Aug. 19, 1999
INDIANAPOLIS -- Pete Sampras' 24-match winning streak ended abruptly
Friday when the world's top-ranked player retired from the RCA Championships
with a hip injury.
SportsLine wire reports
His retirement capped a day in which three of the top four seeds were
eliminated from the tournament, one day after second-seeded Patrick Rafter
withdrew with tendinitis in his serving shoulder.
Related Links:
Rafter withdraws from tourney with tendinitis T O P N E W S
Earlier Friday, Sebastien Grosjean of France, ranked 32nd by the ATP, upset third-seeded Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, 6-4, 6-3. Carlos Moya of Spain, the fourth seed, was eliminated 6-1, 6-2 by 11th-seeded Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador in a night match.
Sampras, 28, suffered a strained right hip flexor in the second set of his quarterfinal match with fellow American Vincent Spadea. The injury came when he performed tennis' version of a basketball dunk by leaping high into the air to slam a lob past Spadea for the final point of the third game.
Sampras lost the first set 6-4 and won the second set 6-3. But he retired after consulting his trainer before the start of the third set. He could not remember the last time he retired during a match.
"I felt it after that overhead," said Sampras, who had won his last four tournaments. "I kind of felt it go. I didn't feel it on the shot, just after it. As the match went on, it just got a little bit worse and worse, and I didn't really feel like making it worse by continuing to play."
Sampras, who was planning to rest next week in preparation for the U.S. Open at the end of the month, said he suffered groin problems before. He said rest and treatments should put him back on the practice courts by midweek.
"The last thing I want to do is rip it, and put me out for a while," Sampras said.
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| Pete Sampras injures his hip on this overhand smash at the RCA Championships.(AP) |
Sampras last retired from a match Nov. 28, 1997, the result of a pulled calf muscle during Davis Cup play against Sweden.
Spadea, ranked 34th by the ATP, will play his first semifinal match of the year against Grosjean.
"You just feel very awkward," Spadea said. "It's something that's very unusual and happens once in a blue moon. So you don't know really how to adjust.
"But I was hitting the ball pretty well, even though I lost the second set. It was going to be a tough match, if he was able to continue in the third."
Lapentti will play Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands in Saturday's other semifinal. Siemerink did not play Friday, advancing as a result of Rafter's retirement.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 1999, The Associated Press, All Right