Sampras Simply Can’t Stomach Another Defeat

When Pete Sampras hit his best backhand of the day on the biggest point of the match, he did not raise a fist, shout or otherwise celebrate.

Instead, he slowly walked to his changeover chair and threw up.

Sampras overcame an upset stomach and an upset bid by 19-year-old Andreas Vinciguerra of Sweden on Sunday, winning, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-4, in the third round in the Ericsson Open at Key Biscayne, Fla.

The performance was reminiscent of Sampras’ victory in the 1996 U.S. Open quarterfinals, when he threw up during a dramatic fifth-set tiebreaker against Alex Corretja. “I’m 2-0 in those matches,” Sampras said with a smile. “It’s all a ploy.”

Sampras got sick to his stomach after hitting a cross-court backhand for a clean winner to break Vinciguerra’s serve and take a 4-3 lead in the final set. Sampras then routinely won his final two service games, punctuating the victory with his 21st ace.

He blamed the stomach ailment not on the warm, humid afternoon but on medication for his back, which he strained earlier this month.

“It just kind of came on in the third set, and after I threw up, I felt fine,” Sampras said. “I was in much worse condition when it happened at the Open.”

Sampras advanced to a fourth-round match against Greg Rusedski of Britain, who defeated Byron Black of Zimbabwe, 6-1, 7-6 (4).

Martina Hingis of Switzerland, Lindsay Davenport and Serena Williams won women’s third-round matches. The No. 1-seeded Hingis defeated Anne-Gaelle Sidot of France, 6-0, 6-3. No. 2 Davenport defeated Silvija Talaja of Croatia, 6-2, 6-2. No. 5 Williams eliminated Ai Sugiyama of Japan, 6-3, 6-0. No. 13 Jennifer Capriati beat Chanda Rubin, 6-1, 6-3.

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An airline crew said Anna Kournikova and her mother caused a commotion during an American Airlines flight from Dallas to Miami on March 19, forcing the pilot and police to intervene.

The crew told police that Kournikova refused to put her miniature Doberman pinscher in its carrying case, as FAA rules require, Miami-Dade police Maj. Mike Hammersmith said. The incident was referred to the FBI. According to the police report, when Kournikova and her mother, Alla, argued with flight attendants about the dog, the pilot became involved. At the crew’s request, police met the plane when it landed in Miami and by then the dog was back in the case. Both denied refusing to put the dog in the case, Hammersmith said. “They said the flight crew was being obnoxious with them and treated them rudely,” he said.

Kournikova flew to Florida to participate in the Ericsson Open, where she won her third-round match against Natasha Zvereva of Belarus, 6-1, 6-4.

Pro Football

No one in the NFL questions that the league’s image has been damaged by off-field violence. But as the league begins its annual meeting today at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., few executives know what to do about it.

“You can’t legislate good behavior anywhere in society,” Bill Polian, president of the Indianapolis Colts, said. “What you can do is penalize bad behavior.”

Along with the annual discussion of instant replay, the owners, general managers, coaches and other club officials will spend part of this week dealing with a troublesome and persistent problem--acts of violence by NFL players.

Figure Skating

Russian pairs champions Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze withdrew from the World Figure Skating Championships after Berezhnaya failed a drug test. The withdrawal came a day before they were to begin their short program.

The drug test could jeopardize their European title, won in Austria on Feb. 9, when Berezhnaya gave the sample. Berezhnaya said the substance, identified by officials as a stimulant, was taken inadvertently to treat bronchitis, the International Skating Union said. She declined an option for a second test, which if negative would have allowed the Russians to compete.

Withdrawals for banned substances are rare in figure skating--but there was a second--another pair much lower in the rankings, Natalia Ponomareva and Yevgeny Sviridov of Uzbekistan. Sviridov also tested positive for stimulants, the ISU said.

Miscellany

Kirsten Clark of Raymond, Maine, maintained her mastery at Jackson Hole, Wyo., adding a super-G title to the downhill crown she won two days earlier at the U.S. Alpine Ski Championships. Clark, timed in 1 minute 23.50 seconds, won easily, beating Julia Mancuso, 16, of Tahoe City, Calif., by more than a second. . . . At Newry, Maine, North American moguls champion Hannah Hardaway won her second U.S. title in two days. . . . Former WBC lightweight champion Cesar Bazan got up from a second-round knockdown to stop Jose Luis Baltazar in the seventh round of a scheduled 10-round junior-welterweight bout Saturday night at the L.A. Casino in Huntington Park. . . . Angel Carbajal, the 27-year-old brother of former world light-flyweight champion Michael Carbajal, was shot to death outside a bar in Phoenix after getting in an alleged gang-related fight early Sunday, police said.