Hewitt, Sampras in semifinals

LONDON, JUNE 15 In a repeat of last year's final defending champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia will meet American Pete Sampras in the $ 800,000 Stella Artois ATP event.

Sampras, with his second victory of the day, beat sixth seed Jan Michael Gambill 7-6, 7-5 to enter the semifinal. Sampras, seeded second, had earlier completed a rain-delayed victory over Dutchman Jan Siemerink.

Australian Hewitt wasted little time seeing off British 12th seed Greg Rusedski 6-4, 6-4 in the last match of the day.

Sampras did just enough against compatriot Gambill, serving with power and direction and hitting his volleys crisply. The pair were inseparable in the first set but in the tiebreak Sampras stepped up a gear, taking it 7-1 with some inspired grasscourt play.

He again left it to the last minute to pinch the second set, breaking in the 11th game before serving out, polishing Gambill off with an ace down the middle.

``I don't think I've ever played two matches in one day before,'' Sampras said after his second victory. ``I was pretty pleased after an early start against Jan to beat Jan- Michael who was one of the biggest serves around and will be a major threat at Wimbledon.''

Paes, Bhupathi in last four

The seventh-seeded Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi downed the fourth-seeded Michael Hill of Australia and Jeff Tarango of the US 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (11-9) in the quarterfinals.

Hill and Tarango had earlier failed, albeit in three sets, against the Indian pair in the semifinals of the French Open recently.

In the semifinal, Leander and Mahesh will meet the eighth-seeded Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, who had beaten the top-seeded Wayne Ferreira of South Africa and Todd Woodbridge of the Australia 6- 4, 6-2 in the quarterfinal.

lThe results: Lleyton Hewitt bt Greg Rusedski 6-4, 6-4; Pete Sampras bt Jan Michael Gambill 7-6, 7-5.

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