The Marlboro Championships were last night left without a single player in the top 10 after world number one Pete Sampras and world number three Thomas Muster were both knocked out. Top-seeded Sampras, who said he will return to Hong Kong in spring for the Salem Open, lost to Zimbabwe's Byron Black 6-4, 6-3 in the Silver Group last night. Black won the group and today faces Australian Patrick Rafter in the semi-finals.
The tournament's second seed Muster, who suffered a recurrence of an old hip injury, was the first to make an exit at Victoria Park yesterday afternoon when he was beaten 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 by Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman. Bjorkman now takes on American Richey Reneberg, who advanced to the last four despite losing 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 to compatriot Vincent Spadea. The 25-year-old Sampras was at a loss to explain his form against the fired-up Black, who scored his first victory over the American last night.
'I just did not play well,' said Sampras. 'It was one of those days when I just could not get going. 'It was heavy conditions. I was setting up points pretty well but could not put them away. 'Byron played as well as he could and I was digging a hole for myself and going deeper and deeper.' Black, ranked 47 in the world, said he would cherish the victory over Sampras, even though, as an exhibition event, there were no ATP computer ranking points at stake. 'I wish there were points in this tournament,' said Black.
'I was actually thinking about that during the match, but I think a win is a win. I can say that I beat Pete Sampras when he was number one. 'I thought going into the match that I would get my butt kicked but I really went for it. 'I think the difference was that I believed I could win and stay focused and relaxed.' Muster hurt his hip in the second set against Bjorkman and is hoping he will recover in time for next week's Super 9 tournament in Stuttgart. 'I went for a drop shot and that's when it happened,' said Muster. 'It was the same injury which forced me to pull out of Wimbledon.
'Also, I've had the 'flu and did not fully adjust to the time change here. But Jonas had a very good match. I thought I had a chance to win it. 'I'm still hoping to play in Stuttgart. With my injury, I hope I don't have to play until Wednesday. That will give me more time to recover.' Bjorkman, the world number 53, said he did not feel the injury had affected Muster during the match. 'Thomas is a tough player,' he said.
'He was probably thinking about it in between points, but he is the kind of player who never gives up.' Reneberg, the highest-ranked player left in the tournament at 27, went into his match against Spadea knowing that he needed only to win one set to advance to the semi-finals. But at one stage, it looked like even that would be an impossible task as Spadea raced to a 6-1 first-set win.
