21.  Sampras on Wednesday lost in an early round match at a clay court tournament in Spain to Oliver Gross of Germany.

22.  That could be a problem since the early matches involve play U.S. players are least familiar with.

23.  The English spent most of their match without eighthman Mark Soden, who was the other recipient of a red card in the early matches.

24.  The most interesting early match comes up Thursday with England playing defending Olympic champion Germany.

25.  The tournament opened with mild, sunny weather and no upsets among the early matches.

26.  The teams engaged in four early shoving matches, but no fights.

27.  Tournament officials scheduled early matches in order to clear up a backlog caused by so many rain delays.

28.  Vieri noted that several top teams have gone through difficult early matches against theoretically weaker teams.

29.  When Hewitt took the court for his early match Sunday against Portas, there was mostly cheers from the fans at Louis Armstrong Stadium.

30.  When Hewitt took the court for his early match Sunday against Portas, there were mostly cheers from the fans at Louis Armstrong Stadium.