Pete Sampras always looks forward to the Lipton Championships, where he likes the stadium, the competition and the results.
A two-time champion and a finalist each of the past three years, Sampras advanced to the fourth round Sunday by beating Jakob Hlasek 7-5, 7-6 (7-3)."Certain places I play well, and this is one of them," Sampras said. "The Lipton has a Grand Slam feel. It gives you a test on how you're really playing."
Sampras has 19 victories in his past 20 Lipton matches. With top-ranked Thomas Muster losing his opening match Saturday to Nicolas Pereira, Sampras can regain the No. 1 spot by reaching the final and beating high-ranked players along the way.
Among those advancing on the women's side were Jennifer Capriati and Gabriela Sabatini, who will meet in the fourth round. Steffi Graf, Lindsay Davenport and Mary Joe Fernandez also won.
The top-seeded Graf beat Gigi Fernandez 6-3, 6-2, and was surprised to learn she hit 35 winners, including serves, with only three unforced errors.
"Me? Really?" Graf said. "I felt great. I didn't know I had those kind of statistics."
Capriati, who is unseeded, looked weary in the third set but overcame 55 unforced errors to eliminate No. 10 Amanda Coetzer 6-4, 0-6, 6-1. No. 4 Sabatini beat Karin Kschwendt 6-3, 6-2; No. 8 Davenport swept Kristie Boogert 6-4, 7-5; and No. 9 Fernandez beat Florencia Labat 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.
Third-seeded Anke Huber dodged an upset bid by Shi-Ting Wang of Taiwan 6-0, 5-7, 6-4. No. 7 Jana Novotna lost to Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-3, 6-3.
No. 6 Goran Ivanisevic moved a step closer to his fifth title this year, downing Javier Sanchez 6-0, 6-3. No. 10 Sergi Bruguera, playing in his first outdoor tournament of the year, lost to Richard Krajicek 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).
Sampras survived a shaky start and closed the first set by breaking Hlasek with two perfect volleys. He won the final four points in the second-set tiebreaker, which ended on a double-fault by Hlasek.
"Today wasn't pretty tennis," Sampras said, "but I fought pretty well and hung in there."
While Sampras could meet Andre Agassi in the men's final for the third consecutive year, their dominance of the ATP Tour has faded recently because of the success of Muster, Ivanisevic and Boris Becker.
"It's good to see some other guys get more attention, and not just Andre and myself," Sampras said. "Last year at this time, it was getting a little bit much. It seemed I was talking more about Andre than I was talking about my tennis."