INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Only one day after Gustavo
Kuerten said his game was approaching the "in the zone" level,
the top-seeded Brazilian was upset by American Jan-Michael
Gambill 7-6, 6-4 in the third round at the Tennis Masters
Series-Indian Wells tournament Thursday.
|  | | Jan-Michael Gambill's recent hot play continues as he upset top-seed Gustavo Kuerten 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. |
"Sometimes a match is so close that you get to a stage that
everything that happens wrong is crucial," said Kuerten, who was
banging his racket to the ground in frustration during the match.
"That's what happens this time," added the French Open
champion who had won his two previous tournaments.
Gambill, who is coming off a title last week at Delray Beach,
served with precision, belting 10 aces in the one hour, 38 minute
match in which Kuerten struggled to find his form.
The American earned a quarterfinal clash with Olympic
champion and seventh seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia.
In the final match of the night, third-seed Pete Sampras
survived a tight second set challenge to dispatch 16th-seeded
Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 6-1 7-6 (9-7) to join Gambill in the
quarterfinals.
With the victory over Grosjean, Sampras set up his first
meeting with Australian Patrick Rafter since their classic
Wimbledon final last year, when Sampras captured his record 13th
Grand Slam title.
"Pat's one of the best serve and volleyers we have in the
game," Sampras said of the 11th seed. "It's going to come down to
our return of serves and who puts a little bit more pressure on
the other guy.
"(He's) kind of the last really true serve-and-volleyer we
have in the game. Hopefully, I can get through it like I did at
Wimbledon."
The other quarterfinals pit fourth-seed Andre Agassi against
Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador, while sixth-seeded Australian
Lleyton Hewitt faces Nicolas Escude of France.
Agassi and Rafter each survived tough three-set matches to
secure their spots in the round of eight.
Agassi overcame a feisty Nicolas Kiefer of Germany 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, while Rafter stormed back to oust eighth-seeded defending
champion Alex Corretja of Spain 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Tenth-seeded Briton Tim Henman was bounced by Lapentti 6-4, 6-4.
Sampras rolled through the first set, but struggled to gain
the upper hand in the second, falling behind 0-2 and 2-4 before
forcing and winning the tiebreaker to avoid a third set.
"It was a strange second set, especially early on when I got
broken, broke back, and got broken again," Sampras said.
"He got a hold of my serve. He's got one of the best returns
in the game," Sampras said of Grosjean, an Australian Open semifinalist this year.
Even the tiebreak was tough going for Sampras, who
double-faulted on his opening point to fall behind 0-2.
In the end, he won the match on his second match point when
Grosjean smacked an inside out forehand wide.
"I was pretty fortunate I was still hanging around in the
breaker," Sampras said. "It was just a game of inches out there.
A couple of points here and there, that was it."
The 19th-ranked Gambill, fresh off his second career title,
has maintained that high level of play.
"I was out there to play my game, do all I could, and I
won," Gambill said. "It felt great."
Kuerten, a hot favorite here after taking titles at Buenos
Aires and Acapulco, was inexplicably off his game.
"I didn't feel the ball at all," he said.
Even after erasing an early 5-2 deficit, Kuerten quickly fell
behind in the first set tiebreak and never really recovered.
"I did not feel comfortable with my game. Maybe he did the
right thing not to let me play as I wanted," Kuerten said.
Gambill is just riding a wave of confidence after taking his
match winning streak to seven by claiming one of the biggest
scalps in the game.
"For me to come here and play great tennis is fantastic," he
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Thursday's results
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