Sampras Serves Up a Japan Open Title

Top-seeded Pete Sampras, wielding an aggressive forehand to go with his big serve, beat fellow American Richey Reneberg, 6-4, 7-5, in the Japan Open final Sunday at Tokyo to win his second tournament in a row.

Sampras regained the world’s top ranking from Thomas Muster by winning a week earlier at Hong Kong. He protected it with his latest triumph, his fourth in eight tournaments this year.

In the women’s final, top-seeded Kimiko Date forced errors with her sharpshooting and speedy retrieving to beat American Amy Frazier, 7-5, 6-4.

*

Muster, of Austria, rolled over another left-hander, Marcelo Rios of Chile, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, to win the Barcelona Open.

Motor Sports

Terry Labonte’s record-setting race was overshadowed by Rusty Wallace, who won the Goody’s Headache Powders 500 for the fourth year in a row.

Labonte, breaking a tie he forged a week earlier with longtime stock car king Richard Petty, drove in his 514th consecutive Winston Cup event, a streak dating to the opening race of the 1979 season.

Although he led as late as lap 414 in the 500-lap event on Martinsville (Va.) Speedway’s .526-mile oval, Labonte had to make a series of pit stops because of a brake fluid leak, and wound up 20 laps off the pace in 24th.

Meanwhile, Wallace, who is NASCAR’s leading driver on tracks shorter than one mile, came back from a mid-race problem of his own and chased down defending Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon. Wallace passed Gordon with 12 laps to go and raced to his 42nd career victory, sixth at Martinsville and first of the season.

Following two near victories this year at Daytona and Sebring, Italians Gianpiero Moretti and Massimiliano Papis finally earned their first Exxon World SportsCar Championship win of the season at the three-hour Grand Prix of Atlanta. Their Ferrari finished two laps and 46.577 seconds ahead of Wayne Taylor in an Oldsmobile R&S; Mk-III.

Kurt Johnson captured his first NHRA pro stock title of the season in a wire-to-wire sprint in the Fram Nationals at Commerce, Ga. Johnson’s Pontiac reached 195.82 mph, beating the Pontiac of points leader Jim Yates. In the top fuel final, 1995 NHRA rookie of the year Larry Dixon beat John Dunn with a time of 6.043 seconds.

Miscellany

The Miami Dolphins are expected to announce this week a contract extension for quarterback Dan Marino that will likely pay him $6 million per year over three years. . . . Marcus Allen has agreed to terms on a new three-year contract with the Kansas City Chiefs, team president and general manager Carl Peterson said.

Mark Lenzi, making a comeback after two years of retirement, won his first U.S. national diving title since 1993 by taking the 3-meter event at the National Diving Championships at Oxford, Ohio. Lenzi, the 1992 Olympic 3-meter springboard champion, defeated former Olympic teammate Kent Ferguson, 692.67-646.02.

Slovakian canoeist Michal Martikan, 16, beat reigning world champion David Heard on the Ocoee River in Tennessee to become the youngest athlete to win a canoe or kayak World Cup race. American Scott Shipley was also a winner.

Forward Pero Vasiljevic, a 6-foot-8 Australian exchange student at Simi Valley High, has given an oral commitment to play basketball for Kansas State.

Scott Ayakatubby and Brian Lewis defeated Adam Johnson and Jose Loiola, 15-6, to win the Association of Volleyball Professionals Open at San Diego.