of which left it up to Jana Novotna and Croatia's Iva Majoli to
provide some entertainment. Two hours before they were scheduled to play ...
and at a time the women's game seems far more preoccupied with Martina Hingis.
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. -- The daytime feature match with Pete Sampras never transpired Wednesday at the Lipton Championships.
His opponent, Hendrik Dreekmann, sprained his ankle walking home from dinner the night before. A strange happening indeed.
All of which left it up to Jana Novotna and Croatia's Iva Majoli to
provide some entertainment. Two hours before they were scheduled to play ...
and at a time the women's game seems far more preoccupied with Martina Hingis.
Matches such as this quarterfinal between Novotna and Majoli reinforce the appeal of women's tennis even if Hingis, Monica Seles or Steffi Graf aren't involved.
For 2 hours, 24 minutes, Novotna and Majoli went back and forth in 90-degree heat. True to form in their rivalry, the match went to three sets.
THIS TIME IT WENT AS FAR as a decisive tiebreak, concluded only when the 19-year-old Majoli sent an overhead net volley just wide of the right sideline. That ensured Novotna's 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (9-7) victory. She had to overcome 63 unforced errors.
After 
seeing Majoli break back to tie the third set 5-5, Novotna
rejoiced. Majoli threw her racket in a mixture of disgust and exhaustion.
Some fans whistled in protest, until they saw Majoli walk around the net to
embrace Novotna. Novotna had fallen on her back, resting legs that looked to
be on the verge of cramping.
"I just guess that was because we know each other so well. It's just so difficult to finish her off in two sets, I would say. But that overhead ... this match was going one way, the other way. When she missed that overhead, it was just such a relief that you could not believe it," Novotna said.
"I was just lying there saying, 'That's it. I don't have to run any further.' Really satisfying."
Novotna, a 28-year-old from the Czech Republic, is one of the steadiest talents on the COREL WTA Tour. She was especially rough on Seles last year. She beat her in the French Open quarterfinals, then beat her again at the Olympics quarterfinals. That made her the first person to defeat Seles twice since Seles' comeback to competitive tennis in the summer of 1995.
Turned out to be a lethal experience, as far as this tournament is concerned. Dreekmann was on the sidewalk, tripped over a bump in the curb, and sprained his ankle. That sent Sampras into Saturday's semifinal by default.
Sampras is the man Dreekman faced in his second career final, at Basel.
"I just can't believe it," Dreekman said. "It's so unlucky because I was playing really well the whole week. I was thinking about maybe I have a chance today to win. Now I have this problem, and this is really bad for me."
With so many seeds falling, and countryman Boris Becker a withdrawal because of his chronic wrist problem, Dreekman couldn't help but feel maybe something good was in the cards for him here.
"Now I feel just unlucky. It's all I'm thinking of," said Dreekman, 22. "I had some nice days the last week, but now I just feel unlucky. That's all I can say."
Tournament doctor Charles Virgin said the earliest Dreekman might be able to play again is 10 to 14 days.
For Sampras, the extra day's rest means harder practice.
"I practice a little longer. I'll hit for a little over an hour, rest up. (Friday) I'll hit for about an hour and a half. You're still going to work hard to get that rhythm that I've had for the past week," Sampras said.
Mike Lurie is a CBS SportsLine staff writer.
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