Posted on: October 22nd, 2010
Sampras defeats Forget 7-6(9), 6-3 to Lead Chengdu Round Robin Group
- petepageCHENGDU, China. October 22, 2010 – "Pistol Pete" brought his ammunition on Day Two of the Chengdu Open, defeating Frenchman Guy Forget 7-6(9), 6-3, and treating fans to the close contest they craved. Punctuating points with winners, the players served their way into a tiebreaker, in which they traded six aces and five service winners. Sampras chipped a short backhand return at 10-9, luring Forget up to net before unhooking a sharply-angled backhand passing shot to capture the first set. Sampras' game really started clicking in the second set as he carved volleys and cranked ground strokes into both the corners.
"I thought we both played pretty well," Sampras said after the match. "Guy has always given me problems. He's beaten me a number of times; the lefty serve is very tough to play, especially a little bit at altitude, the ball kicks up very high to my backhand. And Guy, you can tell he's been playing, he looks very fit. The first set could have gone either way. I had some chances, I had some break points there -- didn't convert-- and then, when you get into a tiebreaker anything can happen. He played a great game to break me back in the second set. It was good tennis. I was happy with the way I played, but to play Guy is very tough. Never really felt comfortable out there."
Sampras may not have felt comfortable, but his game looked great. The shot-making from both sides left the fans wanting for instant replay.
On the final day of round robin play, Sampras will face young-gun Paradorn Srichaphan (THA), who picked up his first win in Chengdu by defeating Pat Cash (AUS) 6-4, 5-7, 10-5 (Champions Tiebreak).
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