Sampras Struggles but Still Reaches Queen’s Club Final

It was Queen’s Club, not Wimbledon, but it was on grass and Pete Sampras is judged more harshly by how he plays on his favorite surface.

The judgment Saturday in London after his less-than-impressive, 7-5, 6-3, victory over Davide Sanguinetti is that Sampras has to play better to successfully defend his Wimbledon title.

Sampras was as harsh as his judges.

“I didn’t play all that well, but I got through it,” he said. “It’s grass-court tennis. It’s a good match to get through. I’ll need to serve a little better.”

He served 16 aces in defeating Sanguinetti to advance to today’s final against Lleyton Hewitt, a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Gianluca Pozzi.

Leading, 5-2, in the second set, Sampras needed eight match points over two games before finally closing.

Hewitt, a 19-year-old Australian, lost to Sampras in last year’s Queen’s semifinals, but has won three tournaments already this year.

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David Prinosil of Germany, a wild-card entry, gambled on nearly every shot and defeated top-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 6-4, 7-6 (4), to reach the final at the Gerry Weber Open at Halle, Germany.

Prinosil, not ranked among the top 100, will play Richard Krajicek for the title. Krajicek defeated Michael Chang, 6-2, 6-1, in only 53 minutes in the other semifinal.

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Lisa Raymond overpowered top-seeded Nathalie Tauziat, 6-4, 6-2, in a semifinal of the DFS Classic women’s tournament in Birmingham, England. Raymond, who had an 0-7 record against Tauziat before Saturday, advanced to the final against Tamarine Tanasugarn, who defeated Cara Black, 7-6 (0), 6-1, in the other semifinal.

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Iroda Tulyaganova, playing in her home country, became the first player from Uzbekistan to reach a WTA final when Sarah Pitkowski withdrew from the Tashkent Open. Tulyaganova, the Wimbledon junior champion last year, will face Francesca Schiavone for the title. Schiavone defeated Yi Jing-Qian, 6-2, 7-6 (3).

Swimming

Tom Malchow, of St. Paul, Minn., set a world record in the 200-meter butterfly at Charlotte, N.C., swimming 1 minute 55.18 seconds to break the mark set by Denis Pankratov of Russia in 1995 by .04 of a second.

Germany’s Sandra Voelker set a world record in the 50-meter backstroke, clocking 28.25 seconds at Berlin to wipe out the previous mark of Japan’s May Nakamura by .52 seconds.

Auto Racing

Brazilian Tony Kanaan crashed into a wall during the second day of qualifying for the Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit and was hospitalized with a broken left arm, punctured left lung, broken ribs and a mild concussion. Kanaan, driving a Reynard-Mercedes, slid into the wall in Turn 7, coming off a long straightaway on the 2.3-mile, 14-turn course.

Juan Montoya took the pole position with a 115.604-mph lap, the same as Dario Franchitti’s best. The tie was broken by Montoya’s second-fastest lap, 115.195 mph, slightly better than Franchitti’s 115.139.

Greg Ray’s 179.874-mph lap shattered the track qualifying record at Pikes Peak International Raceway at Fountain, Colo., to earn the pole for today’s Radisson 200, an IRL event. It topped the previous qualifying standard of 178.571 mph set by Billy Boat in 1998 when cars had 4.0-liter engines, compared to this season’s 3.5-liter powerplants.

Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari beat David Coulthard’s McLaren-Mercedes by 0.098 seconds in Montreal to take his third pole of the season, that of the Grand Prix of Canada.

Gary Scelzi, seeking a record fourth consecutive victory and fifth of the season, led top-fuel qualifying in the NHRA’s Pontiac Excitement Nationals at Kirkersville, Ohio, with a speed of 313.73 mph at 4.651 seconds.

Greg Biffle took the lead on lap 108 of 150 and held the lead through three restarts to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ inaugural Kroger 225 at the new Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky. . . . Jeff Green won the Busch Grand National Myrtle Beach (S.C.) 250 by 1.029 seconds over Kevin Harvick. . . . Kerry Earnhardt, the son of Dale, hung on to win the Pocono ARCA 200 at Long Pond, Pa., for the first victory of his career.

Audi was living up to its favorite billing after nine hours of the Le Mans 24-Hour race, filling the first three places, and Mario Andretti’s Panoz remained in contention in fourth.

Miscellany

Chandra Sturrup of the Bahamas won the 100 meters at the Pontiac Grand Prix meet in Raleigh, N.C., in 11.09 seconds, then rushed over to the long jump pit and beat workout partner Marion Jones with a leap of 21 feet 11 3/4 inches.

Jones leaped 21-6 twice.

Jones’ husband, C.J. Hunter, won the shotput at 71-8 3/4, best in the world this year.

Sydney Olympic officials are playing down television reports from the U.S. that Islamic terrorists are planning to target the Games in September. After reports that supporters of Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden have been on reconnaissance in Sydney, Australian security officials were warned the Olympic Games were one of his top targets.

Finland’s Mika Koivuniemi won the American Bowling Congress Masters in Albuquerque, beating Hall of Famer Pete Weber, 236-235, in the championship game.