Sampras Loses, Ivanisevic Wins in Germany

It was like hitting against a wall for Goran Ivanisevic and like running into one for Pete Sampras on Saturday in the semifinals of the German Open at Hamburg.

Sampras, the world’s No. 2 player, served only two aces and made 41 errors in losing to defending champion Andrei Medvedev, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Ivanisevic refused to be worn down by Sergei Bruguera, winning, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3) to set up today’s clay-court final.

Ivanisevic celebrated beating Bruguera, the defending French Open champion who seems to return everything.

“It’s unbelievable for me to beat the best clay-court player in the world,” said Ivanisevic. “With him, the ball always comes back, no matter how you hit it.”

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Top-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and two-time defending champion Conchita Martinez won semifinals in Rome to set up today’s final in the Italian Open.

Sanchez Vicario beat Helena Sukova, 6-3, 6-0, and Martinez beat Mary Pierce, 6-3, 6-3.

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Unseeded Argentine Javier Frana toppled top-seeded Magnus Larsson, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, and second-seeded Thomas Enqvist beat David Wheaton, 7-5, 6-4, in the semifinals of the U.S. Clay Court Championships at Pinehurst, N.C.

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Mississippi defeated USC to oust the defending champions in the first round of the men’s NCAA tournament at Athens, Ga.

The unseeded Rebels advanced to the quarterfinals along with top-seeded Stanford, host and No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Pepperdine and No. 4 UCLA.

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Stanford defeated host Pepperdine, 5-1, and Arizona State defeated USC, 5-2, in the NCAA women’s championships. In today’s quarterfinals, UCLA faces Stanford, Florida plays California, Georgia meets Duke and Arizona State plays Texas.

Auto Racing

Michael Schumacher drove his Benetton-Renault over the Spanish Grand Prix course at Barcelona in 1 minute 21.452 seconds, six-tenths of a second quicker than Jean Alesi’s Ferrari, to win the pole for today’s Formula One race.

Chad Little’s Ford found a groove late in the race and won the New England Chevy Dealers 250, a Grand National race at the New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, by 1.65 seconds over Elton Sawyer.

Boxing

British heavyweight Frank Bruno (39-4) knocked out American Mike Evans (30-11-1) in the second round at Glasgow, Scotland.

A 23-year-old Indonesian boxer, Akbar Maulana, died undergoing surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain after a fight, the Jakarta Post reported.

Cuba’s brash heavyweight Felix Savon, the Olympic champion, won a record fifth gold medal at the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Berlin when his bout against Germany’s Luan Krasniqi was stopped in the second round. “Sure I could beat Mike Tyson and George Foreman, but why?” Savon, 26, said. “I would have to train even harder.”

Miscellany

Kevin Garnett, expected to announce his availability for the NBA draft Monday, scored 10 points and blocked nine shots for an American high school team that beat a select international junior team, 86-77, at Springfield, Mass. . . . China’s Xiong Ni, an Olympic bronze medalist on the 10-meter platform, won the three-meter springboard at the FINA-Alamo Grand Prix diving competition at Ft. Lauderdale, Fla..

Joe (the Toe) Vetrano, the San Francisco 49ers’ first placekicker, died Wednesday at 76. . . . Shaumbe Wright-Fair scored on a 16-yard run in overtime to give Duesseldorf a 33-27 victory over the Scottish Claymores in the World League of American Football in Duesseldorf.