Australian Open Boycott Threat Apparently Over

Tennis Australia has reached an amicable agreement with the WTA Tour board and averted a boycott of January’s Australian Open, Geoff Pollard, the organization’s president, said in Melbourne.

Pollard released a statement Thursday saying he reached a settlement with Karen Feldman, executive director of the WTA Tour Players Assn., during the WTA Tour Championships in New York.

Most of the players, however, indicated that the decision whether to boycott has not been made, though some didn’t appear too convincing.

“I think there’s a lot of disadvantages to a boycott,” Lindsay Davenport said. “It’s a Grand Slam tournament, and I think it’s going to be damaging for the tournament and for the tour too.

“For sure, I think the players will play,” said Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain. “It’s a very important tournament. I am looking forward to playing the Australian Open.”

Pollard said that the women, who had protested they were not being paid the same money as the men under a new prize-money structure, still would receive a 6% increase--but it will be distributed proportionally to all women players. The men will receive an increase of 17%.

Tennis Australia previously had said it would give the men’s and women’s finalists equal prize money, but other women would receive less than males reaching the same round of competition. That would have meant an increase of only 3% for all women with the exception of the finalists.

Total prize money for the Australian Open, which starts Jan. 15, is $6.75 million--an overall increase of 11% from last year.

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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 defeated 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 defeated Michael Chang, 6-1, 6-4. Courier and Chang, both 1-1, will meet today to decide who will join Enqvist in the semifinals.

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Top-seeded Steffi Graf survived a baseline slugfest and defeated Mary Joe Fernandez, 6-3, 6-4, to earn a spot in the semifinals of the WTA Championships.

Graf will face defending champion Gabriela Sabatini or surprising Natasha Zvereva, who play their quarterfinal match tonight.

Also grabbing a spot in the semifinals was Anke Huber of Germany, who defeated sixth-seeded Kimiko Date of Japan, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

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.

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.

The Southeast Wisconsin Professional Baseball District approved increasing the sales tax in five area counties by 0.1% percent to pay for a new stadium for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Miscellany

Baltimore running back Mike Pringle, who played at Cal State Fullerton, was selected Canadian Football League player of the year, ending a four-year run by Calgary quarterback Doug Flutie.

Two-time world champion Elvis Stojko opened his season with a third-place finish in the men’s event while Canadian compatriot Josee Chouinard took the women’s title at the Trophy de France skating competition in Bordeaux. Stojko finished behind European champion Ilya Kulik of Russia and Frenchman Eric Millot. Chouinard held off world champion Chen Lu of China to win the women’s event.

Germany’s Martina Ertl flashed past teammate Katja Seizinger to win a super-giant slalom in Vail, Colo., by 57-hundredths of a second in 1:22.49 in the first women’s World Cup ski race of the season. Italy’s Isolde Kostner was third. American Picabo Street (1:23.96) had a rough ride and was 11th.

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.

Petter Ronningen, a Norwegian credited with much of the success enjoyed by the 1994 Winter Games at Lillehammer, has been hired to advise the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee.