As reported yesterday, Pete Sampras lost in stunning fashion to Andrew Ilie in the day session. But the second shocker of the day occurred when Andre Agassi, the tournament's second seed, fell to Spain's Francisco Clavet in the night session. Agassi and Sampras had both not lost first round matches at the same tournament since the 1989 Lipton Championships. However here in Scottsdale, it was a bit of déjà vu of last year's tournament when the premiere American duo exited early. On the same day, Sampras withdrew with back problems while Agassi, somewhat interestingly, lost to Clavet 6-1, 6-2 in the second round. The Spaniard's only two career wins over Agassi have occurred here in Scottsdale.

With the loss of the top seeds, some serious holes were punched into the draw. Henman, last year's finalist, was in Sampras's quarter of the draw and will be a considerable favorite in his next match with Spain's German Puentes. If successful in that match, the Brit will take on the winner of Ilie vs. Levy for a spot in the semifinals. A seeded Swede, either Magnus Norman or Thomas Enqvist, is Henman's probable semifinalist opponent. In contrast, the bottom half of the draw has only one serious title contender left - Australian Lleyton Hewitt. With Agassi's quarter empty of all seeds (#8 Sjeng Schalken lost yesterday), the tournament is guaranteed an unseeded semifinalist. The winner of Andrea Gaudenzi vs. Nicolas Massu will take on the winner of Guillermo Canas vs. Clavet for a spot in the semis. Hewitt would only have to get pass the enigmatic and questionable #7 seed, Marcelo Rios, in the quarters to meet the surprise semifinalist.