World number one Pete Sampras' US Open triumph is a huge boost to October's Marlboro Championships at Victoria Park, according to tournament director Brian Catton. Sampras defeated Michael Chang in straight sets to win the title on Monday morning, and joins fifth-ranked Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the French Open winner, as the two reigning Grand Slam champions among the 12-man field to compete in the $5.64-million event from October 15-20. Also playing is Austria's world number three Thomas Muster, who is one of three players - along with Sampras and Andre Agassi - who have held the world number one ranking this year. 'We were hoping that Sampras would win the US Open because it would add something extra to the tournament,' said Catton. 'We have surpassed all previous expectations. It was our original intention to secure a number of the world's top players and in this we achieved unprecedented success by bringing Sampras, Muster and Kafelnikov to Hong Kong. 'The remainder of the field was to be comprised of some of the most entertaining players ranked between 20 and 50 together with rising stars. This is a combination which cannot fail to provide the finest in competitive tennis.' With Sampras, Muster and Kafelnikov ranked in the top 10, the next highest-ranked player is 30th-ranked American Richey Reneberg, who is likely to be named as fourth seed. Completing the field are Zimbabwe's Byron Black (ranked 47), Australian Patrick Rafter (54), Swede Jonas Bjorkman (56), American Vincent Spadea (64), Dane Kenneth Carlsen (67), American Michael Joyce (86), South African Neville Godwin (100) and Canadian Grant Connell, who is ranked third in doubles. Bjorkman and Rafter have reached the final of Hong Kong's Salem Open in past years, both of them losing to Chang. Spadea, 22, will be remembered for his gritty performance against Chang in the US Open third round when he was leading two sets to one and serving for the match. Chang fought back to win the match in five sets. The 23-year-old Joyce has had two good results, defeating former Wimbledon champion Michael Stich in Key Biscayne last year as well as a victory over Jim Courier. Godwin's claim to fame so far is his Wimbledon serve which put an end to Boris Becker's All-England hopes this year. Godwin was Becker's opponent when the German injured his wrist returning a serve and was forced to concede the match. Becker has not played since. The Marlboro Championships will stick with its normal format of a singles and doubles tournament.
