Sampras Works Less Than an Hour in Victory Over Agassi

Pete Sampras knew it would be a good day from the start. And that made it a bad day for Andre Agassi at the Eurocard Open tennis tournament at Stuttgart, Germany.

Sampras beat Agassi, 6-4, 6-1, in 57 minutes Friday, winning his third consecutive match between the two.

“No matter what I tried, everything went in,” Sampras said. “These are the days you dream of. To play all the way through like that--I can’t think of when that’s happened.”

The world’s top-ranked player ran his record against Agassi to 11-8 and remains untested in an event that started with 29 of the world’s top 30 players.

Sampras next faces Jan Siemerink in today’s semifinals. The unseeded Dutchman upset Croatia’s Goran Ivanisevic, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).

Boris Becker yielded only six points on his serve in beating Sweden’s Magnus Gustafsson, 6-2, 6-2. Becker plays Michael Chang in the other semifinal. Chang, ranked No. 2, won a baseline duel with Chile’s Marcelo Rios, 6-4, 6-3.

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Top-seeded Anke Huber of Germany defeated unseeded doubles specialist Natasha Zvereva of Belarus, 6-1, 6-3, and advanced to the semifinals of the Seat Luxembourg Open. Third-seeded Barbara Paulus of Austria also advanced, rallying past seventh-seeded Sabine Appelmans of Belgium, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Paulus will play fifth-seeded Karina Habsudova of Slovakia in the other semifinal.

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Top-seeded Brenda Schultz-McCarthy of the Netherlands was knocked out of the Bell Challenge tournament at Quebec City by Lisa Raymond of the United States, 6-0, 7-6 (7-2).

In other quarterfinal matches, Tami Whitlinger Jones defeated fellow American Kimberly Po, 1-6, 6-4, 7-5, and Els Callens of Belgium defeated Florencia Labat of Argentina, 6-4, 6-4.

Golf

Hale Irwin shot an eight-under-par 63 for a one-stroke lead over defending champion Bob Charles in the Kaanapali Classic in Hawaii.

Irwin, only $11,001 behind playing partner Jim Colbert for the Senior PGA Tour earnings lead, opened the 54-hole tournament with five birdies in six holes on the back nine of the Kaanapali Resort’s North Course. Colbert shot a 77.

Teams from the U.S. and Japan LPGA tours each won four matches and were tied after the first round of the Nichirei International at Ami, Japan

Australian Karrie Webb, rookie of the year and leading money-winner on the U.S. LPGA Tour, and teammate Michelle McGann defeated Aki Nakano and Kaori Higo by two strokes with a seven-under 65 on the Ami Golf Club course.

Auto Racing

Winston Cup stock car points leader Terry Labonte broke a bone in his left hand in a crash during the opening practice session for the Dura-Lube 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Labonte, who is still planning to drive in Sunday’s race, got a break when high wind and blowing sand forced NASCAR officials to postpone the start of qualifying until today.

Ari Vatanen of Finland became the first--and last--person to win the 555 Hong Kong-Beijing rally twice.

Only 43 seconds separated Vatanen from runner-up Richard Burns of Britain after the 2,356-mile event. The rally, first held in 1985, will be run in a different format next year.

Boxing

The World Boxing Council extended until Jan. 26 a deadline to set a date and venue for a heavyweight title bout between Britain’s Lennox Lewis and Oliver McCall of the United States.

The Lewis-McCall fight was originally scheduled for Dec. 7, but the deadline will now be extended 30 days, the WBC board ruled.

Track and Field

Pole vaulter Don Bragg, nicknamed “Tarzan” because of his size and strength, and three others were voted into the Track and Field Hall of Fame.

Also elected were shotputter Dallas Long and coaches Vern Wolfe and Cleve Abbott.

Wolfe, 74, coached USC to seven indoor and outdoor NCAA titles from 1963-84. While with the Trojans, he produced six Olympic gold medalists, among them Long.

Bragg, 61, was the 1960 Olympic champion and the steel pole era’s last great vaulter.

Vaulter Earle Meadows was selected by USA Track and Field’s seniors’ subcommittee, which previously had chosen steeplechaser Joe McCluskey and the late sprinter Walter Tewksbury.

Miscellany

The president of Greece, still bitter over the selection of Atlanta as the site of the Centennial Olympics, said if Athens doesn’t get the 2004 games, the country should never bid for another Olympics.

Costis Stephanopoulous made his remarks to Thomas Bach, who heads the panel assessing the bids of the 11 candidate cities for the 2004 Olympics.

The IOC will select a host city next September.

The U.S. Olympic Committee said it will budget $8 million over the next four years to help “endangered Olympic sports” in a cooperative effort with the NCAA.

USOC and NCAA officials said the effort would be aimed at the conference level rather than at individual schools.

The USOC decided to start the program in the wake of decisions by many schools to drop Olympic sports such as wrestling and men’s gymnastics because of financial constraints.

Memo Gracida, 13-time U.S. Polo Open winner, will play for Piocho Ranch when it meets Windsor Capital at noon Sunday in the championship game of the U.S. Polo Assn.’s Pacific Coast Open at the Santa Barbara Polo Club.

Jurisprudence

Brigham Young basketball star Bryon Ruffner was charged with felony theft and left school.

Ruffner, 26, was among seven people charged in 4th District Court with bilking a Provo (Utah) company out of more than $200,000.

Ruffner also is accused in a civil complaint filed in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City stemming from the alleged scam.

Ruffner, a 6-foot-6 senior forward, said he withdrew from school for personal reasons, according to a statement released through BYU’s athletic department.

A federal judge in Chicago denied learning-disabled swimmer Chad Ganden’s request to compete for Michigan State this weekend while he sues the NCAA over his eligibility.

U.S. District Judge Blanche Manning said she did not believe Ganden would be irreparably harmed by sitting out the meet Sunday at Northwestern.