Sampras Moves Closer to No. 1 Ranking

Pete Sampras hates tiebreakers. But he had to love the end result of the one he played at San Jose Saturday at the Sybase Open.

By beating Jan Kroslak, an unseeded 21-year-old from Bratislava, Slovakia, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, Sampras not only moved into today’s final, but he also moved to within a victory of the ATP computer’s No. 1 ranking. To reach the top, the second-ranked Sampras must still beat the winner of the other semifinal match between Andre Agassi and Michael Chang.

“The tiebreaker’s always a crapshoot, and today I got a little lucky,” said Sampras, who survived a scare in the tiebreaker when Kroslak double-faulted twice and lost the last four points.

“He was going for huge second serves the whole match,” Sampras said. “It was only a matter of time before he missed those.”

If Sampras meets Agassi in the final, the winner takes over the No. 1 ranking. If Chang wins the title, Thomas Muster remains No. 1.

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Guy Forget and Cedric Pioline advanced to an all-French final at the Marseille Open in France with semifinal victories.

The seventh-seeded Pioline beat Hendrik Dreekman, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Forget beat Tomas Carbonell of Spain, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6).

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Top-seeded Iva Majoli advanced to the final of her second consecutive tournament, beating Magdalena Maleeva, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, at the Paris Open. It was only the second match of the week for Majoli. She had a first-round bye and a second-round walkover when her opponent was injured.

Julie Halard of France made the Paris final for the second time in three years by beating Silvia Farina of Italy, 6-4, 6-4.

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Fourth-seeded Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia served 14 aces in beating unseeded David Prinosil of Germany, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6), to reach the final of the Dubai Open at Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

In today’s final, Ivanisevic will play 21-year-old Alberto Costa of Spain, who outlasted Javier Sanchez of Spain, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Golf

Brad Faxon birdied seven of the last 10 holes for a 66 and joined Steve Stricker, who also went on a late birdie binge, atop the leaderboard at 207 after three rounds of the Hawaiian Open at the oceanside Waialae Country Club course in Honolulu. Stricker birdied the last three holes.

Jim Furyk had a 69 and was alone at 208. He capped his round with an eagle on the 551-yard 18th.

Isao Aoki of Japan was the only player under par after two rounds of the GTE Suncoast Classic at Lutz, Fla., shooting a five-under 66 for a five-shot lead over a group that included Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus shot a second-round 68.

Aoki, 53, has a three-under 139 on the weather-beaten Tournament Players Club of Tampa Bay course.

Aoki’s 66 was the day’s low round, matched only by John Paul Cain, who had shot an 86 on the first day.

Pro Football

The Jacksonville Jaguars, last in the NFL with only 17 sacks last year, took a big step toward improving their pass rush by signing Bears’ defensive end Alonzo Spellman to an offer sheet.

The Bears designated Spellman as a transition player on Friday, meaning they have seven days to match the offer. The Florida Times-Union reported the Jaguars offered Spellman a four-year deal worth between $2.8 million and $3 million a year, with much of it up front to make it difficult for the Bears to match.

Spellman, a first-round pick by the Bears in 1992, had seven sacks after replacing Richard Dent in 1994, and followed it up with 8 1/2 sacks last year.

The Washington Redskins re-signed wide receiver Henry Ellard, the sixth leading pass catcher in NFL history, and defensive tackle Marc Boutte to undisclosed contracts.

Winter Sports

Austria’s Patrick Ortlieb, built more like a football player than a skier, used that size and strength to win the men’s downhill in the World Alpine Skiing Championships at Sierra Nevada, Spain.

Having already won the downhill in the 1992 Winter Olympics, the 28-year-old Austrian became, with Saturday’s victory, only the fifth man to win the downhill in skiing’s two biggest events. The last was Bernhard Russi of Switzerland, in the 1970 world championships and the 1972 Olympics.

The 220-pound Ortlieb finished in 2 minutes 00.17 seconds, hitting a top speed of 80 mph. Italy’s Kristian Ghedina was second in 2:00.44.

Defending Olympic downhill champion Tommy Moe of the United States, attempting to come back from a major knee injury suffered a year ago, was 21st in 2:03.05.

Christine Witty of the United States led the women’s competition at the 27th World Sprint Speedskating Championships at Heerenveen, Netherlands, by dominating the 1,000 meters in 1:20.63. Witty had finished only eighth in the 500, which was won by Svetlana Zhurova of Russia in 39.85 seconds.

World luge champion Jana Bode of Germany and doubles teammates Stefan Krausse and Jan Behrendt won their final respective World Cup races at Oberhof, Germany to clinch the season titles.

Swimming

Frederik Deburghgraeve of Belgium set a short-course record in the 100-meter breaststroke at Bastogne, Belgium, becoming the first Belgian to hold a world swimming record since Elise Vandenbogaert-Lamot in 1922.

The reigning European champion was timed in 59.02 seconds during an international meet, bettering the mark of 59.07 set by Phil Rogers of Australia.

Boxing

Unbeaten Philip Holiday of South Africa retained his IBF lightweight title by stopping American John Lark in the 10th round at Pretoria, South, Africa.

The victory improved Holiday’s record to 27-0, while Lark fell to 22-5.

Henry Maske of Germany (29-0, 12 knockouts) survived a furious second round by Duran Williams (16-1-1, 11 knockouts) at Dortmund, Germany, then pounded out a unanimous decision over the Jamaican-born fighter to retain his International Boxing Federation light heavyweight title.

Soccer

Tisha Venturini and Tiffeny Milbrett scored first-half goals to lead the U.S. women’s soccer team to a 3-0 victory over Sweden at Houston.

Miscellany

Former Florida State football star and assistant coach Wayne McDuffie, 52, was found dead Friday night at his home at Tallahassee, Fla. “It looks like a suicide,” said a police spokesman.

McDuffie, most recently the offensive coordinator at Georgia, had been out of work since December.

Track and Field

The Pasadena Muir boys’ track team broke two of its own national indoor high school records at the Simplot Games in Pocatello, Idaho. The school’s 1,600-meter relay team of Xavier Savant, Makio Haywood, Shaheed McCullough, and Obea Moore won the event in 3:14.84, shattering the record of 3:16.97 set in 1995. Its sprint medley relay team of Savant, Stewart Holmes, Sulton McCullough and Moore won in 3:27.80, breaking the record of 3:27.90 set last year.