Sampras Not His Best, but He Reaches Final

Pete Sampras defeated Jan Siemerick of Holland, 6-3, 6-4, on Saturday to reach the Eurocard Open tennis tournament finals at Stuttgart, Germany.

Sampras will meet sixth-seeded Boris Becker, who upset No. 2 Michael Chang, 6-4, 6-3, in today’s final.

Sampras struggled against Siemerick, one day after playing what he called his best match against Andre Agassi.

“Maybe it wasn’t a show like yesterday, but it wasn’t bad,” Sampras said.

*

Anke Huber of Germany reached her third final in four weeks, defeating 17-year-old Anne-Gaelle Sidot of France, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), in the semifinals of the Seat Luxembourg Open.

In the championship match, Huber will play Slovakia’s Karina Habsudova, who edged Barbara Paulus of Austria, 5-7, 7-5, 6-3.

*

Lisa Raymond and Belgium’s Els Callens used straight-set victories to advance to the Bell Challenge final at Quebec City.

Raymond defeated fellow American Tami Whitlinger-Jones, 6-3, 6-4, and Callens upset second-seeded Elena Likhovtseva of Russia, 6-0, 6-4.

Golf

Bob Charles, seeking his third Kaanapali Classic title, had two front-nine eagles in a six-under-par 65 for a share of the second-round lead with Hale Irwin in Hawaii.

The U.S. LPGA Tour team won seven of nine matches to take a five-point lead over the Japan tour team after two rounds of the Nichirei International tournament at Ami, Japan.

Motor Racing

A less-than-spectacular qualifying run by injured Winston Cup stock car points leader Terry Labonte overshadowed brother Bobby Labonte’s record-breaking effort in winning the pole for the Dura-Lube 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Terry Labonte, who broke a bone in his left hand during practice Friday, qualified 30th in the 44-car field at 128.793 mph.

Bobby Labonte earned his third pole of the season and the sixth of his career, turning a lap-record 131.076.

Jack Sprague held off Johnny Benson Jr. to win the GM Goodwrench-Delco Battery 300 at Phoenix.

Skiing

Katja Seizinger of Germany, last year’s overall World Cup champion, won a women’s giant slalom race at Soelden, Austria.

Seizinger, who was timed in 2 minutes 11.81 seconds, overcame a .14-second deficit to beat Deborah Compagnoni of Italy (2:11.93).

A shortfall in anticipated corporate sponsorship has forced officials to cut $1.15 million from the U.S. Ski Team budget.

Bill Marolt, who became U.S. Skiing’s chief executive officer on Sept. 1, said the remaining budget of $14.6 million will pay expenses for elite athletes, but about 20 on the developmental “C” team would lose funding.

Triathlon

Belgium’s Luc Van Lierde won the Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Hawaii in record time on his first attempt at the 140.6-mile distance and despite a three-minute penalty at the start of the run.

His time was an unofficial 8 hours 4 minutes 11 seconds, breaking the record of 8:07:45 set by Mark Allen in 1993.

Paula Newby-Fraser won her eighth women’s title, also despite a three-minute penalty at the start of the run.

Names in the News

Left tackle Ken Ruettgers returned to Green Bay’s active roster and will be eligible to play today against Tampa Bay after recovering from a knee injury. The Packers put wide receiver Robert Brooks on injured reserve. . . . James “Bruiser” Flint signed a four-year contract worth about $1.4 million as the Massachusetts men’s basketball coach. . . . Jeannie Longo of France broke the women’s one-hour cycling world record at Mexico City’s Olympic Sports Center track. Longo completed 145 laps for a total of 29.92 miles. Yvonne McGregor of Britain set the previous mark of 29.46 miles in 1995. . . . Canada’s Kurt Browning won the U.S. Pro Figure Skating Championships in Albany, N.Y., after Brian Boitano withdrew because of a hip injury. Kristi Yamaguchi won the women’s title. . . . A Newark woman who beat and shoved the mother of Olympic fencer Peter Westbrook off a city bus in 1993 was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Fannie Simmons, 32, pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in the death of Mariko Westbrook, 65.