KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) -- Pete Sampras' two-year slide reached another low Monday, when he lost to Chilean qualifier Fernando Gonzalez 7-6 (1), 6-1 in the third round of the Nasdaq-100 Open.

The upset made it 24 tournaments in a row without a title for Sampras since he won a record seventh Wimbledon championship in July 2000.

Gonzalez, perhaps the hardest hitter on the men's tour, dominated after falling behind 4-1 in the first set. Sampras, often late reaching volleys, won only 22 of 48 points at the net and struggled with his service returns.

``It wasn't a good day. I got outplayed,'' Sampras said. ``I just have to get back to work and not panic, and look at the big picture and the rest of the year. It's not the way I wanted it to go this week. But we've got a few more big events coming up.''

The No. 11-seeded Sampras, a three-time champion at Key Biscayne, fell to 10-5 this year.

Marat Safin barely avoided an upset against another South American qualifier, Luis Horna of Peru. Safin broke a racket in anger, drew a point penalty for another outburst, twice blew a third-set lead and still managed to win, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (3).

``I played bad,'' the No. 6-seeded Russian said. ``Just wasn't my day. But I was there. I fight. I'm not satisfied with my game, but I'm satisfied with my win, the way I fought.''

The ragged victory advanced Safin to the fourth round, where he'll face Gonzalez.

American James Blake, whose ranking has risen to 49th from 187th in the past year, beat No. 15 Guillermo Canas 6-4, 6-3. No. 4 Tommy Haas lost to Andrei Pavel 7-6 (6), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6).

In women's play, second-seeded Venus Williams needed just 44 minutes to beat No. 14 Amanda Coetzer 6-2, 6-0. Williams hit 26 winners to two for Coetzer.

No. 3 Martina Hingis reached the quarterfinals by beating Alexandra Stevenson 6-2, 6-0. Hingis has lost four games in three matches.

No. 12 Elena Dementieva erased six match points in a third-set tiebreaker to beat Anne Kremer 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (14). No. 4 Kim Clijsters swept Cara Black 6-4, 6-2.

The 21-year-old Gonzalez, whose ranking has climbed to 62nd from 135th since the start of the year, smacked a 130-mph ace to reach 6-6 in the opening set. In the tiebreaker he dug a forehand out of the corner to save the first point and took control from there, belting two service winners and two baseline winners to close out the set.

As the second set progressed, Sampras looked increasingly overmatched, and Gonzalez lost just seven points in the first five games.

``He hit the ball very heavy and served very well,'' Sampras said. ``You can't play conservative out there, and I think that happened a little bit today. I just tried to get the ball back in play and he controlled the match with his spin and his pace.''

Safin had his hands full against Horna, a 5-foot-11 scrapper ranked 136th. The balding 21-year-old Peruvian slid around the court several steps behind the baseline as though playing on clay.

Safin, who busted his racket near the end of the first set, twice lost his serve when he was up a break in the third set. After Horna pulled even at 4-4 in the final set, the hot-tempered Russian slammed a ball against the far backstop and drew a point penalty for a code violation.

That helped cost Safin the next game. But he regained his composure in the tiebreaker, winning seven of the final eight points and closing out the victory with a slam volley.

``Anything didn't work today,'' Safin said. ``Didn't work the serve, didn't work the baseline. The volley wasn't great. But still, you know, I was there, 7-6 in the third.''