Sampras, Norman Advance in Open

N E W   Y O R K, Aug. 30, 2000 -- Pete Sampras loves to deliver a message on thefirst point of a match, and the one he sent to Justin Gimelstob—a133 mph service winner up the middle—was emphatic.

It was a serve that left no doubt that Sampras was on, thatthere would be no upset tonight in the U.S. Open asthere had been the night before when two-time champion PatrickRafter tumbled out.

Sampras kept pounding out that message, game after game, neverlosing a service game, and when he served four aces in a row in thefinal game to run his total to 13, Gimelstob was gone, 6-3, 6-1,6-3.

“It was one of those matches where everything kind ofclicked,” Sampras said. “I was keyed up. You hope it carries overfor the rest of the tournament, but it’s pretty tough to keep thatlevel up. But it can be done.”

If he can, Gimelstob thought, nobody will beat him.

‘Too Good’

“I couldn’t hang with him,” Gimelstob said. “He just playedmuch too good for me. Even when I felt like I was on the ball, itwas just a little bit out of my reach. He was moving the ballaround well and placing it well and obviously hitting it hard. Itwas pretty impressive.”

Since he turned pro four years ago, the 6-foot-5 Gimelstob hascarried the promise, or the hope, that he would be the next greatAmerican men’s player, that he would inherit Sampras’ place in thegame. Now, at 23, with nothing better than a third-round finish inmajor tournaments, and with no year-end ranking higher than No. 80,there is no reason to believe he will ever come close to that goal.

At 29, Sampras, four times the U.S. Open champ, is still capableof making Gimelstob look like an awkward amateur. Even with a bumleg at Wimbledon, he beat Gimelstob in four sets. The way he beathim this time only emphasized the gap between them.

Stormin’ Norman

Away from the antics of an abrasive tennis dad and the mutteringof fans unhappy about a new statue at the National Tennis Center,Magnus Norman labored during the afternoon like a forgotten man inpursuit of the No. 1 ranking.

For all the attention Norman commanded, he could have been aqualifier searching for his first victory and a shoe contract.

Certainly, the drama lay elsewhere.

There was Jelena Dokic’s father, Damir, getting tossed by policefrom yet another tournament, this time for berating a playerslounge cafeteria worker over the price and size of the salmon sheserved him. Bobbies kicked him out of Wimbledon in June after hewent into a drunken rage, but they let him back the next day. U.S.Open officials won’t be so lenient, banning him for the rest ofthis tournament.

There were the fans who were offended or confused by the statuein the new Arthur Ashe Commemorative Garden, a 14-foot bronze thatdoesn’t look like Ashe, doesn’t have a racket and isn’t wearing anyclothes.

There was the parade of popular players moving ahead smartly -Martina Hingis, Venus Williams, Jennifer Capriati, Monica Selesamong the women, Mark Philippoussis among the men.

Then there was Norman.

Norman projects none of the charisma of Andre Agassi, none ofthe power of Sampras, and has none of the Grand Slam titles thatthey possess.

Yet, in the quirky way the ATP Tour rankings work, Norman couldtake over the top spot in the year-end race without even winning amajor tournament. In fact, only Norman and Sampras are in positionto pass No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten, a first-round loser, when the U.S.Open ends. Agassi could win his second major of the year and stillnot be No. 1.

Norman, No. 2 in the race at the moment, took his first stepback toward the top spot he briefly held last spring, beating PaulGoldstein 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.

It was a sweet performance, filled with fine touch shots, longrallies, quick sprints, and a nice blend of groundstrokes andvolleys. Aficionados of the sport could appreciate the way Normanand Goldstein set up points, challenged each other, and played in away weekenders would love to emulate. It was a match that fanscould relate to far more than the thunderous serving of Sampras.

‘Very Confident’

For those few thousand fans who bothered to watch in mostlyempty Arthur Ashe Stadium, Norman gave them a show, hustling tochase down shots and eliciting the kind of oohs and aahs that areregularly heard when a player like Agassi or Sampras or Rafterplay.

“I’m very confident,” said Norman, who is seeded for the firsttime at the open—No. 3—and is coming off a victory in a tuneuptournament. “I feel very honored to play on the center courttoday. It’s great to be appreciated more in the States than maybesomewhere else.”

For all the top players in action, it was a day of routinesecond-round victories.

No. 1 Hingis breezed crushed Kristina Brandi 6-1, 6-1; No. 3Williams beat Kveta Hrdlickova 6-1, 6-1 in 48 minutes; No. 6 Selesbeat Anne Kremer 6-3, 6-4; No. 8 Nathalie Tauziat beat MariaAlejandra Vento 6-3, 6-1; No. 9 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario beat SonyaJeyaseelan 6-4, 6-1; No. 11 Sandrine Testud beat Iroda Tulyaganova6-4, 6-3; and No. 15 Capriati advanced 6-2, 6-2 against HenrietaNagyova.

Among the men, No. 6 Marat Safin beat Thierry Guardiola 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4; No. 10 Cedric Pioline beat Sargis Sargsian 6-3, 6-3,6-1; and No. 15 Philippoussis downed Albert Portas 6-3, 6-2, 6-3.