Korda Outlasts Sampras and Gains Final

With both players staggering from exhaustion and cramps, Petr Korda upset top-ranked Pete Sampras in a marathon match Saturday at Munich, Germany, to earn a shot at the Grand Slam Cup title against Michael Stich.

Korda saved five match points for a 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 7-6 (12-10), 13-11 victory in 4 hours 31 minutes, the second longest match in the Grand Slam Cup’s four-year history.

Stich, ranked No. 2 in the world, rallied to beat Stefan Edberg, 2-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1, in the other semifinal. The victory kept alive his attempt to retain his title.

Korda and Stich are ensured of earning at least $812,500 for making the final of the $6-million event, the richest in the world. Today’s champion will earn $1.625 million.

Football

Nebraska’s Trev Alberts won the Butkus Award as the nation’s top collegiate linebacker.

Alberts, who helped second-ranked Nebraska into an Orange Bowl showdown against No. 1 Florida State, won out over the Seminoles’ Derrick Brooks and UCLA’s Jamir Miller.

Alberts, a 6-foot-4, 240-pound senior, is considered one of the most promising NFL candidates in years. He had 15 sacks among his 96 tackles this season.

The Carolina Panthers want to talk with former Washington Redskin coach Joe Gibbs about coaching the expansion team, but Redskin owner Jack Kent Cooke reportedly has declined to let the Panthers discuss the matter with Gibbs.

Gibbs had two years remaining on a three-year contract when he announced his retirement in March. The contract included a “no competition” provision that Gibbs could not coach against the Redskins in the 1993 and 1994 seasons.

Cody Gross scored on a quarterback sneak with 10 seconds remaining, giving North Alabama a 41-34 victory over Indiana, Pa., in the NCAA Division II title game at Florence, Ala. . . . Jim Ballard threw for two touchdowns in the second half and ran for a third as Mount Union won the Division III title with a 34-24 victory over Rowan in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl at Salem, Va.

Baseball

Dave Winfield of the Minnesota Twins, who got his 3,000th hit this season, has won the Joe Cronin Award for significant achievement. Paul Molitor, the most valuable player in Toronto’s victory in the World Series, was voted the American League’s outstanding designated hitter for 1993.

Golf

Dave Stockton, with a money-winning record and player-of-the-year honors in sight, shot his second consecutive six-under 66 to move into a three-way tie for the second-round lead in the Senior Tour Championship at Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico.

Stockton needs to finish first or second in the season-ending event to surpass the record $1,190,518 by Lee Trevino in 1990.

Stockton goes into today’s final round tied with South African Simon Hobday and Larry Gilbert at 12-under 132.

Boxing

Germany’s Henry Maske retained his International Boxing Federation light-heavyweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision over American David Vedder at Duesseldorf, Germany. Maske improved to 22-0 with 10 knockouts. Vedder is 15-12-3.

Winter Sports

Donna Weinbrecht of West Milford, N.J., returning to the slope where she won the 1992 Olympics moguls in freestyle skiing, won the opening mogul competition of the World Cup season at Tignes, France.

It was Weinbrecht’s first competition since a knee injury that caused her to sit out last season.

Deborah Compagnoni of Italy won her second consecutive World Cup giant slalom at Veysonnaz, Switzerland, despite nearly hitting a gate in the second run. Anita Wachter of Austria, the overall World Cup standings leader, was eliminated after hitting a gate. She leads the giant slalom standings with 360 points to Compagnoni’s 295.

Snow and high winds wiped out the first men’s World Cup downhill race of the season at Val D’Isere, France, and the event was rescheduled for next Friday in Italy.

Markus Prock of Austria won his second World Cup luge race of the season at Igls, Austria, but Americans Wendel Suckow and Duncan Kennedy showed they are ready to challenge the sport’s traditional front-runners.

Prock won with a combined time of 1 minute 39.65 seconds to take the World Cup lead after three events. Suckow, of Marquette, Mich., finished second with a combined time of 1:39.88. Kennedy, of Lake Placid, N.Y., was third in 1:39.91.

Surya Bonaly of France retained her title at the NHK International Figure Skating competition at Chiba, Japan. Bonaly won near perfect marks from the panel of nine international judges.

Peter Ferraro scored a goal and had three assists to lead the U.S. Olympic hockey team to a 7-4 victory over Russia at Memphis, Tenn. Team USA, preparing for the 1996 Winter Olympics, has a 5-1 lead in the seven-game series with Russia.