Sampras, Hewitt bite the dust

Ossian Shine

Pete Sampras's bid for a record eighth Wimbledon crown was destroyed on Monday when the top-seeded American fell in five dramatic sets to Swiss teenager Roger Federer in the fourth round.

Sampras had been beaten just once in eight years at the world's most prestigious tournament, amassing a record-equalling seven men's crowns between 1993 and 2000, but his luck finally ran out as he lost 7-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 on Centre Court.

"I'm just really disappointed but I lost to a really great player out there.

"I had my chances but he was great. His demeanour on the court was pretty much like mine and he doesn't have any holes in his game... he is a great athlete.

"It wasn't going to last forever, nothing is going to last forever," Sampras said.

There was another upset when Nicolas Escude, the French 24th seed, picked off his second Top Ten seed in two days, as he finished off fifth-seed Lleyton Hewitt's fourteen game winning streak on grass, coming through in five sets 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

On Sunday, Escude knocked out ninth seed compatriot Sebastien Grosjean in four sets. He was made to work much harder on Court 2 on Monday, especially at the end when Hewitt came back from 5-1 to 5-4. However, he kept his cool to cause the second big upset of the day.

Last year's victory saw Sampras rack up a record 13th Grand Slam title but he was simply outfought on Monday in a nerveless display from 19-year-old Federer.

Sampras had never lost a five-set match at Wimbledon and looked as though he had saved himself when he won the fourth set in a tiebreak.

FOREHAND RETURN But 15th seed Federer, junior Wimbledon champion in 1998, broke Sampras on his first matchpoint in the deciding set with a forehand return before sinking to his knees on the court Sampras calls his "backyard".

Federer, a first round loser here in 1999 and 2000, will play either British sixth seed Tim Henman or American 23rd seed Todd Martin who clash later on Monday.

Second seed and 1992 champion Andre Agassi made no mistake, beating German 19th seed Nicolas Kiefer 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 while three-times runner-up Goran Ivanisevic also thundered into the quarters.

Last year's men's finalist Pat Rafter of Australia, seeded three, took a while to get going before beating Russian Wimbledon debutant Mikhail Youzhny 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5.

Ivanisevic showed Britain's Greg Rusedski no mercy, pummelling his fellow left-hander 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 with brutal tennis based on a ferocious serve.

In the women's draw, sisters Venus and Serena Williams marched into the quarters with emphatic victories.

Serena set up a fascinating quarter-final with Jennifer Capriati when she crushed Bulgaria's Magdalena Maleeva 6-1, 6-2, while defending champion Venus also marched through in straight sets to prove once again that power works best on grass.

Ivanisevic and Rusedski's "battle of the big guns" turned into a one-sided massacre as the Croatian bludgeoned the British number two with 22 aces in 90 minutes.

POWER AND POISE

Croatian Ivanisevic needed a wild card to play this year, but he was in no mood to sully his 8-0 record against Rusedski coming into the match and played with power and poise to advance in his 14th Wimbledon visit.

He meets Russian fourth seed Marat Safin in the quarter-finals.

"You can expect anything... a lot of good things," Ivanisevic said. "I'm playing maybe the best tennis I ever played at Wimbledon.

"I don't know where I'm walking but I'm walking... maybe it is not on the ground, maybe I am flying."

U.S. Open champion Safin continued his stealthy march through the draw, finding his best 2000 form to thump Frenchman Arnaud Clement 6-0, 6-3, 6-2.

"I've found my game," said Safin, still looking for a title in 2001. "I can serve well, I have good volley, good baseline and I am starting to return well."

Women's fifth seed Serena Williams, beaten in last year's semifinals by big sister Venus, raced through her match in 48 minutes leaving the 12th-seeded Maleeva rooted to the spot with the power of her ground strokes.

"Right now I am ready and I'm really focused," said Williams, beaten by Capriati in the quarter-finals of the French Open last month. "I just think I might deserve this."

STAY CALM

Elder sister and second seed Venus also looked in a hurry to get home, beating Russian Nadejda Petrova 6-2, 6-0.

She plays 1998 runner-up Nathalie Tauziat in the next round.

"I'm just going to have to stay calm and stick to my guns," Venus said. "Not get rushed at all.

"I think my groundstrokes were pretty good and my movement much better today."

Capriati, seeking her third Grand Slam crown of the year, was no less imperious in her victory over 15th-seeded Frenchwoman Sandrine Testud, winning 6-1, 6-2 in 58 minutes.

"This was the best I have played in the tournament yet. I just have confidence...just winning matches over and over," Capriati said.

The man Rafter will meet in the last eight, 10th seed Thomas Enqvist, also suffered a shaky start losing the first nine points against Argentina's Guillermo Canas before going through 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.

Capriati's victim in the French Open final last month, Belgian Kim Clijsters, had to work harder to grind out a 7-6, 7-6 victory over American Meghann Shaughnessy.

Clijsters meets Lindsay Davenport, the 1999 champion, in the quarter-finals after the third seed beat Yugoslav teenager Jelena Dokic on Centre Court 7-5, 6-4.

The lofty American, who has been hampered by a knee injury for the last three months, used her heavy serve and thundering forehand to subdue 18-year-old Dokic, who lost to the American in the semifinals last year.

"I'm just going to try to out-hit the other girls," Davenport said. "It's always fun playing the young ones... I like a player who hits the ball flat and hard off both sides so I think I am going to enjoy this one."