Edberg Tops Sampras, Chang Outlasts Agassi

Third-seeded Stefan Edberg of Sweden rallied to defeat top-ranked Pete Sampras, 6-7 (3-7), 7-5, 7-6 (7-5), to advance to the final of the $1.65-million ATP Championships in Cincinnati.

Edberg will face Michael Chang, who fought off heat-induced nausea and outlasted Andre Agassi, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5, in the other semifinal Saturday.

Sampras, who had 25 aces in the match, used his powerful serve to win the first set, but his first-serve percentage fell and Edberg bounced back.

Edberg won five of the first seven points of the third-set tiebreaker and clinched the match with a return of service. Sampras finished with 16 double-faults.

The Chang-Agassi match took 2 hours 15 minutes, with air temperature around 90 degrees and the hardcourt surface measured at 130 degrees.

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Top-seeded Thomas Muster of Austria breezed through his semifinal match against David Rikl, 6-4, 6-1, in the $300,000 ATP tournament at San Marino, Italy. Renzo Furlan defeated fellow Italian Andrea Gaudenzi, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), in the other semifinal.

Auto Racing

Mark Martin led 92 of 100 laps on the way to an easy victory in the Detroit Gasket 200 Busch Grand National stock car race at Brooklyn, Mich.

Alain Prost of France won his 10th pole position in qualifying for today’s Hungarian Grand Prix at Mogyorod.

Miscellany

An attorney representing Lou Campanelli, former basketball coach at the University of California, said he may file an unlawful termination suit against the university because contract settlement negotiations between the school and the coach have broken down.

Mike McCallum moved closer to a World Boxing Assn. light-heavyweight title shot with a 10-round decision over Glenn Thomas at London.

Jenny Thompson of the United States won gold medals in the 100 butterfly and 400 freestyle relay and Janet Evans won the 400 freestyle at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Kobe, Japan, where Americans won seven of eight races.

Garapan City of Saipan Island will represent the Far East in next week’s Little League World Series. Far East winner Tai Ping of Taiwan was disqualified.