Henman Gets First Win Over Sampras

Britain’s Tim Henman beat Pete Sampras for the first time in his career Thursday night to advance to the quarterfinals of the Tennis Masters Series-Cincinnati at Mason, Ohio. Henman, seeded 15th, won 6-3, 6-4.

“Tim was playing great,” Sampras said. “He was serving great and making unbelievable passing shots. He just outplayed me in just about every area.”

Sampras, the defending champion who was seeded second, had been 6-0 against Henman.

“It’s very satisfying,” Henman said of the breakthrough. “It’s been a long time coming.”

Sampras appeared to struggle throughout the match, at one point calling for a trainer and an aspirin. But he refused to make excuses and said there was no physical problem.

“There’s always a little pain. Today, I think it was in the head,” Sampras said.

In an earlier match, Fernando Vicente rallied for six consecutive points in the third-set tiebreaker to upset No. 16 Mark Philippoussis, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4).

In other third-round matches, No. 4 Gustavo Kuerten beat Stefan Koubek, 1-6, 6-1, 6-2; Todd Martin beat Jonas Bjorkman, 6-2, 6-4; Arnaud Clement beat No. 5 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 6-4, 6-1; and No. 13 Franco Squillari beat Slava Dosedel, 6-4, 7-5.

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Former French Open champion Iva Majoli of Croatia and Sebastien Lareau of Canada have been given wild-card entries into the Sydney Olympics. . . . Amelie Mauresmo of France withdrew from U.S. Open because of back pain.

College Basketball

The NCAA Division I championship cabinet approved the addition of a 65th team to the Division I men’s tournament.

The expansion, the first in the field since 1985, was made to accommodate the addition of the Mountain West Conference, which will have an automatic bid to the tournament next season. Under the new format, two conference winners will play for a 16th seed two days before the tournament begins.

The University of Dayton was approved as the host of the play-in game, which is scheduled for March 13.

Citing use of the Confederate battle symbol in the Georgia state flag, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference asked the NCAA to move three Final Four tournaments out of Atlanta.

SCLC President Martin Luther King III sent a letter to NCAA President Cedric Dempsey urging that the men’s Final Four tournaments in 2002 and 2007 and the women’s tournament in 2003 be shifted from Atlanta unless the Georgia flag is changed.

The NCAA’s executive committee, meeting in Indianapolis, will discuss the letter today.

Twelve players were chosen as the USA Men’s Select basketball team and will compete against the USA Senior National Team next month.

The exhibition game, scheduled for Sept. 2 at Honolulu, will help the national team, comprised of NBA players, prepare for the Sydney Olympics.

Chosen for the select team were: Shane Battier and Jason Williams of Duke; Cory Bradford, Illinois; Nick Collison, Kansas; Joe Forte, North Carolina; Casey Jacobsen, Stanford; Ken Johnson, Ohio State; Terence Morris, Maryland; Troy Murphy, Notre Dame; Jason Richardson, Michigan State; Jamal Tinsley, Iowa State; and Michael Wright, Arizona. Mike Jarvis of St. John’s will be the head coach, assisted by Bob Huggins of Cincinnati.

Forward-center Roy O’Neil, a senior at Ridgecrest Burroughs High, has given an oral commitment to attend USC next fall.

Cincinnati sophomore forward Eugene Land will have reconstructive surgery on his right knee and will sit out the 2000-01 season.

Hockey

The San Jose Sharks re-signed restricted free agent Niklas Sundstrom, avoiding a salary arbitration hearing. Also, the Sharks re-signed free-agent left wing Jarrett Deuling and free-agent defenseman Steve Bancroft.

Defenseman Jason York agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.65 million with the Ottawa Senators moments before an arbitration hearing was to begin. The Senators also signed Derek King to a one-year deal worth $375,000 with a club option at $400,000 for the 2001-02 season.

Former Pittsburgh Penguin defenseman Randy Hillier rejoined the team as one of new coach Ivan Hlinka’s three assistants.

Olympics

Yueling Chen, a 1992 Olympic champion race-walker for China, was cleared to compete for the United States at the Sydney Games in an abrupt reversal by Chinese officials.

A fax to USOC President William Hybl from his Chinese counterpart, Yuan Weimin, cited “existing cooperative relations” between the two Olympic panels for granting permission. It made no mention of the previous refusal.

Jaycie Phelps announced she was withdrawing from next week’s U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials because of knee problems. Phelps, 20, wasn’t even supposed to get this far. She has had chronic knee problems throughout her career, and her left knee was surgically repaired three times. After her last operation, to replace the meniscus in her left knee in 1997, doctors told her she shouldn’t do gymnastics again.

Miscellany

After numerous delays, the arraignment of William “Tank” Black has been scheduled to take place later this month. Federal prosecutors will lay out charges of money and drug laundering against the sports agent on Aug. 22 at Detroit.

Long Beach State’s Bobby Crosby drove in five runs as the USA National Team beat Cuba, 9-1, in the Baseball Week in Haarlem Tournament at Haarlem, Netherlands. . . . Los Angeles defeated San Juan, Puerto Rico, 7-4, to win the junior boys’ division of the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) World Series at Orlando, Fla.

Longtime college coach Jim Criner was named coach of the XFL’s Las Vegas franchise.

Ted Christopher, in his Wynn’s Chevrolet, won his first pole of the year in Featherlite Modified Series, leading the qualifying for the Watkins Glen 125K at Watkins Glen, N.Y.