The Indian Davis Cup player, who came through the qualifying rounds, beat Sampras 6-3, 6-4 in just 74 minutes in their first career meeting to move into the fourth round on a day which saw US Open champion Patrick Rafter (Australia) and Petr Korda falling by the wayside.

France's Guillaume Raoux snapped Rafter's career-best 11-match win, 7-6 (10-8) 6-3 while third seed Australian Open champion Korda lost 6-7 (6-8) 3-6 to fellow Czech Bohdan Ulihrach.

Sampras, however, will regain the No 1 ranking next week and is likely to be the top seed when the US Open draw is made on Wednesday, thanks to a loss by Chile's Marcelo Rios at Indianapolis.

Paes, ranked exactly 100 on the ATP computer and buoyed by his first singles title win at the Hall of Fame grasscourt tournament in Newport, Rhode Island, claimed both service breaks on double faults by Sampras, the first to move ahead 4-2 in the opening set and the last for a 5-4 lead in the second after Sampras saved break points in games five and seven.

Paes almost decided not to play the qualifying event because of a viral infection and fever, and was delighted he made the effort but refused to claim his victory over Sampras as the best moment of his career.

The Indian star, who entered the main draw as a qualifier, also out-aced the American, known for his aces and power play. Paes unleashed seven aces against while Sampras could return only four.

Paes had dropped only six games in advancing past Mark Rosset and Sergi Bruguera in the first two rounds.

The 25-year-old Paes knocked out Swiss Olympic gold medallist Rosset in the opening round 6-3 6-0 and then despatched former French Open champion Bruguera in another one-sided match to set up the clash with Sampras.

RESULTS

3rd Round (seedings in prefix):

Leander Paes (India) bt 1-Pete Sampras (US) 6-3, 6-4, 16-Guillaume Raoux (France) bt 2-Patrick Rafter (Australia) 7-6 (10-8) 6-3, Bohdan Ulihrach (Czech Republic) bt 3-Petr Korda (Czech Republic) 6-7 (6-8) 3-6, 7-Karol Kucera (Slovakia) bt Gustavo Kuerten (Brazil) 6-4 7-5, 5-Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Russia) bt Jan Siemerink (Netherlands) 6-4 6-4, Goran Ivanisevic (Croatia) bt Nicholas Kiefer (Germany) 6-3 7-5

Graf ousted

MONTREAL: Steffi Graf's long comeback got longer when Spain's Magui Serna beat the former world's best 6-4 6-4 in the third round of the $926,250 Canadian Open.

The 26th-ranked Serna used a varied and consistent game plan to beat the seventh seed yesterday, but she was helped by a weak Graf backhand that resulted in a rash of unforced errors.

``So far this year I've beaten (Mary) Pierce, (Jana) Novotna and (Anke) Huber, but this one is very special because for me Steffi has always been the best,'' said Serna.

RESULTS

3rd Round (seedings in prefix):

Magui Serna (Spain) bt 7-Steffi Graf (Germany) 6-4 6-4, 2-Jana Novotna (Czech Republic) bt Silvia Farina (Italy) 6-1 6-4, 1-Martina Hingis (Switzerland) bt Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-3 6-0, 5-Monica Seles (US) bt Yayuk Basuki (Indonesia) 6-3 6-3, Anke Huber (Germany) bt 8-Amanda Coetzer (South Africa) 7-5 7-6 (8-6).

WHAT THEY SAID

It's a great win, fantastic. Pete's one of my all-time heroes as a tennis player and it's almost like a dream come true to beat him. But winning a bronze medal at the Olympics was better. There's something about playing for my country that takes me to another level. It's the way I was raised

-- Leander Paes.

I give him credit. He played well, but I'm not the player I am usually. What I need to do is to go home and take a couple of days off and let the body rest and recharge the batteries. Once the US Open around, I'll be ready. I knew he would be coming in a lot and be frustrating to play, but I was very flat and you can't afford that in this league

-- Pete Sampras