Sampras’ Title Drought at 16 After Loss to Haas

Tommy Haas defeated Pete Sampras, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, on Sunday in the final of the Hamlet Cup at Commack, N.Y., extending Sampras’ streak of not winning a title to 16 tournaments.

Sampras, who has a record 13 Grand Slam titles, praised Haas.

“Give him credit,” Sampras said. “He served well. I played a loose game. I had only six aces, and you can’t do that on a fast court.”

Sampras, competing in his third final this year, has not won a tournament since Wimbledon in 2000.

But he said he was satisfied with his game heading into this week’s U.S. Open.

“My body feels good, and I played pretty well the whole week,” he said. “I needed matches, and I hit my stride.”

The victory was the second of the year and third in the career of the 23-year-old from Germany.

“It was a great way to win a tournament, beating a player like Pete,” Haas said. “I’ve been serving well all week and hope to do the same in the U.S.Open.”

Haas took a 2-1 lead and closed out the first set with an ace. Sampras had 11 unforced errors.

Sampras had two breaks and charged to a 4-1 lead en route to winning the second set.

Haas took charge in the third set, breaking in the second game and moving out to a 3-0 advantage.

Skiing

Olympic and World Cup champion skier Hermann Maier’s condition improved at Salzburg, Austria, one day after seven hours of surgery to repair his broken right leg.

Dr. Alois Karlbauer said the danger of an amputation of the Austrian skier’s leg appears to have been averted.

Maier was on a motorcycle Friday when he collided with a car and landed in a ditch.

Doctors put Maier’s broken bones back into position and secured them with pins.

Paint chips found inside the wound and bone raised concerns that the leg might become infected.

However, doctors said Maier was recovering and doubted there will be a need for amputation.

“He has seen for himself that his leg is still there and that he can move his toes,” surgeon Arthur Trost said.

Cycling

Three-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong dropped out of Zurich Championship at Zurich, Switzerland, after 25 miles.

The reason for Armstrong’s withdrawl was not immediately known.

He was expected to return to the U.S. today and will not compete in Europe again this season as he awaits the birth of his twin daughters in early December.

Paolo Bettini of Italy sprinted ahead of Olympic champion Jan Ullrich to win.

Erik Dekker of the Netherlands finished fifth to increase his lead in the World Cup series with two races remaining.

Rowing

Romania won the men’s eights, ending a three-year run by the U.S. men in the event at the Rowing World Championships at Lucerne, Switzerland.

The U.S. team finished fourth. Britain, the Olympic champion, placed fifth.

Australia won the women’s eights and set a new senior world record in the lightweight quadruple sculls (6:29.68).

The U.S. finished second.

Soccer

Goalkeepers Jose Fernandez of New England and Adin Brown of Tampa Bay dominated as the Revolution and Mutiny battled to a scoreless double-overtime tie in a MLS game at Tampa, Fla.

The Revolution (7-12-6) moved within four points of Dallas for the final playoff berth.

Tampa Bay (4-18-2) became the first team eliminated from postseason contention.

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Manchester United midfielder David Beckham suffered a groin injury in a match against Aston Villa at Birmingham, England, raising concerns about his availability for England’s World Cup qualifier against Germany in Munich on Saturday.

University Games

U.S. swimmer Peter Marshall won his second gold medal, and the U.S. men’s basketball team remained undefeated at the World University Games at Beijing.

Marshall, the 100-meter backstroke champion, finished in a dead-heat with Poland’s Mariusz Siembida in the 50 backstroke in 25.79 seconds.

Kevin Clements finished second to Igor Snitko (3:51.94) of Ukraine by 0.01 in the 400 freestyle.

Igor Martchenko won the 100 butterfly in 52.78, a meet record.

Han Xue of China won the women’s 50 freestyle in 25.62.

The U.S. men’s basketball team, attempting to win its seventh consecutive gold, got 20 points from Lonny Baxter and Roger Mason in a 99-67 victory over Brazil in a second-round game.

The U.S. men’s volleyball team extended its winning streak to four matches with a five-game victory over Japan.

In gymnastics, Son Un Hui of North Korea won the women’s vault.

Ekaterina Privlova of Russia won the uneven bars. Dong Fangxiao of China won the floor routine.

Ioan Suciu of Romania won the pommel horse, Benoit Caranobe of France won the vault and Liang Fuliang of China won the floor routine.

Tomita Hiroyuki of Japan won the parallel bars, and Philippe Rizzo of Australia defeated China’s Olympic champion Xing Aowei in the horizontal bar.

Miscellany

The U.S. beat China 26-28, 25-20, 25-21 and 25-11 in the Women’s World Grand Prix 2001 volleyball tournament at Macau, China

Passings

Former Toronto Maple Leaf defenseman Carl Brewer, credited with being the driving force behind retired NHL players reclaiming their pension money in a landmark lawsuit, died Saturday night at Toronto. He was 62.

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Diana Golden Brosnihan, the first disabled skier inducted into the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame, died of cancer in Providence, R.I. She was 38.