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Just wondering, with regard to the thread about Grand Slam freezes, how about the opposite - those infamous moments when the favourites got bounced out of the Slams?
To start off, here's a couple of good old Pete losses:
Wimbledon 96, QF: Richard Krajicek def. Pete Sampras 7/5, 7/6, 6/4
This is the big one, 1 of 2 matches that Sampras lost on Centre Court, the other one the Federer defeat a full five years later. Moreover it was the 1 defeat in an otherwise perfect 56 match-winning span at the All-England Club.
Krajicek served 29 aces to Sampras' 13, broke in the final set off a lucky let cord and finished the match with a 122 mph service winner that Sampras barely touched with his racquet.
Australian Open 98, R16/QF (?): Karol Kucera def. Pete Sampras 6/4, 6/2, 6/7, 6/3
The lowest-ranked player in the last five/six years to take out Sampras outside the French Open until the Bastl debacle at last year's Wimbledon. As the score suggests, it was Kucera who was the stronger server, hitting 18 aces to Sampras' 7, and he kept frustrating Sampras by smacking return winners, dipping passes and just getting the serve back into play.
Sampras said "I just lost to a player who got hot tonight", but Kucera's luck didn't last, beaten by Petr Korda en route to the Czech's only Grand Slam title.
Significant others?
To start off, here's a couple of good old Pete losses:
Wimbledon 96, QF: Richard Krajicek def. Pete Sampras 7/5, 7/6, 6/4
This is the big one, 1 of 2 matches that Sampras lost on Centre Court, the other one the Federer defeat a full five years later. Moreover it was the 1 defeat in an otherwise perfect 56 match-winning span at the All-England Club.
Krajicek served 29 aces to Sampras' 13, broke in the final set off a lucky let cord and finished the match with a 122 mph service winner that Sampras barely touched with his racquet.
Australian Open 98, R16/QF (?): Karol Kucera def. Pete Sampras 6/4, 6/2, 6/7, 6/3
The lowest-ranked player in the last five/six years to take out Sampras outside the French Open until the Bastl debacle at last year's Wimbledon. As the score suggests, it was Kucera who was the stronger server, hitting 18 aces to Sampras' 7, and he kept frustrating Sampras by smacking return winners, dipping passes and just getting the serve back into play.
Sampras said "I just lost to a player who got hot tonight", but Kucera's luck didn't last, beaten by Petr Korda en route to the Czech's only Grand Slam title.
Significant others?