Pete Sampras tips Rafael Nadal to beat Federer title haul

Pete Sampras believes Rafael Nadal has a chance to break Roger Federer's record of 16 Grand Slam titles if he stays healthy and maintains a smart playing schedule.

Sampras says that the 24-year-old Nadal is "in the middle of his career, he could do a lot more great things". Nadal recently won his ninth major at the US Open.

His success as Flushing Meadows meant the Spaniard became only the seventh male player to win all four Grand Slam titles, joining Federer, Andre Agassi, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, Don Budge and Fred Perry.

Nadal trails seven behind Federer in terms of total Grand Slams titles and five behind Sampras, who won 14 but failed to land the French Open.

Sampras will meet his former rival Agassi for a best-of-three sets match in the BNP Paribas Showdown on 28 February at Madison Square Garden in New York. John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl will play one set.

When Sampras and Agassi met in a Hit for Haiti exhibition in March, verbal volleys were exchanged between the two players. Sampras described their relationship as "fine".

Meanwhile, tournament organisers say top-ranked Serena Williams has pulled out of this month's Pan Pacific Open as she continues her recovery from surgery on her right foot.

Williams, who cut her foot on broken glass at a restaurant after winning Wimbledon this year, returned to practice this month.

Williams headed a strong field for the Pan Pacific Open which begins on 26 September. Wimbledon runner-up Vera Zvonareva, French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, Caroline Wozniacki and Jelena Jankovic have also entered the tournament. Maria Sharapova returns to defend her title.

After missing this year's US Open, Williams she was yet to decide when to return to competition, but plans to play for the United States in the Fed Cup final against Italy in November.

lBritish No 1 Elena Baltacha suffered a straight-sets defeat to eighth seed Agnes Szavay in the Hansol Korea Open in Seoul.

The Hungarian reached the last eight with a 6-3 7-5 victory which was secured in one hour and 50 minutes.

All being well, Baltacha will now head to India to compete for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games.

Szavay will face Japan's Kimiko Date Krumm in the quarter-finals. Krumm, who turns 40 next week, defeated the 19-year-old second seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2 6-1.

In yesterday's other matches in Seoul, top seed Nadia Petrova beat American Vania King 6-3 6-4, and former world No 1 Dinara Safina ousted third seed Maria Kirilenko 6-2 6-3.