| | Associated Press
WIMBLEDON, England -- Pete Sampras limped from Centre Court
to a hospital, his left ankle, heel and Achilles tendon bright red
and swollen, his quest for a seventh Wimbledon title in doubt.
In as gutsy a performance as he's ever put on at Wimbledon,
Sampras endured the pain in his foot for nearly an hour before
securing a 7-6 (9), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Karol Kucera on
Wednesday.
|  | | Pete Sampras launches a serve in his match against Karol Kucera. |
Sampras called for a trainer to work on his foot at 5-2 in the
third set. When he came back out, he could barely move and put up
little resistance to Kucera's serves.
Then Sampras bore down on his
own serve, going for aces and service winners to keep from running
in rallies. At 40-0, Kucera returned a serve and Sampras launched
himself headlong for a stretch volley to close out the set in the
waning light at 8:30 p.m.
Forty minutes later, with the ball barely visible and his foot
still throbbing, Sampras hit a service winner on his fourth match
point to reach the third round.
MRI results, revealed Thursday, revealed that Sampras has acute tendinitis.
Meanwhile, third-seeded Magnus Norman of Sweden, runner-up at the French
Open this month, was stunned Wednesday by Belgian qualifier Olivier Rochus -- playing in his first tour-level event -- 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-1.
Down 5-0 in the final set, Norman handed his racket to a ball
girl who rallied with Rochus. Norman then kissed her on the cheek
and won the game, but Rochus closed the match in the next game,
basking in a standing ovation from Court 1 fans.
Rochus had played only in second-tier challenger events until
this tournament. His brother and doubles partner, Christophe, is
also in the Wimbledon draw.
Richard Krajicek, the 1996 winner and the only player to beat Pete
Sampras at Wimbledon in seven years, was ousted by South African
grass-court expert Wayne Ferreira 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
The 11th-seeded Dutchman had been considered one of the few
players capable of challenging Sampras in his bid for a seventh
title. Ferreira admitted he was lucky not to have been thrown out
for his outburst after a disputed call.
In another major upset, No. 6 Cedric Pioline, runner-up at
Wimbledon in 1997, lost 6-3, 6-3, 2-6, 3-6, 6-4 to obscure
qualifier Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus.
Meanwhile, Paul Goldstein beat Jeff Tarango 3-6, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 12-10 in a
4 hour, 11-minute match between Americans.
Tarango was kicked out of Wimbledon in 1995 after storming off
court and accusing the umpire of favoritism. On Wednesday, he
refused to shake Goldstein's hand after the match and accused him
of feigning injury when he called for a trainer late in the fifth
set.
"Did you see him miss any steps?" Tarango said. "Of course he
was faking the injury. He was fine." A shaken Goldstein said: "In no way, shape or form did I do
anything to try and gain an unfair advantage."
For Krajicek, grass has always been his best surface, and he reached
the final of the Wimbledon warmup event at Halle, Germany. But
Ferreira, who reached the Wimbledon quarters in 1994, excels on
grass, too.
Ferreira threw a tantrum after chair umpire Kim Craven overruled
a line judge to call his serve out when he was set point down in
the first set. After Krajicek won the set on the next point, Ferreira slammed
his racket on the turf, then broke it in half against his chair,
drawing a code violation from Craven. He then aimed a four-letter
outburst at the umpire that was picked up by TV microphones.
"I can't say I behaved in the right way or said the right
things," Ferreira said. "He really should have (defaulted me). I
deserved it."
Grass also had been one of Pioline's favorite surfaces. But the
Frenchman was outclassed by a player ranked No. 237.
Pioline rallied from two sets down to force a fifth set, then
went down 4-1 in the decider. He got back to 4-4, but Voltchkov
held for 5-4 and then broke to close the match. Pioline had 13 double faults and looked nothing like the player
who reached the final here three years ago, losing to Sampras.
Voltchkov reached the third round of Wimbledon in 1998 but had
gone 0-4 in Grand Slam matches since. He hadn't played a single
match on the ATP Tour this year.
By late Wednesday, seven men's and seven women's seeds -- out of 32 overall -- had been eliminated after less than three full days of play.
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