Pete Sampras received attention for his injured back then swept into the Paris Open semi-finals yesterday with a straight sets win over Australian Mark Philippoussis. The victory boosted his chances of finishing the year as world number one for a record sixth time.
The American had been expected to withdraw from the tournament or lose after his clumsy third round triumph over little-known Frenchman Jerome Golmard on Thursday. In that match, Sampras needed massage three times for back problems and he again received treatment before his quarter-final against big serving US Open finalist Philippoussis.
The 6-3 6-3 result seemed to show that Sampras was no longer suffering unduly. It was certainly a timely recovery on a day when his two rivals for the top spot found trouble.
World number two Marcelo Rios was humbled 6-3 6-2 by inform Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov. The defeat cost the Chilean crucial points in his challenge to Sampras.
Ironically, Rios had become the only player with a realistic chance of stopping Sampras from achieving his goal after world number three Patrick Rafter of Australia announced he was putting an end to his season because of a knee injury.
Tomorrow, in the opening semi-final, Sampras will meet Todd Martin, who surprisingly beat fellow American Andre Agassi 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. That put an end to any lingering hopes Agassi might have had of taking the number one slot himself.
Rios was never in contention against Kafelnikov. The Russian, runner-up in Stuttgart, Germany, last week, was in control throughout as the Chilean made many unforced errors. As moody as ever, Rios threw his racket to the ground, kicked the ball a couple of times and was jeered throughout by the Parisian crowd. His main achievement was saving a match point before Kafelnikov finished him off with an ace.
Britain's Greg Rusedski kept up his hopes of making Hanover for the second successive year by crushing Swede Magnus Gustafsson 6-3, 6-2 in 53 minutes to reach the semi-finals
Steffi Graf's quarter-final victory in the Leipzig Open in Germany yesterday has made her the all-time career prize money earnings leader in women's sport.
Graf's straight sets win over Anne-Gaelle Sidot in the quarterfinals took her total earnings to £12.251 million, surpassing previous leader Martina Navratilova's 13-year-old mark. Graf said: "Such records do show what you have achieved but they are not all that important to me."
The top 10 is comprised solely of tennis players, with former world number one Martina Hingis in ninth position.
