Sampras Crushes Korda in Senior Tennis Debut

Pete Sampras did not disappoint in his senior tour debut Thursday night at the Boston stop on the Outback Champions Tour, blowing past former Australian Open winner Petr Korda 6-1, 6-2 for a 1-0 start in round robin play.

"It was great to get back out there and compete," said Sampras, using a larger racquet than in his days competing on the ATP Tour. "I felt excited walking out there to a nice ovation in front of a large crowd. I've had some trouble with Petr in the past, but felt I was able to play real well on this surface."

Sampras was 12-5 career versus the Czech in their ATP days, most notably knocked out of the 1997 US Open by Korda in a fifth-set tiebreak.

"I was playing well before I came over here," Korda said. "But Pete was just too good for me. I knew he was going to come hard. If he's going to show up for something big like this, he's going to come ready."

In the other match on the day, John McEnroe beat Tim Mayotte 6-1, 7-5, with Mayotte making his senior tour debut after Mats Wilander was forced to withdraw from the event with back spasms.

Mayotte didn't get official word he was replacing Wilander until early in the afternoon and got off to a sluggish start, losing the first five games.

"I felt like I was in control," McEnroe said. "I felt like I could step it up if I needed to. At 5-4, I felt I should have put it away, 6-4."

Scheduled for Friday in Boston are Todd Martin vs. Wayne Ferreira, Jim Courier vs. Pat Cash, Sampras vs. Mayotte, and McEnroe vs. Korda.