Rusty Sampras Is No Match for No. 1 Agassi in Hanover

Pete Sampras still has a long way to go before reclaiming the No. 1 ranking from Andre Agassi.

With girlfriend Steffi Graf watching, Agassi made Sampras look like a player who has spent too much time away from tennis. Agassi won, 6-2, 6-2, Wednesday at the ATP Tour World Championship at Hanover, Germany.

“I was a touch rusty, but it had a lot to do with Andre,” said Sampras, ranked No. 5. “It’s not an excuse, he clearly outplayed me. . . . He returned incredibly. He hardly missed a shot.”

Agassi acknowledged the one-sided score had something to do with Sampras’ condition. “On my best day I couldn’t beat Pete 2 and 2 if he’s playing what he’s capable of,” Agassi said.

Agassi swamped Sampras with crisp returns and pinpoint passing shots in the tournament featuring the top eight players in the world. Sampras had 29 unforced errors to six for Agassi.

Earlier, No. 4 Thomas Enqvist of Sweden beat No. 6 Nicolas Kiefer of Germany, 6-4, 7-5, in the White Group.

Agassi, who had lost his three previous matches to Sampras, is 2-0 in the round-robin tournament. Sampras is 1-1 and still can advance from the Red Group. The top two from each group of four make the semifinals.

Olympics

The International Olympic Committee released final reform recommendations it plans to submit to the full IOC membership for vote Dec. 11-12 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

A special IOC panel endorsed a series of key proposals, including the appointment of 15 athletes to the IOC and the introduction of an eight-year term of office and reelection process for IOC members.

The report also offered 50 reform recommendations adopted last month by the IOC 2000 Commission--an 80-member task force set up by the IOC in the wake of the Salt Lake City bribery scandal.

Peter Kormann, former Olympic bronze medalist and coordinator for the USA Gymnastics men’s national team since 1996, will coach the U.S team in the 2000 Olympics.

World Sports

British sprinter Doug Walker, the European 200-meter champion, is suing the national and world governing bodies of track and field over a positive drug test. Walker filed suit in the London High Court against UK Athletics and the International Amateur Athletic Federation, alleging breach of contract and lack of jurisdiction.

Austria’s Hermann Maier withstood a blistering second run by Switzerland’s Michael Von Gruenigen to win a men’s skiing World Cup giant slalom at Beaver Creek, Colo. . . . Alexandra Meissnitzer, the women’s World Cup skiing champion last season, flew home to Austria to undergo surgery after tearing ligaments in her left knee at Lake Louise, Canada.

U.S. figure skater Nicole Bobek will be back on the ice Sunday after medical tests showed no serious disease was responsible for her high white blood-cell count, her coach, Kerry Leitch, said.

Miscellany

The condition of Stephan Johnson, who was critically injured during a boxing match last weekend in Atlantic City, N.J., took a turn for the worse, according to his manager Kenneth Woods, but no details were given at the request of the boxer’s mother.

The Galaxy waived seldom-used forward Jose Botello, defender Gabe Eastman and midfielder John Jones to clear room under Major League Soccer’s salary cap and open roster space for collegiate and supplemental draft choices.

Nelson “Butch” Ward, a nationally known bass fisherman, has died of an inflammation of the pancreas. He was 58.

Randy Harvey has the day off. . . .