Emerging Roddick Takes Out Sampras

Andy Roddick, an 18-year-old from Boca Raton, Fla. lived up to the hopes for the next generation of U.S. men’s tennis Sunday, upsetting Pete Sampras, 7-6 (2), 6-3, in the third round of the Ericsson Open at Key Biscayne, Fla.

“Definitely the future of American tennis is looking very good,” Sampras said.

Roddick didn’t waver down the stretch, losing only two points on his serve in the second set. His forehand kept Sampras pinned deep, and he whacked six return winners.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia lost to Gaston Guadio of Argentina, 6-4, 6-1. Jan-Michael Gambill defeated Thomas Enqvist of Sweden, 7-5, 6-7 (7), 6-1. Women advancing included Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati and Serena Williams. Only Williams struggled, needing a comeback to defeat Iroda Tulyaganova of Uzbekistan, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Winter Sports

DB Johnson, mother of comatose skier Billy Johnson, 40, visited the former Olympic downhill champion at a hospital in Kalispell, Mont., three days after he lost consciousness when he crashed during a race.

She was elated by the tears she saw flowing when she spoke to him and believes he can hear her.

“He’s begun to grimace to pain and make purposeful movement on his left side,” Dr. Keith Lara said. “He’s pulling at things on his left side, tugging his covers, at IVs and at tubes.”

Pernilla Wiberg of Sweden won the women’s super-G at the U.S. Alpine nationals at Whitefish, Mont., in 1 minute, 22.45 seconds. Jonna Mendes of Heavenly finished second in 1:22.83. . . . Sergei Dolidovich of Belarus won the cross country World Cup season finale at Kuopio, Finland in 2:33:51.9 of a second. . . . The Canadian men’s team and Chinese women’s retained their speedskating titles in the world short track team championships at Nobeyama, Japan.

Miscellany

With USC starting spring football practice Sunday afternoon, junior college transfer Trevor Lancaster quit the team. Lancaster was expected to challenge John Wall and David Newbury for the kickers spot.

Brian Kuklick passed for 202 yards and a touchdown as the Orlando Rage (7-1) clinched the XFL’s Eastern Division title and gained home-field advantage for the first round of the playoffs with a 17-12 victory over New York/New Jersey Hitmen (3-5) before 19,641 at Orlando, Fla. . . . John Avery rushed for an XFL-record 170 yards and scored two touchdowns as the Chicago Enforcers beat the Birmingham Thunderbolts, 13-0, before 10,593 at Soldier Field in Chicago. . . . NBC’s preliminary ratings for Saturday night’s XFL broadcast were even with those of the previous week, when they were the lowest for any prime-time sports event shown on network television.

The Pittsburgh Steelers, unable to find a suitable partner to buy their new stadium’s naming rights, may call it “Steelers Stadium” until they get a corporate namesake. The Steelers were hoping to sell the naming rights, partly to offset the $125 million they are contributing to the $284-million stadium.

Ryan Miller made 25 saves, helping Michigan State defeat Wisconsin, 5-1, at Grand Rapids, Mich., to advance to the NCAA Frozen Four for the second time in three seasons. Wisconsin fell to 22-15-4. The Spartans (33-4-4) will play North Dakota on April 5 in Albany, N.Y. Mark Kosick and Geoff Koch each had a goal and an assist as Michigan also advanced, defeating St. Cloud State, 4-3. The Wolverines (27-12-5) next will play Boston College. St. Cloud State finished at 31-9-1. . . . Minnesota-Duluth (28-5-4) won the first NCAA women’s hockey championship at Minneapolis in only the school’s second season of competition, defeating St. Lawrence, 4-2. The Saints fell to 24-8-3.

More than 12,000 professional soccer players in Brazil will become free agents under the “Pele Law,” which takes effect today. The law, which takes its name from soccer legend Pele, ends the reserve clause binding players to one team.

Nebraska is cutting its men’s swimming and diving program, a move the athletic department estimates could save $500,000 a year and keep the school in compliance with Title IX. Kansas also is dropping its men’s program, leaving the Big 12 with just four schools that sponsor men’s swimming and diving.

Running

Henry Cherono (2:11:33) of Kenya and Maria Guida of Italy (2:30:40) won the men’s and women’s divisions of the Rome Marathon. Fenya Crown, an 88-year-old woman from Lakewood, Wash., finished in just under 7 1/2 hours. She is believed to be the world’s oldest active female marathon runner although she said this was her last marathon. Crown has recovered from three bouts with breast cancer in the past decade and has used running as an excuse to travel the world.

Mohammed Mourhit, a Moroccan born in Belgian, easily retained his world cross country title in 39:53 seconds, despite a tender ankle and a waterlogged course at Ostend, Belgium. Kenya won the team event for the 16th consecutive time. The U.S. earned the bronze, with Bob Kennedy its best finisher in 12th place. Gemi Wami of Ethiopia won the 2 1/2 mile women’s race title (14:46:01).