Chang crashes,

Chang crashes, Sampras through in Salem Open

OSAKA, Japan (Reuter): Defending champion Michael Chang crashed out in the quarter-finals of the US$650,000 Salem Open, while world number one Pete Sampras powered irresistibly on.

Fifth-seeded Andre Agassi was leading fellow American David Wheaton 7-6 3-1 when rain brought the day's play to a premature close.

The match, which will determine who meets Sampras in the semi- finals, resumes on Saturday.

The other semi-final will pit Henrik Holm of Sweden, who took full advantage of Chang's erratic play, against Lionel Roux from France, the world's 210th-ranked player who has claimed two big scalps in two days.

Chang, the crowd's favorite, relinquished his title in disappointing fashion, Holm, ranked 52nd in the world, taking the match 2-6 7-5 6-3.

The pair settled in for a dour baseline battle, but the Chinese-American's game was marred by too many unforced errors.

At first, second seeded Chang looked certain to clinch his ticket to the semis, easily wrapping up the first set 6-2, and then powering to a 4-1 lead in the second.

Then Holm fought back, breaking serve in the sixth and eighth games to level at 4-4 and then taking the set 7-5 on Chang's fatal unforced error.

"From that moment... when I was down 4-1, I was trying to hit the ball harder and go more offensive," Holm said.

The 25-year-old Swede streaked to a 5-1 lead in the third, but Chang refused to go quietly. He pulled back to 3-5 but then saw a backhand passing shot that would have saved matchpoint just catch the net.

Twenty four hours after ousting fourth-seeded veteran Ivan Lendl, the ginger-haired Roux scored another big upset by outlasting sixth seed Aaron Krickstein 7-5 7-6 in a lengthy match composed of gruelling ground stroke rallies.

Sampras was at his world champion best, beating Frenchman Guillaume Raoux 6-3 6-3 in less than an hour.

Sampras, 22, pounded his way past the luckless Raoux with 14 thundering service aces.

"I thought I played so far my best tennis today, although I was rushing a bit towards the end because it was sprinkling pretty hard and I wanted to get out of the court as quickly as possible," he said.

The Floridian is now hot favorite to win his 25th career title, although the flamboyant Agassi may have other ideas.

Agassi has just returned from a five-month lay-off with a wrist injury. In his comeback tournament last month, he reached the final of the Lipton Open at Key Biscayne before falling to Sampras.

Family Circle

In Hilton Head, South Carolina, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Conchita Martinez of Spain on Thursday reached the quarterfinals of the $750,00 Family Circle Cup women's tennis championships.

The top seeded Sanchez survived a closely-contested first set to take a 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 third-round match from ninth-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa. The second-seeded Martinez also battled through a first set tiebreak, but came through with a 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 victory over 10th-seeded Sabine Hack of Germany.

Iva Majoli of Croatia scored her second straight upset of a seeded player when she defeated 14th-seeded Leila Meskhi of Georgia 6-4 1-6 6-4 in the third round. Fourth-seeded Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina was Majoli's 6-2 2-6 6-2 second round victim on Wednesday.