tennis, hard court tennis is all instinct. This just takes a bit more working out."