The top-seeded Sampras next will face the winner of a match between No. 8 Andre Agassi and No. 9 Karol Kucera.
Safin, 18, who wowed crowds at this year's French Open with a string of upsets en route to the fourth round in his Grand Slam debut, showed off plenty of power, including 10 aces. But he was no match for the steady Sampras.
Sampras lost only 20 points on his serve in the match and closed out his 600th career win with three consecutive aces - including one at 135 mph. He won 41 of 48 points on his first serve in the match.
Also winning was No. 5 Venus Williams, who celebrated her 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) win over No. 12 Mary Pierce with an on-court dance that looked like an NFL end zone strut. Williams won the last six points of the tiebreaker.
No. 13 Amanda Coetzer slammed a backhand passing shot down the line on match point, beating the weather and No. 7 Conchita Martinez, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
With Coetzer and Martinez engaging in long baseline rallies and occasionally hitting moonballs, the match lasted 2 hours, 39 minutes. One game had 28 points, including 11 deuces, and consumed more than 20 minutes.
The victory put Coetzer into the quarterfinals against the winner of the match between No. 2 Lindsay Davenport and No. 10 Nathalie Tauziat.
There were a couple of big upsets Sunday night. Five-time champion Steffi Graf was ousted by Patty Schnyder and the second-seeded man, Marcelo Rios, lost a five-setter to Magnus Larsson.
09-08-98
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