Defending Ericsson Open champions Martina Hingis and Pete Sampras went through to the third round of the event yesterday.
The fourth-seeded Sampras defeated Nicolas Kiefer of Germany 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to set up a third-round match against 18-year-old American Andy Roddick, a wild-card entry who overcame Marcelo Rios of Chile 6-4, 6-1.
"It won't be easy," said Sampras, who practiced with Roddick at a Davis Cup tie against the Czech Republic last year. "He'll come out firing away with nothing to lose."
Top-seeded Hingis, who also won here in 1997, defeated Italy's Rita Grande 6-2, 6-2.
"I have great memories of this tournament," said the Swiss player. "I either play great here or I play terrible. I'll see how it goes this year."
Venus Williams eased through a 6-2, 6-0 win over Miriam Oremans of The Netherlands.
She showed no sign of the right-knee tendonitis that forced her to forfeit a semi-final showdown against sister Serena last week at Indian Wells
Reuters