| MIAMI (Ticker) -- Pete Sampras and the top two women's
seeds highlight today's third-round play at the $5.725 million Ericsson
Open tennis event.
There are 23 matches overall, including eight on the men's side. Nine
other men's seeds are in action, with No. 3 Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia
taking on 30th seed Fernando Meligeni of Brazil.
Sampras, the second-seeded American, meets wild card Andreas Vinciguerra
of Sweden. Still recovering from a back injury, Sampras, the 1993 and 1994
champion, disposed of former world No. 1 Carlos Moya of Spain on Saturday,
6-1, 6-4.
Top seed Martina Hingis of from Switzerland and Lindsday Davenport of
the United States continue their battle for the world's No. 1 ranking.
Whoever goes further here will be ranked first.
Hingis faces No. 29 Anne-Gaelle Sidot of France today, while Davenport
meets 22nd seed Silvija Talaja of Croatia.
Also on the men's side, fifth seed Magnus Norman of Sweden battles American
Jan-Michael Gambill; No. 7 Thomas Enqvist of Sweden meets George Bastl
of Switzerland; and 14th-seeded Australian teenager Lleyton Hewitt takes
on No. 19 Tommy Haas of Germany.
Later, 15th seed Patrick Rafter of Australia takes on No. 18 Sebastien
Grosjean of France and No. 17 Greg Rusedski of Britain plays Byron Black
of Zimbabwe.
In a match involving unseeded players, Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic
battles Gianluca Pozzi of Italy.
Five other women seeded among the top 10 play today, with No. 4 Nathalie
Tauziat meeting 21st seed Nathalie Dechy in a battle of Frenchwomen and
No. 6 Conchita Martinez of Spain taking on 23rd seed Patty Schnyder of
Switzerland.
Also, seventh seed Monica Seles plays No. 26 Lisa Raymond in a matchup
of Americans; No. 9 Anna Kournikova of Russia faces No. 31 Natasha Zvereva
of Belarus; and 10th-seeded Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain meets No.
25 Sabine Appelmans of Belgium.
Elsewhere, No. 12 Sandrine Testud of France encounters 27th seed Sylvia
Plischke of Austria; 13th seed Jennifer Capriati battles No. 24 Chanda
Rubin in a battle of Americans; and No. 14 Anke Huber of Germany takes
on 19th seed Amy Frazier of the United States.
Also, No. 15 Elena Likhovtseva of Russia faces No. 20 Ruxandra Dragomir
of Romania; 16th seed Dominique Van Roost of Belgium meets No. 18 Amanda
Coetzer of South Africa; 28th-seeded Belgian Kim Clijsters takes on Adriana
Gersi of the Czech Republic; and No. 23 Sarah Pitkowski of France battles
Elena Dementieva of Russia.
In unseeded action, Nadejda Petrova meets Anastasia Myskina in an all-Russian
encounter.
First prize for the men's champion is $410,000. The women's winner pockets
$350,000.
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