Sampras hits roof after Queen's snub

The tournament was handed some unwanted publicity yesterday when Pete Sampras hit out at its director for saying he was fighting "personal demons" and seeking easy matches by not attending the Stella Artois championships.

Sampras, missing Queen's for only the second time since 1989, chose this week to go to Halle, Germany, a growing rival to Queen's as a pre-Wimbledon grass-court event.

"I was pretty appalled by his remarks - he's done a good job of making sure I won't come back," Sampras said of the Queen's tournament director Ian Wight.

"Whatever personal demons Pete is fighting at the moment, I suspect that, more than anything else, he feels he needs a couple of wins under his belt," Wight had said. "I guess he feels those are more likely at Halle than at Queen's."

Sampras said he was especially angry bcause he had supported Queen's for years. The former world No1, who has not won a title since Wimbledon in 2000, explained that he just wanted a change.

"I've heard a lot of good things about this tournament [Halle] from other players. I just wanted to do something different and the roof definitely helps a lot," Sampras said after beating Russia's Andrei Stoliarov in Germany.

At Queen's, Greg Rusedski received a taste of his own medicine, losing a big-serving shoot-out 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 to Mark Philippoussis in the second round. After 2hr 34min, with no breaks of serve and having played marginally better than the Australian for much of the match, Rusedski lost on the tennis equivalent of penalties. One slight slip on the lush grass caused Rusedski to miss a backhand at match point down in the final-set tie-break, and all his good work came to nought.

"I thought I really dominated for three sets and it came down to one or two points at the end there," said Rusedski. "If you look at the stats I probably beat him in all areas but obviously I forgot the most important stat of all: winning."

The match was always going to resemble a coconut shy; they served so well that groundstrokes were hardly necessary. After a torrent of thunderous deliveries from both men, including one from Rusedski that touched 143mph, the first rally of note came in the final tie-break and lasted all of six shots.

After missing most of the clay-court season with a neck injury, Rusedski had not played a competitive match for five weeks and looked delighted to have found so many elements of his game working so well. He will now play at Nottingham next week before Wimbledon, which starts in 12 days.

Tim Henman, now the only Briton left, begins his campaign today with a second-round match against South Africa's Neville Godwin, who beat the much-heralded French teenager Richard Gasquet 7-6, 5-7, 6-3.

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