Chandigarh Short Corner

Sampras upset by KuceraDefending champion and world number one Pete Sampras crashed out of the Australian Open tennis in the quarter-final t...

Sampras upset by Kucera

Defending champion and world number one Pete Sampras crashed out of the Australian Open tennis in the quarter-final to Slovakia’s Karol Kucera. Unseeded Kucera hammered Sampras 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3 in two hours and 29 minutes. Kucera will play Petr Korda of the Czech Republic in the semi-final. It was Sampras’ first tour defeat since losing to Carlos Moya at the start of ATP finals in Stuttgart last November and his first defeat here since going out in straight sets to Australian Mark Philippoussis in the third round in 1996.

Anand held

The second of the three big clashes, too, ended in a draw, as Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik agreed to split the point in the ninth round of the Hoogovens Grandmatsers chess tournament. The game did not have half as many thrills as the Anatoly Karpov- Anand game in the eighth round. But then, neither Anand nor Kramnik have the kind of animosity against each other, that they have for Karpov. Kramnik is due to meet Karpov in the 13th and last round.

Axe Pillai

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Hockey coach Vasudevan Baskaran said in Chennai that the Indian World Cup team should be selected only on the basis of the players’ performance and favoured dropping four seniors, including captain Dhanraj Pillai, describing them as “all over the hill.”

JCT victorious

Defending champions JCT Phagwara scored thrice in the second half against Dempo Sports Club Goa to take full points in a Philips League match by beating the local outfit 3-1 at Nehru Stadium.

North beaten

A daunting target of 264 runs was made to look easy by star-studded South Zone who tamed a rejuvenated North by four wickets in the Prof Deodhar Trophy one-day cricket tournament at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Tuesday.