Sampras advances; Safin crashes out

MIAMI, MARCH 24. Pete Sampras launched his defence of the tennis Masters Series title here with a three-set victory over Germany's Nicolas Kiefer on Friday. Sampras, seeded fourth, won 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to set up a clash with us up-and-comer Andy Roddick.

Russian Marat Safin, the man who beat Sampras in the U.S. Open final last year, struggled again with his aching back in his opening match, falling in the second-round encounter to unheralded Spaniard Juan Balcells, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Safin, the second seed, was followed out of the tournament by ninth-seeded Briton Tim Henman, a 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 loser to French veteran Fabrice Santoro. Seventh-seeded Australian Lleyton Hewitt fared much better with a 6-3, 6-3 dismantling of Jacobo Diaz of Spain.

It was another disappointment for Safin, who has been plagued by back problems since the semifinals in Dubai last month. He also lost his first-round match at the Indian Wells Masters Series last week.

``To be honest, I played because of the rules the ATP makes,'' Safin said. ``You have to play all the Masters Series otherwise you have no points. So that's why I am playing. That's why I tried in Indian Wells and here''.

Safin added: ''now I will go back to Europe and try to get some treatment because it can't go on like this. You cannot play against these guys without serve. It's ridiculous what I made today. To get rid of the problem it will take up to one month, even more,`` Safin predicted. ''They made me play Indian Wells and Key Biscayne and now I don't know when I am going to be ready. I don't know if I'll be ok for Monte Carlo.``

Roddick, the top junior in the world last year, blasted former world number one Marcelo Rios of Chile 6-4, 6-1. But Sampras, the 13-time Grand Slam champion, warned that Roddick shouldn't be expecting to implement a changing of the guard in US tennis just yet.

''As for Andy Roddick, we trained together, but I haven't really seen him play,`` Sampras said. ''He played Rios and it seems he just blew him off the court. I hope I'll play a little better. He will have his time in the future. He will just have to wait a couple of more days.``

Santoro overcame Henman turning the tables on a player who had dominated him in four previous meetings. ''He certainly played well and deserved to win,`` Henman said. ''His consistency, the way he passed when I came to the net, he was the better player on the day. I Wouldn't sit here and profess I played my best match . But those are the ones you've got to try and Get through somehow''.

``He is difficult to play, no question,'' Henman added of the Frenchman. ``He's got so many shots. You never quite know what to expect. He is very solid from the baseline and moves well. But having said that, I obviously had a game plan to beat him and was a tie-break away from doing that.''

Also advancing to the fourth round were fifth-seeded Russian Yevgeni Kafelnikov, Spanish 12Th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, Sweden's Thomas Enqvist and France's Sebastian Grosjean, a finalist here two years ago.

On the women's side, top seed Martina Hingis and third seed Venus Williams eased into the third round. Hingis cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Italy's Rita Grande and William made similarly quick work of Miriam Oremans of The Netherlands, 6-2, 6-0.

Williams wore a bandage on her right knee, but appeared unaffected by tendinitis which was the reason given for her forfeit to younger sister Serena in the semifinals at Indian Wells a week ago. ``My knee felt much better,'' the elder Williams said. `` Fortunately, I didn't have to run too hard or run too fast.''

''I'm feeling good,`` she added, insisting that she would relish a chance to take on her sister. ''Really I want the best for Serena and I want the best for myself too. But hopefully we'll be both in the final. That's what we like. We did once here before''

The results:

Men's singles: Pete Sampras bt Nicolas Kiefer 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Juan Balcells bt Marat Safin 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; Fabrice Santoro bt Tim Henman 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; Lleyton Hewitt bt Jacobo Diaz 6-3, 6- 3; Nicolas Lapentti bt Cecil Mamiit 6-1, 6- 3; Guillermo Coria bt Franco Squillari 6-4, 6-2; Sebastien Grosjean bt Max Mirnyi 4-6, 7-5, 6-2; Andrei Pavel bt Andreas Vinciguerra 6-3, 6-1; Andy Roddick bt Marcelo Rios 6-4, 6-1; Yevgeny Kafelnikov bt Albert Costa 7-6 (8-6), 6-3; Gaston Gaudio bt Jan Siemerink 7-6 (7-5), 6-2; Bohdan Ulirach bt Wayne Ferreira 5-7, 6-4, 6-3; Juan Carlos Ferrero bt Andrei Stoliarov 6-4, 6-1; Thomas Enqvist bt Alex Calatrava 6-3, 6-2; Andrew Illie lost to Jan-Michael Gambill 7-6 (9-7), 6-7 (6-8), 3-6; Jonas Bjorkman bt Nicolas Escude 7-5, 6-4.

Women's singles: Martina Hingis bt Rita Grande 6-2, 6-2; Tatiana Panova bt Jill Craybas 6-3, 7-5; Magui Serna bt Andrea Glass 6-3, 6-2; Amy Frazier bt Angeles Montolio 2-6, 6-2, 7-5; Anke Huber bt Denis Chladkova 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7- 2); Anne Kremer bt Marlene Weingartner 6-4, 5-7, 6-3; Henrieta Nagyova bt Stephanie Foretz 3-6, 6-4, 6-4; Nathalie Tauziat bt Tatiana Perebiynis 6-2, 7-6 (7-3); Venus Williams bt Miriam Oremans 6-2, 6-0; Sandra Cacic bt Patty Schnyder 6-2, 6-4; Tathiana Garbin bt Elena Likhovtseva 6- 2, 6-3; Justine Henin bt Elena Bovina 6-2, 6-2; Marta Marrero bt Magdalena Maleeva 6-4, 6- 3; Jelena Dokic bt Miroslava Vavrinec 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Iva Majoli bt Kristina Brandi 6-4, 6-4; Amanda Coetzer bt Marissa Irvin 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3.

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