Sampras Struggles in Third Set but Beats Martin

Pete Sampras overcame another steamy afternoon and a troublesome third set Thursday to beat Todd Martin in a 2-hour 36-minute match at the ATP Championship in Mason, Ohio.

Sampras dodged eight break points in the third set, twice coming back from 0-40, to advance to the quarterfinals with a 6-7 (7-2), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) victory.

While Sampras had the closest match of the seeded players who advanced to the today’s quarterfinals, top-seed Andre Agassi had the weirdest.

Agassi, No. 1 in the world, beat 16th-seeded Alberto Berasategui, 6-0, 0-6, 6-2.

Two-time champion Michael Chang, seeded fourth, beat Patrick Rafter of Australia, 7-5, 6-1; No. 6 Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia beat Brett Steven of New Zealand, 6-4, 6-4; No. 8 Michael Stich of Germany beat Patrick McEnroe, 7-6, 6-3; No. 13 Thomas Enqvist of Sweden beat Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands, 6-2, 6-3; and No. 11 Jim Courier beat Bernd Karbacher of Germany, 7-5, 6-2. Unseeded Renzo Furlan of Italy upset No. 7 Wayne Ferreira of South Africa, 7-6 (7-2), 4-6, 7-6 (7-5).

Jurisprudence

One week after Alabama was put on NCAA probation, a businessman claimed he did financial favors for Crimson Tide football and basketball players.

Boyd Sutherland told the Associated Press he sold thousands of dollars worth of custom wheels and tires to players on credit without collecting the debts. He also said he has paid overdue notes for players, given them special treatment by guaranteeing loans with finance companies, and given them merchandise.

A Southeastern Conference official declined comment.

An NCAA spokeswoman said she didn’t know whether investigators looked into Sutherland’s claims during their lengthy review of the Alabama athletic program.

Olympics

Atlanta apartment resident Dan Boling got the news in a note shoved under his door: The landlord was subleasing his $475-a-month apartment to Olympic visitors for $3,000 a month.

Tenants have a choice of paying $3,000-a-month rent from May through August 1996, or moving out and receiving a share of the sublease money.

The plan by Intown Properties Inc. has been condemned as rent gouging by politicians, editorial writers, other landlords and the head of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games.

Swimming

Jeff Rouse won the 100-meter backstroke, and Brooke Bennett upset Australia’s Haley Lewis in the women’s 1,500 freestyle in the first day of the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships at Atlanta.

Rouse of Fredericksburg, Va., finished in 54.99 seconds while winning the Pan Pacific event for the fourth consecutive time. He joins Janet Evans as the only four-time winner of an event. She won the 400 freestyle four times.

Bennett, 15, of Tampa, Fla., won the 1,500 in 16 minutes 15.58 seconds, 0.15 seconds ahead of Lewis.

Miscellany

Beth Daniel and Jane Geddes shot seven-under-par 65s to share a one-stroke first-round lead in the $450,000 LPGA Ping-Welch’s Championship in Canton, Mass.

Ten weeks after a horrifying crash in the Indianapolis 500, race driver Stan Fox was released from a rehabilitation hospital and returned to his Wisconsin home.

Terry Franson will take a one-year leave of absence as Azusa Pacific’s track and field coach to concentrate on his duties as athletic director.

Tom Kendall of Manhattan Beach set a qualifying record of 1 minute 10.622 seconds (124.89 m.p.h.), for Saturday’s Trans-Am race at Watkins Glen, N.Y., beating Scott Pruett’s 1994 record of 1:11.305 (123.69 m.p.h.).

Nine weeks after she resumed diving following elbow surgery, Doris Glenn Easterly, 20, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., won her first national title in the women’s one-meter at the Phillips 66 National Championship at Bartlesville, Okla.

Indianapolis 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve, 24, the brightest new star on the IndyCar PPG Cup circuit, will compete in the Formula One World Driving Championship next year. The Canadian has five victories in 27 starts, including four in 13 races this season and leads Bobby Rahal by 30 points with four races remaining in the PPG championship series.

Holly McPeak and Nancy Reno, who have won the last five tournaments on the Women’s Professional Beach Volleyball Tour, are top-seeded and favored to win the Long Beach Invitational that begins today at 10 a.m. on the Promenade.

On the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour, top-ranked Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh will head the field in the 64-team $100,000 Miller Lite Manhattan Beach Open starting today near the pier.