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Men's Tennis
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Women's Tennis
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| Tuesday, June 19 |
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| Sampras meets Clavet in Wimbledon opener Associated Press | |||
WIMBLEDON, England -- Wimbledon's new seeding system,
designed to reduce the chance of early round upsets, didn't help
Andre Agassi in Tuesday's draw.
Pete Sampras, bidding for his eighth Wimbledon title, and
defending women's champion Venus Williams will be heavily favored
in their opening matches. So will Jennifer Capriati, who has swept
the year's first two Grand Slam tournaments.
But the second-seeded Agassi must start against Peter Wessels, a
dangerous Dutchman who is ranked only 91st but has shown an
affinity for grass-court tennis in the last week. Wessels beat U.S.
Open champion Marat Safin at the Queen's Club tournament last
Wednesday and upset last year's Wimbledon runner-up, Patrick
Rafter, at the Heineken Trophy event Tuesday.
Wimbledon doubled the number of seeded players this year to 32
men and 32 women, a change adopted by all four Grand Slam
tournaments to protect star players from tough early matchups. None
of Wimbledon's 10 top-seeded players will face an opponent ranked
higher than 53rd in the first round.
As the defending men's champion, Sampras will play the opening
match on Centre Court for the eighth time Monday when he faces
Francisco Clavet, a Spaniard more comfortable on clay.
The toughest potential obstacles in Sampras' part of the draw
are sixth-seeded Tim Henman of Britain and No. 23 Todd Martin of
the United States, both possible quarterfinal opponents.
In the women's draw, top-seeded Martina Hingis will open against
Spaniard Virginia Ruano Pascual. Williams, seeded second, will play
Shinobu Asagoe of Japan.
Capriati, the Australian and French Open champion who is seeded
fourth, begins against Maria Alejan Vento of Venezuela.
On the men's side, Albert Costa of Spain became the third top
clay-court player to say he'll skip the tournament. Costa pulled
out Tuesday, saying he needs dental surgery. Three-time French Open
champion Gustavo Kuerten and French Open runner-up Alex Corretja
earlier said they'll miss the event because of injuries.
Eighth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, who threatened to
sit out Wimbledon, decided to play the event for the first time.
He'll face a qualifier in the first round.
Three dangerous floaters in the men's field -- American
18-year-old Andy Roddick, Briton Greg Rusedski and Croatian Goran
Ivanisevic -- are in the same quarter of the draw with the
fourth-seeded Safin.
Ivanisevic, a three-time Wimbledon runner-up who made the
tournament as a wild card, could face Roddick in the third round.
Other possible quarterfinal matchups: Agassi against No. 5
Lleyton Hewittt of Australia, who won the Queen's Club tournament
Sunday; and No. 3 Patrick Rafter, runner-up a year ago, against No.
7 Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia.
Also in Rafter's quarter of the draw are big servers Max Mirnyi
of Belarus and Wayne Arthurs of Australia, as well as No. 16
Valdimir Voltchkov, who reached the semifinals last year.
Agassi's quarter of the draw includes the Frenchman who beat him
at Roland Garros two weeks ago, No. 9 Sebastien Grosjean.
Potential women's quarterfinal matchups: Hingis against Justine
Henin of Belgium; Venus Williams against No. 6 Amelie Mauresmo of
France; Capriati against No. 5 Serena Williams; and No. 3 Lindsay
Davenport against French Open runner-up Kim Clijsters, a Belgian
seeded No. 7.
Venus Williams couldn't meet her sister or Capriati until the
final.
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ALSO SEE Wimbledon ignores rankings; Sampras top seed Seles, Kournikova join Wimbledon no-show list Wimbledon seeds | |
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