LA Tennis Open: Pete Sampras honored after exhibition match

Tennis legend Pete Sampras was honored during the opening night of the LA Tennis Open following an exciting exhibition match against Russian Marat Safin.

It was a memorable “Millennium Challenge” exhibition match between the two former top-ranked players. In fact it was sort of a rematch of the US Open 2000 final with Safin once again prevailing in a close 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 battle.

After the match, Sampras got his 2009 LA Tennis Open Tournament Honoree title. The two-time LA Tennis Open champ was joined by his parents, siblings, wife and children.

“I don’t play in LA too often, and even though I lived in Florida for a few years, when I was playing I always felt like my roots were here,” Sampras was quoted as saying.

“It’s nice to be back, nice to play in front of the LA fans. I wish I would’ve played a little bit better, but I don’t do this very often so I can’t expect miracles out there, but it was fun to play. The crowd was great, packed it in tonight, so it was a nice night,” he added.

Safin, playing his final season on tour, later teamed up with compatriot Igor Kunitsyn to beat Dudi Sela and Marcos Baghdatis in doubles first round.

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