Agassi, Sampras have tough task at Queen’s Club

LONDON, JUNE 12: Andre Agassi returns to action for the first time since his first round capitulation to little-known Frenchman Anthony Du...

LONDON, JUNE 12: Andre Agassi returns to action for the first time since his first round capitulation to little-known Frenchman Anthony Dupuis at Roland Garros by heading the field at the $ 800,000 Queen’s tournament which gets underway here from Wednesday.

Agassi fled the French Open without explaining his pathetic performance to the media, and after licking his wounds back home in the United States he decided to request a wild card into the premier pre-Wimbledon grass court event.

Defending champion Pete Sampras is seeded two, and he is also anxious to put a sad clay court season behind him. Still seeking the only major title to elude him, Sampras also fell at the first hurdle in Paris, to Mark Philippoussis, and he made no secret of his impatience to return to his favourite surface.

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The former World number one was also struggling a year ago, but once he stepped onto the green he was transformed once again into The Terminator, claiming not only the Queen’s title with a hard-fought victory over Tim Henman but three weeks later his sixth Wimbledon title.

Another win there this year would enable him to break the record 12 Grand Slam titles held by Roy Emerson.

Neither Agassi or Sampras have easy paths. After a first round bye, Agassi could meet up again with his clay court conquerer, Anthony Dupuis, and should he gain revenge for his most embarrassing defeat of the year then the big-serving Brit, Greg Rusedski, or Russian wonderkid Marat Safin could be waiting in the quarter-finals.

The same half of the draw also contains Philippoussis, who not only won the Queen’s title in 1997, but last year at Wimbledon, had Sampras in trouble before retiring from their quarter-final battle with a knee injury.

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Danger also lurks in the form of Australian whiz-kid Lleyton Hewitt, who proved his worth in the tournament last year by knocking out compatriot Philippoussis on his way to the semi-finals.

Although he is having a wretched year, Goran Ivanisevic cannot be discounted as a threat.

The main threat to Sampras should come from his friend and golfing partner, Tim Henman, who took him to a third set tiebreak in last year’s final and then claimed a set from him in the semi-finals at Wimbledon. Confident after playing well on his least favourite surface of clay, Henman is seeded to clash with Sampras again in the quarter-finals.

Another threat to Sampras in the bottom half of the draw is man of the moment Magnus Norman. Providing he is still standing after such a successful clay court campaign, the third-seeded Swede should make his appointed place in the semi-finals.

Seeds:

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1. Andre Agassi (USA), 2. Pete Sampras (USA), 3. MagnusNorman (Swe), 4. Cedric Pioline (Fra), 5. Thomas Enqvist (Swe), 6. Lleyton Hewitt (Aus), 7. Marat Safin (Rus), 8. Tim Henman (Gbr), 9. Greg Rusedski (Gbr), 10. Todd Martin (USA), 11. Mark Philippoussis (Aus), 12. Andrei Pavel (Rom), 13. Fabrice Santoro (Fra), 14. Sebastien Grosjean (Fra), 15. Marc Rosset (Swi), 16. Andrew Ilie (Aus).