Sampras Overpowers Muster for ATP Title

Top-ranked Pete Sampras defeated Thomas Muster of Austria, 6-3, 6-4, Sunday to win the $2.3 million ATP Championship at Mason, Ohio.

It was Sampras’ fifth title this year and the his 49th ATP Tour victory, tying him with Boris Becker for most titles among active players.

“I’m very pleased I played so well this week,” said Sampras, who hadn’t played since winning at Wimbledon a month ago. “I played great all week. I really didn’t struggle at all. . . . I really haven’t played a bad match in a couple of months.”

Sampras’ first serve was a 130-mph ace, his fastest of the week. He broke Muster twice in the first set, bedeviling him with precise placement of cross-court volleys, and won the set point with a 122-mph ace.

Muster battled throughout the second set but could not match Sampras shot for shot.

Sampras’ serve was broken once--in the first set--and he became the first ATP Championship winner in 10 years to go through the week without losing a set.

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Felix Mantilla of Spain defeated Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden, 6-4, 6-1, in the final of the San Marino International tournament.

Top-seeded Mantilla, who is ranked 12th in the world, won his fourth tournament title of the year and earned $39,000.

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Second-seeded Jimmy Connors defeated Andres Gomez, 6-4, 7-5, to advance to the final of the Citibank Champions clay-court tournament at Purchase, N.Y., for the fourth consecutive year.

Motor Racing

Jeff Gordon won his first road course race in the Bud at the Glen. Gordon, 26, showed he can handle right turns as well as left-handers by picking up his eighth win of the season and the 27th of his Winston Cup career at Watkins Glen, N.Y.

All of his other wins had been on ovals.

“This is a legitimate goal of ours. We came out this year to try to win a road course,” Gordon said.

Gordon, driving a Chevrolet, won by about 10 car-lengths over defending race-winner Geoff Bodine. Gordon averaged 91.294 mph during the 90-lap event on the 2.45-mile, 11-turn layout and earned $139,120, including a $50,000 bonus for winning while leading the season points race.

Defending champion Alex Zanardi won the Miller 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course at Lexington for his second consecutive victory and third in the last four races.

Zanardi’s Reynard-Honda averaged a track-record 110.456 mph in leading 56 of the 83 laps of the 186.5-mile race.

Greg Moore was second, 4.87 seconds behind, and Bobby Rahal was third.

Jacques Villeneuve won his fifth race with a last-lap dash by the damaged car of defending Formula One champion Damon Hill in the Hungarian Grand Prix at Budapest.

Hill, a teammate of Villeneuve last season with Williams-Renault, surprised many by nearly winning in his lightly regarded Arrows-Yamaha. He held a 34-second lead with three laps to go, then slowed dramatically with power and gear problems and finished 9.079 seconds behind.

Villeneuve was timed in 1 hour 45 minutes 47.149 seconds for 189.851 miles. He averaged 107.7 mph. It was his ninth victory overall and his first since the British Grand Prix a month ago.

Johnny Herbert, in a Sauber-Petronas was third, 20 seconds behind. Two-time series champion and current points leader Michael Schumacher was fourth after winning the pole in his Ferrari.

Miscellany

Australian Olympic champion Susan O’Neill outswam Kristane Quance and Misty Hyman to win the women’s 200-meter butterfly in 2 minutes 8.59 seconds, leading her nation to five gold medals at the Pan Pacific swimming championships at Fukuoka, Japan.

Quance, a gold medalist in the Olympic 400-meter medley relay, was second in 2:09.29, followed by Hyman in 2:11.53.

United States swimmers won three of the 10 events on the opening day of the competition. Ugur Taner set a meet record of 1:57.35 in the men’s 200-meter butterfly. Brooke Bennett swam 16:10.24 to lead a top-four sweep by the United States in the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle. And Lenny Krayzelburg won the men’s 100-meter backstroke in 54.43. . . . Karch Kiraly, recovering from a shoulder injury, and Adam Johnson won their third title in a row: the AVP Open at Vail, Colo. Kiraly and Johnson defeated Dain Blanton and Eric Fonoimoana, 13-8, in the finals and will share a $27,000 first-place check. . . . Australian Wayne Mawer and his team won the Long Beach to Catalina and Back water ski race in 55 minutes and 5 seconds.