Pete Sampras relied on his still powerful serve to defeat Todd Martin 6-3, 1-6, 10-6 Sunday in the Athens Champions Cup final. Sampras fired two aces in the opening game, and continued to serve and volley crisply while breaking Martin in the fourth game to go 3-1 up. After a rain delay, Sampras held serve easily, and finished off the set with two aces.

Jose Acasuso overcame blisters on his left foot to rally from match point and beat Jonas Bjorkman, sparking Argentina to a 2-1 victory over Sweden in the World Team Cup on Sunday. In the other matches, Germany swept Belgium 3-0 despite the withdrawal of the injured Tommy Haas. After Robin Soderling gave Sweden the lead by beating Juan Ignacio Chela 6-1, 6-4, Bjorkman won the first set against…

Vincent Spadea upset fifth-seeded Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 6-1, 7-5 in the first round of the Hypo Group International on Sunday. The 66th-ranked American broke Hrbaty four times as the Slovakian struggled with his serve. Hrbaty had seven double faults and faced 16 break points. Hrbaty rallied from 1-3 down to lead Spadea 5-4 in the second set, but was broken again at 5-5.

Like so many times at Wimbledon, Pete Sampras was rained out Saturday. The tennis great, making his first visit to his ancestral homeland, was forced to wait another day before playing former Davis Cup teammate Jim Courier in the Champions Cup seniors tournament. Sampras most likely will advance to the final against Todd Martin.

Defending champion Nicole Vaidisova pulled out of next week’s French Open tuneup tournament in Strasbourg because of a nagging right wrist injury. “Unfortunately I am not able to defend my title in Strasbourg,” the seventh-ranked Vaidisova said in a statement released by her agent. “My wrist is still bothering me and it is not enabling me to compete at 100 percent.

Andrew Murray might miss the French Open because of a wrist injury from the Hamburg Masters. Murray, ranked No. 10, said on his Web site he is to see a specialist and there is a chance he could compete in his second French Open, which starts May 27. He lost in the first round of the clay-court major last year.

Pete Sampras traded forehands with Jim Courier at the foot of the Athens Acropolis in a tuneup for his first match in the Athens Champions Cup. Making his first trip to his ancestral homeland of Greece, Sampras hit balls with Courier on the makeshift cement court, then edged South Africa’s Wayne Ferreira 6-3, 7-6 at the Olympic Tennis Center to improve to 5-0 in senior competition.

Drug tests at the French Open will be handled at a lab in Montreal rather than the Chatenay-Malabry lab in France. French officials said the decision was made to save money and increase the number of tests and not a reflection on the French lab, which is under scrutiny for its handling of Tour de France winner Floyd Landis’ samples.

Top-20 player Mario Ancic pulled out of the French Open on Wednesday because he’s still recovering from a case of mononucleosis that’s sidelined him for more than two months. “I am obviously disappointed to miss the French Open. The Grand Slams are the big tournaments we aim to do well in,” Ancic said in a statement released by his agent.

Pete Sampras will play former Davis Cup teammate Jim Courier on Thursday in an exhibition match on a temporary tennis court below the Acropolis. Sampras, a 14-time Grand Slam champion who is making his first visit to his ancestral homeland, is in Greece to play in the four-day Athens Cup at the Olympic tennis venue in northern Athens.

All the travel, all the tournaments and all the titles, and not one trip for Pete Sampras to his ancestral homeland — until now. The retired 14-time Grand Slam champion finally has come to Greece — for tennis and for personal reasons. “This is about sharing some time with my folks in my mom’s homeland,” Sampras told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

The Italian Open lost two more top-10 players Tuesday when No. 8 Ana Ivanovic and No. 7 Nicole Vaidisova withdrew. Ivanovic has a left ankle injury, and Vaidisova has a right wrist injury. Top-ranked Justine Henin did not enter, No. 2 Maria Sharapova pulled out with a right shoulder injury and defending champion Martina Hingis withdrew with hip and back injuries.

Sixth-seeded Vania King of the United States easily advanced to the second round of the Grand Prix SAR Princess Lalla Meryem on Monday, defeating Bahia Mouhtassine of Morocco 6-0, 6-1. No. 9 Jarmila Gajdosova of Slovakia also advanced, prevailing over Hungarian Melinda Czink 6-3, 4-6, 6-1. In the only other match Monday in the main draw of the $145,000 WTA Tour event, Alize Cornet of France defeated…

Marcos Baghdatis slumped to his fourth opening-round defeat in five Masters tournaments this year, losing to German wild card Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-5, 6-3 on Monday. Former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero withstood a strong second set challenge from Stanislas Wawrinka, winning 6-1, 7-6 (5), and Lleyton Hewitt beat Agustin Calleri 6-3, 6-4.

In a matchup of the draw’s youngest and oldest players, 16-year-old Austrian qualifier Tamira Paszek rallied past 34-year-old Nicole Pratt 6-7 (1), 6-0, 6-2 Monday in the first round of the Italian Open. Ai Sugiyama defeated Maria Kirilenko 6-4, 5-7, 7-5; Meghann Shaugnessy eliminated Emilie Loit 6-3, 6-2; and Russian qualifier Galina Voskoboeva beat wild card Alberta Brianti 6-2, 6-3.