Sampras thumped in Breakers’ loss

ST. LOUIS ? When Pete Sampras elected to end a near-four-year retirement to join the Newport Beach Breakers of World Team Tennis, he likely didn’t plan on days like Sunday.

The 14-time Grand Slam singles champion, considered by some to be the best player in the history of the sport, was trounced, 5-0, by John Paul Fruttero in the Breakers’ 23-15 loss to the St. Louis Aces at the Dwight Davis Memorial Tennis Center.

Fruttero, whose highest singles ATP singles ranking was 183 last year, dropped Sampras’ WTT singles record to 2-4.

Sampras, whose career ATP singles record was 762-222 (a .774 winning percentage) has contributed to six of the Breakers’ eight losses this season and Breakers Coach Dick Leach has said Sampras’ inability to get into proper playing shape has afforded the Breakers “no chance” to win.

The team has not won with Sampras in the lineup.

Newport Beach fell to 4-8, 0-5 on the road and in fifth place in the six-team Western Conference with two regular-season matches remaining.

Despite their record, the Breakers will compete in a wild-card match Thursday at Palisades Tennis Club against the No. 4 team in the league for the right to advance to the semifinals. The semifinals and the final are at Palisades.dpt-breakers.BGraphicInfoPG1T7UNI20060724PG1T7UNICredit: Caption: (LA)