NEW YORK -- Surrounded by 23,000 empty seats and buffeted by fierce winds, a no-nonsense Pete Sampras put an end to the U.S. Open fairy tale of South Korea's Hyung-Taik Lee.

	Korea's Hyung-Taik Lee never appeared nervous against Pete Sampras on Monday, although Lee was defeated in straight sets.

Sampras, who holds a record 13 Grand Slam titles, found himself under extraordinary pressure Monday in the first set against Lee, a qualifier playing in his first major tournament.

A nearly full house of fans at Arthur Ashe Stadium delighted in Lee's nervy, sturdy play amid the sweltering heat and humidity when play began during the afternoon. But after a cloudburst suspended the match with Sampras leading 7-6 (4), 3-1, it took 2½ hours before play resumed in chilly, windy weather.

The stadium was virtually empty then, except for a couple hundred fans as the night crowd drifted in, and Sampras was in no mood to let the party linger much longer. He unleashed a 132 mph ace on his first serve and closed out the set by breaking Lee at love.

Lee, a strong, quick baseliner who was unruffled by Sampras or the occasion, coped better with the four-time champion and the swirling breezes in the third set before finally going down 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4.

Sampras advanced to the quarterfinals, where he will play Richard Krajicek, a 7-6 (11), 6-4, 6-1 victor over Dominik Hrbaty. Krajicek, the only player to beat Sampras at Wimbledon during the past eight years, holds a 6-3 lifetime advantage over him.

Unseeded Carlos Moya upset fellow-Spaniard Alex Corretja, the eighth seed, in four sets to advance to the fourth round of the U.S. Open.

Moya, who defeated Corretja in the 1998 French Open final, completed a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory in a third-round match suspended by rain Sunday with Moya leading, 7-6, 2-1.

The victory for the 55th-ranked Moya put him into the fourth round against American Todd Martin, the 1999 Open runner-up, who advanced past 10th-seeded Cedric Pioline.

As Sampras advances, Lee won't be quickly forgotten.

"He's a guy who gives me a lot of trouble," Sampras said.

Lee gave Sampras a lot of trouble at the start. Sampras was impressed not only by Lee's return of serve, but his ability to stay calm in the biggest match of his life.

"He was cool as a cucumber," Sampras said. "He's a good player. ... He wasn't overwhelmed by the situation, playing me on center court. He came out and held his own.

"But after I got the first set, I started to settle down and started playing a little bit better and just went from there to deal with the rain. And then coming back, dealing with the wind and the cool weather, it was a completely different match from the first set."

Sampras fended off three break points in the sixth game of the first set and won the tiebreaker only when Lee inadvertently touched the net with his foot as he rushed in for an overhead on a short half-volley by Sampras. Lee thought no one would notice. Sampras didn't, but the umpire did.

"After I missed that, I was a feeling a little down and I lost a lot of momentum," Lee said through an interpreter. "I wasn't myself at the beginning of the second set."

Still, Lee thought the tale of the tiebreaker and his foot touching the net might be a good story for his grandchildren some day.

"I think I would exaggerate a little bit, and say I was winning and I touched the net and I happened to lose," he said with a laugh.

Lee didn't yield on his serve until a marathon game in the second set. Trailing 1-0, Lee finally was broken on the eighth break point and 22nd point of the game when he hit a backhand wide off a strong forehand by Sampras. It was the 11th break point of the match for Sampras, and the first he was able to capitalize on.

Lee said he was impressed by Sampras' serve, his calm composure and his volleys, but wasn't overawed. In fact, he came away with his confidence boosted.

"At first, when I would play a ranked player, I would be more concerned with his number and I would be a little afraid and I might consider myself a coward," Lee said. "But after this experience, I feel that I can play anyone on any given day. I've earned that kind of confidence."

When the matches resumed after the rain delays, Todd Martin finished off a 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-2 victory over 10th-seeded Cedric Pioline.

Martin won two sets and was leading in the third Sunday night before rain postponed the end of the match.