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Journalism of Courage
SAN JOSE (CALIFORNIA), FEB 14: The Sybase Open was hit by a double whammy last night when top seed Pete Sampras withdrew with an ankle injury and fourth seed Michael Chang was ousted by little-known Cecil Mamiit.Sampras pulled out before his semifinal against Mark Philippoussis of Australia and the up-and-coming Mamiit upset Chang 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the other semi-finals.
With the default of Andre Agassi earlier in the week and the exit of Sampras and Chang, the $350,000 tournament has lost its three biggest draws.
Moya upset
DUBAI: Jerome Golmard reached the first final of his career when he upset second-seeded Spaniard and French Open champion Carlos Moya 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the Dubai Open last night.
Golmard will face the Australia’s Andrew Ilie who upstaged Nicolas Kiefer 6-3 7-6 (8-7) to reach his first ever ATP tour final.
Golmard said he was looking forward to the final against Ilie to avenge a loss at this year’s Australian Open. “I’ll try to enjoy the match and, if I play as I’ve playedalready, then I have a good chance to win.”
Kiefer, the 21-year-old German, who would like to fill the gap left by he semi-retirement of tennis legend Boris Becker, had to save two set points against the Bucharest-born Ilie in the match held over from last night.Rain had cut short the match when Kiefer had won the first set and appeared well on top.
When they resumed on Sunday, Ilie had regained some ofthe adrenalin-charged aggression which accounted for Spain’s Alex Corretja, Petr Korda of the Czech Republic and Brazil’s Gustavo Kuerten earlier in the week.
