Sampras Dominates Agassi for Grand Closure to the ‘90s

Pete Sampras swept rival Andre Agassi, 6-1, 7-5, 6-4, Sunday to win the ATP Tour world championship title at Hanover, Germany, and culminate his domination of the 1990s in superb style.

Sampras was back at his brilliant best after a year dogged by injury, outplaying the man who replaced him as No. 1 in the world while he was sidelined with back problems.

The Wimbledon champion equaled Ivan Lendl’s record of five triumphs in the season-ending event and will climb two places to third in the final 1999 rankings. Sampras had finished 1998 as No. 1 for a record sixth successive year.

Sampras played only one competitive match in the three months before this lucrative tournament and had been crushed, 6-2, 6-2, by Agassi in a round-robin group match Wednesday.

But he delighted the 13,000 fans in the Hanover hall with a fluent display of attacking tennis reminiscent of his demolition of Agassi in this year’s Wimbledon final, to earn $1.38 million in prize money.

“Andre has had a great week,” Sampras said. “I was able to play my best tennis today. I think the match was of a very high level.

“I’d like to congratulate Andre for an unbelievable year. He deserves to be the number one.”

Football

Danny McManus threw two touchdown passes to Darren Flutie to lead the Hamilton Tiger-Cats over the Calgary Stampeders, 32-21, to win the Grey Cup at Vancouver, Canada.

McManus was selected the outstanding player in the Canadian Football League championship game, completing 22 of 34 passes for 347 yards. McManus marched Hamilton on a crucial 69-yard, three-play drive that culminated with a seven-yard throw to Flutie 22 seconds into the fourth to give Hamilton a 32-14 lead.

Soccer

McKinley Tennyson and Sasha Victorine scored goals as UCLA’s men eliminated third-seeded St. Louis, 2-0, in a second-round NCAA tournament game at St. Louis. Unseeded but ranked No. 3, UCLA (18-2) moves onto next week’s quarterfinals against sixth-seeded Virginia at a site and day to be determined.

Tennyson scored the Bruins’ first goal in the 36th minute on a breakaway after receiving a pass from midfielder Pete Vagenas. Victorine made it 2-0 in the 64th minute after poking in his rebound off the crossbar after a free kick by Carlos Bocanegra.

After a 1-1 tie in regulation and overtime, Notre Dame’s women eliminated Nebraska in penalty kicks, 4-3, to advance to Friday’s NCAA tournament semifinals at San Jose. Notre Dame will face top-ranked Santa Clara in one game with Penn State and North Carolina squaring off in the other matchup. . . . Tournament most valuable player Alie Nun scored two goals and Lisa Herman had one as Cypress (27-0) defeated El Camino, 3-0, to win the state junior college women’s championship at Chula Vista.

World Sports

The U.S. Women’s Select hockey team lost to Canada, 3-1, in the opener of the Three Nations Cup at Sherbrooke, Canada. Forward A.J. Mleczko, in her first appearance for the U.S. since playing for the gold medal-winning women’s team at the Nagano Olympics, scored the U.S. team’s lone goal. The U.S. will play Finland today in a tournament that features the top three teams in the world.

Hermann Maier proved a master again on the World Cup skiing circuit, winning a super-G by a 0.94 of a second for his fourth consecutive victory. The Austrian star attacked the treacherous Birds of Prey course at Beaver Creek, Colo., to beat teammate Stephan Eberharter with a time of 1 minute 16.51 seconds.

Mojca Suhadolc of Slovenia, starting from the No. 1 position, raced to her first World Cup super-G victory in a super-G at Lake Louise, Canada, charging down the hard-packed course in 1:15.80 seconds.

Andrey Chermerkin of Russia won two gold medals and Iran’s Hossein Rezazadeh set a world record in the snatch in the men’s over 231-pound class, ending the world weightlifting championships at Piraeus, Greece. Chermerkin won the gold medal in total weight with 1,009 pounds, after hoisting 568 pounds to take the gold in the clean-and-jerk. Rezazadeh lifted 454 pounds in the snatch to set the world record, but he lost the gold medal to Saeed Jaber of Qatar because of lower body weight.

Canada’s Jeremy Wotherspoon gained revenge against Olympic champion Hiroyasu Shimizu of Japan in the 500 meters of the World Cup speedskating at Berlin, winning in a time of 35.83 to Shimizu’s 35.96.

World champion Armin Zoeggeler of Italy won his third consecutive singles race in the World Cup luge at Altenberg, Germany. Zoeggeler, undefeated this year in the World Cup, used the fastest second heat to win in 1:51.363 seconds.

Miscellany

The major league baseball umpires’ union will be able to try to regain the jobs of 22 of its members through a grievance, an arbitrator in New York ruled in rejecting the owners’ attempt to dismiss the case. Arbitrator Alan Symonette will start hearing the case Dec. 13 in Philadelphia, attorneys for umpires and owners said.

The New York Knicks and Rangers are the most valuable NBA and NHL teams, Forbes magazine reports. This week’s issue values the Knicks at $334 million. The Chicago Bulls are next at $307 million, followed by the Lakers at $282 million and the Portland Trail Blazers at $257 million. The least valuable NBA franchise is the Clippers at $103 million with a league-low $23 million in revenue.

The Rangers are valued at $236 million by Forbes, followed by the Philadelphia Flyers at $211 million.

The fourth annual Jesse Owens awards will be given at the USA Track & Field banquet at the Century Plaza Hotel on Thursday. Among the male candidates are sprinter Maurice Green and 400-meter runner Michael Johnson. Top female candidates include sprinter/hurdler Gail Devers, sprinter/long jumper Marion Jones and sprinter Inger Miller. Information is available at (800) 858-8184.