...Slam tournaments to keep afloat his drive for a 14th. Sampras wasted seven match points before finally putting away Nicolas Escude with an ace to win 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3 Saturday in the third round of the Australian...

...lead in the final. Rafter and Hewitt now must win in Sunday's reverse singles match for Australia against a rested Nicolas Escude and Sebastien Grosjean. "We're only up 2-1 and we've still got two matches to play," French captain Guy...

...over Jan-Michael Gambill, in Saturday's semifinals. Sampras, No. 3, faces Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who defeated Nicolas Escude 6-1, 6-3. A Sampras-Agassi final on Sunday would be a rematch of 1995, when Sampras won his second of two...

...quarterfinalist here last year and semifinalist in 1998. Courier fell 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-5, 6-1 to Frenchman Nicolas Escude. Kucera lost 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to Paradorn Srichaphan, a 20-year-old Thai playing in only his second...

...plays American Chris Woodruff, a 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (6) winner over Australian Richard Fromberg. France's Nicolas Escude, who beat No. 9 Richard Krajicek in the second round, advanced with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 victory over 18-year-old...

...Eighth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain lost 7-6 (2), 6-4 to unseeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, and qualifier Nicolas Escude of France defeated Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden 6-0, 6-4. OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Allison Bradshaw beat lucky loser...

...307,308. 4, Gustavo Kuerten, $290,930. 5, Nicolas Escude, $286,985. 6, Pete Sampras, $251,156. 7...Lleyton Hewitt, 126. 7, Dominik Hrbaty, 119. 8, Nicolas Escude, 113. 9, Gustavo Kuerten, 112. 10, Roger Federer...

...women. The 1992 champion won his fourth straight-set match Monday and should be a heavy favorite Wednesday over Nicolas Escude. In the other quarterfinals, 2000 runner-up Pat Rafter meets Thomas Enqvist, and Marat Safin plays three-time...

...def. George Bastl, Switzerland, 2-6, 5-7, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3. David Nalbandian, Argentina, def. Nicolas Escude (31), France, 4-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. Albert Costa, Spain, def. Dominik Hrbaty (23), Slovakia...

...Tennis Davis Cup Results At Melbourne Park Melbourne, Australia Surface: Grass-Outdoor WORLD GROUP Final Singles Nicolas Escude, France, def. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Pat Rafter, Australia, def...