An hour after he clinched the No....

An hour after he clinched the No. 1 ranking for the third consecutive year, Pete Sampras promptly went out and lost to Wayne Ferreira, 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 6-3, at the ATP Championships in Frankfurt, Germany.

The loss, however, did not affect Sampras’ status in the round-robin event as he already qualified for the semifinals with two earlier victories. His No. 1 ranking was assured when Jim Courier beat Thomas Muster, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, to end the hopes of the only player with a chance to move ahead of Sampras.

Sampras became the first player since Ivan Lendl in 1985-1987 to end the season No. 1 for three consecutive years.

In another match, Thomas Enqvist of Sweden beat Michael Chang, 6-1, 6-4. Courier and Chang, both 1-1, will meet today to decide who will join Enqvist in the semifinals. Ferreira (2-1) must await the outcome of today’s Boris Becker-Yevgeny Kafelnikov match. Becker needs to win in straight sets to advance, otherwise Ferreira goes to the semifinals.

Baseball

The Oakland Athletics ended their three-week search for a new manager by hiring Art Howe, a former skipper of the Houston Astros.

Howe, 48, signed a two-year contract with a club option to renew for a third season. He succeeds Tony La Russa, who left for the St. Louis Cardinals.

“My goal is to try to get us back to that kind of level,” said Howe, who was bench coach for the Colorado Rockies last season, of Oakland’s late 1980s prowess. “I think, given the time, I could do it.”

Dwight Gooden has been recalled by the New York Yankees, after three winter league starts, leaving his club in the Puerto Rican league irate about the departure of its biggest box-office draw.

“It is very upsetting,” Senator General Manager Jose Garcia said in San Juan. “The New York Yankees, again showing how pompous the major leagues can be. . . . We expected, and had him signed, to pitch the whole season.”

Spokesman Rob Butcher of the Yankees said Gooden will return to Puerto Rico after a speaking engagement at a New York high school on Monday. Gooden has been impressive, allowing two runs in 14 innings with 12 strikeouts. His fastball has consistently been clocked in the mid-90 m.p.h. range and his slider was breaking sharply and accurately.

Miscellany

Bill Hybl, the front-runner to be the next president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, could become involved in a conflict-of-interest probe linked to grants from a private foundation he heads. Harry Groves, chairman of the USOC’s ethics oversight panel, said in New York that he was gathering evidence before deciding whether to convene the committee.