Sampras in action at the Chengdu Open

Written by: Global Chick on 29th October 2011

Sampras in action at the Chengdu Open

Australia's former tennis player Mark Philippoussis returns the ball to Spain's Carlos Moya during the tournament of legends ATP Champions Tour 2011 in Bogota, Colombia, 22 May 2011. Philippoussis won 7-5, 6-7 (3), 10-5. EPA/Leonardo Munoz |

The ATP Chanpions Tour is in full swing in China. On the second day of the Chengdu Open the players had to fight hard for their wins. Sweden’s Thomas Enqvist toughed out a win three set win over Australian Mark Philippoussis 6-7 (4) 7-6 (6) 10-6.

“That was a very close one. It could have gone either way. Today was one of those days when luck was on my side. I came up with some good shots when I needed today and that was the difference,” Enqvist said.

French Open Champion Carlos Moya won over Thai superstar Paradorn Srichaphan 6-2 6-4. The Spaniard will now face Thomas Enqvist next. “Tomorrow is going to be a tough match against Enqvist, but we’ll see. Hopefully I can play well and get to the final, but it won’t be easy,” Moya said.

Enqvist said of his next opponent, “It’s a lot of fun to play Carlos. He’s in great shape and he plays really well. I played him in Sao Paulo earlier his year. I played well but still had no chance. It’s going to be difficult tomorrow but I’m looking forward to it.”

Pete Sampras didn’t start his Champions Tour comeback very well yesterday when he lost to Younes Aynaoui. Today was a different story. He came back with his batteries recharged and took out South African Wayne Ferreira 6-3 6-2. Sampras admitted being a little off in his first match.

Marat Safin is up next for Pete Sampras. The American recalls not having a lot of chance against Safin in the 2001 US Open final where he lost in three sets. “Marat is a very powerful player, he’s still quite young – only 31. He’s got a lot of talent, serves very big, hits the ball very heavy from the baseline and he beat me up pretty good in Beijing.”

Safin lost to Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui 4-6 7-5 11-9 yesterday.

Topics: Mark Philippoussis, Thomas Enqvist