Agassi Moves Past Sampras to No. 1

Substance caught up with style for Andre Agassi on Monday when he moved past Pete Sampras to take the No. 1 ranking on the Assn. of Tennis Professionals computer for the first time.

It was a quest that began last July, when Agassi was No. 20, 4,061 points behind Sampras and playing in the Canadian Open. Agassi won, then won six more events in the next eight months, including the U.S. and Australian opens. Along the way he had a 55-6 match record.

Sampras was 34-9 with three titles. He had spent 82 consecutive weeks as No. 1 and is 187 points behind Agassi. Sampras holds an 8-7 lead in their series.

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Top-ranked women’s player Steffi Graf pulled out of Germany’s opening match against Japan in the Federation Cup to attend her brother’s wedding.

Football

The Raiders have signed five-time Pro Bowl linebacker Pat Swilling to a one-year contract for just under $1 million, according to a source close to the negotiations. Swilling, 30, could earn as much as $2 million with incentive bonuses.

Former Minnesota Viking running back Keith Henderson, 28, was sentenced to six months of confinement for criminal sexual conduct toward three women. A Minneapolis judge left to Georgia courts the decision on whether to confine Henderson at a workhouse or through home monitoring.

Track and Field

Susen Tiedtke-Greene of Germany, the bronze medalist in the women’s long jump at last month’s World Indoor Championships, was suspended when a random drug test revealed traces of a steroid.

The United States, Greece, Spain, Finland and India have entered bids for the 1997 World Track and Field Championships. Palo Alto is the U.S. candidate.

Basketball

Tommy Prince, a 6-foot-5 guard/forward from Compton Dominguez High, said he plans to accept a scholarship offer to UCLA, pending a qualifying score on the Scholastic Assessment Test. Prince averaged 19 points and seven rebounds last season.

Jeff Schneider, 35, an assistant coach at Washington State, was hired to coach Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which had the worst record (1-26) and computer ranking last season among the 302 Division I schools.

East Carolina will announce today that assistant coach Joe Dooley, 29, will succeed Eddie Payne as head basketball coach. Payne accepted the head coaching job at Oregon State on Friday.

Miscellany

Paul Azinger won the last three holes for a 1-up victory over Fuzzy Zoeller in the first round of the new World Championship of Golf at Lake Oconee, Ga. Mark McCumber had to play 19 holes to defeat Tom Lehman, 1 up.

The International Rowing Federation cleared Canadian Silken Laumann of a doping offense at the Pan American Games but said it could not return her gold medal.