| | NEW YORK -- In the 1999 ATP Tour Player Guide, nothing
stands between Pete Sampras and young Marat Safin. They are on
opposite pages, their faces staring at each other.
Now, they'll be staring at each other across the net at the U.S.
Open, where Safin could provide problems for the top-seeded Sampras
in his bid for a record-breaking 13th Grand Slam tournament men's
singles title.
The 19-year-old Russian was drawn Wednesday to be Sampras' first
hurdle as the year's final Grand Slam event begins its two-week run
Monday at the National Tennis Center.
Martina Hingis, the top-seeded player in the women's field, will
face Kveta Hrdlickova of the Czech Republic in her opening match.
Lindsay Davenport, seeded No. 2, will begin the defense of her
women's singles title against fellow American Corina Morariu.
Davenport, somewhat of a surprise when she won a year ago, added
the Wimbledon crown earlier this summer.
The Williams sisters -- third-seeded Venus and No. 7 Serena -- are
playing in opposite halves of the draw and could meet in the title
match, as they did earlier this year in Key Biscayne, Fla. Venus,
who has never lost to her younger sister, opens against a
qualifier, while Serena will play Kimberly Po, who won their only
other meeting.
Australian Pat Rafter has won the last two men's singles on the
hard courts at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Seeded fourth this year, Rafter
also will have his hands full with his first opponent, Cedric
Pioline of France. Pioline reached the U.S. Open final in 1993 and
the Wimbledon title match in 1997.
Seeded No. 2 on the men's side is Andre Agassi, winner of the
French Open in June and runner-up to Sampras at Wimbledon. He will
begin the chase for his second U.S. Open crown against Sweden's
Nicklas Kulti.
Sampras, 28, is the No. 1 seed at the U.S Open for a fifth time,
tying the Open Era record of John McEnroe from 1981-85. And Sampras
is seeking to break the record he shares with former Australian
star Roy Emerson for most Grand Slam men's singles titles. He tied
Emerson in July when he won his sixth Wimbledon crown.
The 6-foot-4 Safin made headlines last year when, in the
decisive fifth Davis Cup match between Russia and the United
States, he battled Jim Courier for five sets before falling. He
then made his Grand Slam tournament debut at the French Open in
1998, where reached the fourth round, then duplicated that showing
at the U.S. Open a year ago.
After missing the early part of the year, Sampras was riding a
24-match winning streak when he retired from a match last week in
Indianapolis with a strained hip flexor.
Rafter also is coming into the year's final Grand Slam event off
an injury. He retired from his match in Indianapolis and pulled out
of a tournament this week because of tendinitis in his right
shoulder.
Third-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Safin's Davis Cup teammate who
won the Australian Open in January, will take on Alberto Martin of
Spain in his opener. After a stretch in which he lost seven
consecutive matches, Kafelnikov has regained the all-court game
that took him to No. 1 in the world, albeit briefly.
Sampras and Agassi are seeded to meet in the U.S. Open final,
which would be the third time in America's premier tennis
tournament. They also met in the Wimbledon final in July and in the
Australian Open title match in 1995. Agassi won Down Under, with
Sampras capturing the other three meetings with a Grand Slam title
on the line.
If the seedings hold, fourth-round pairings would pit Sampras
against 16th-seeded Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador, No. 7 Todd Martin
against No. 9 Greg Rusedski of Britain, Rafter against No. 14 Tommy
Haas of Germany, No. 5 Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil against No. 11
Mark Philippoussis of Australia, No. 6 Tim Henman of Britain
against No. 12 Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands, Kafelnikov
against No. 13 Alex Corretja of Spain, No. 8 Carlos Moya of Spain
against No. 10 Marcelo Rios of Chile, and Agassi against No. 15
Nicolas Kiefer of Germany.
In the women's draw, fourth-round pairings could pit Hingis
against No. 10 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain, No. 8 Jana Novotna
of the Czech Republic against No. 15 Amelie Mauresmo of France,
Venus Williams against No. 13 Dominique Van Roost of France, No. 6
Amanda Coetzer of South Africa against No. 12 Barbara Schett of
Austria, Serena Williams against No. 16 Conchita Martinez of Spain,
No. 4 Monica Seles against No. 11 Nathalie Tauziat of France, No. 5
Mary Pierce against No. 14 Sandrine Testud in an all-French match,
and Davenport against No. 9 Julie Halard-Decugis of France.
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