12
SPORTS
Thursday, September 9, 1993
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sampras defeats Chang
Sanchez Vicario victorious after ill opponent defaults
The Associated Press
For two glorious sets, Pete Sampras and Michael Chang put on a show that could have been the final of the U.S. Open.
They played with power and touch, speed and artistry. Sampsam slugging shots as hard as he could. Chang running them down and driving them back just as hard.
Then as the third set began and the hour grew late yesterday, Sampras simply wore Chang down game by game with 125 mph aces and baseline-kissing groundstrokes to march into the semifinals with a 6-7 (7-0), 7-6 (7-2), 6-1-6 victory.
It was the first time Sampras beat his boyhood chum on a hard court in their professional careers. And it made Sampras, the world's No. 2 player, the favorite to win this championship and take the title he first captured in 1900 when he was just 19.
The only other top-10 player in the tournament is No. 8 Andriet Medvedev, who could meet Sampras in the final. But judging by the way Sampras played against Chang, serving 13 aces and smacking 70 winners, nobody is likely to beat him
"At the start, he was taking it to me, and that's not my style," Sampras said. "I'm not used to being on the defensive. Then I got in a good rhythm.
"I think I was a little uncertain at the start, I wasn't sure I should come in or what."
Earlier, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Natalia Zvereva waited 8 1/2 hours and played 8 minutes, the perfect match in another U.S. Open flasco.
In a tournament plagued by sickness, injuries, rain and freaky upsets, nothing could have been more fitting than Natalia Zvervea's default yesterday after losing three games to Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.
This is a U.S. Open ruled by Murphy's Law, where anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. So it hardly was surprising when Zvereva turned to the umpire and said, in effect, "No mas," giving Sanchez Vicario a free pass into the semifinals.
Helena Sukova, who knocked Martina Navratilova out in the fourth round, will play Sanchez Vicario after beating Katerina Maleeva 6-4, 6-7 (7-3), 6-3 in a match that ended nearly 11 hours after its scheduled start.
Persistent drizzle wiped out the day session, pushing the women's quarters to the evening, and driving everyone a little stir crazy.
Zvereva, meanwhile, was feeling sick. Two nights earlier she came down with congestion and a fever. she said, and a doctor prescribed "a whole lot of pills—antibiotics and some other stuff."
She spent the whole day hoping the rain would continue until Friday.
"My whole body aches," she said. "It is very weak and I am so hot and congested. I was praying, praying for it to be raining at 7:30, which didn't happen, unfortunately."
Upsets leave finals without top seeds
There was trouble from the outset; Jimny Comons on the sidelines, John McEnroe in the television booth.
The Associated Press
Then came the upsets. Out went Andre Agassi. Goodbye Stefan Edberg. So long Jim Courier and Boris Becker.
The women also did their part.
The U.S. Open was left with no top men's seed, no defending champion and no Zen master. Instead, there were names like Cedric Pioile, Andrel Medvedev, Wally Masur and Magnus Larsson.
The woman also drowned. Monica Seles never made it to the draw, still recovering from a stab wound. Jennifer Capriati lost in the first week. Gabriela Sabatini and Martina Navratilova were soon to follow.
Apart from No. 1 Steffi Graf and No. 2 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario there is not much in the field.
All of which do not make for the prospects of soaring television ratings. After years of big names for Super Saturday and Championship Sunday, CBS heads for the climax of the season's final Grand Sham event with a flock of anonymous players.
"Obviously, you'd like the glamour names in the championship matches," said Tim Ryan, who is a co-anchor for the coverage with Mary Carillo. "But the nature of tournaments is that they include upsets and sometimes stars don't make it to the finals."
ryan said the absence of the big names was a challenge for television, an opportunity to introduce some new names in their place.
Richard Devinki/KANSAN
For the love of tennis
Nora Koves, Budapest, Hungary, junior, works on her backhand during a team practice. Yesterday marked the first day of formal tennis practice for the season.
American League supports expanding to three divisions
The Associated Press
Baseball's proposed switch to a three-division format won American League support yesterday after Cleveland and Detroit agreed to shift divisions, but the National League's position remained unclear.
AL president Bobby Brown said Cleveland agreed to play in the AL Central instead of remaining in the East, and Detroit would stay in the East instead of moving to the Central.
While each league requires 10 of 14 votes
NL president Bill White said various alignments were still under discussion in his league, and others said the talks involved Atlanta and Pittsburgh, which both prefer the East.
to make any changes. NL teams switching divisions have veto power over moves. The Chicago Cubs, who blocked realignment last year, apparently are willing to go along with this plan.
"Those teams that would be in the Central have to vote to be in the Central." White said.
Owners voted in to expand the playoffs from four teams to eight next season, but the players' union said last month that it would not give its approval without a switch to three division formats. Because the current plan would move Atlanta from the West to the Central, the Braves can block a move. Pittsburgh would be in the same position if an attempt is made to move it from the East to the Central.
After Cleveland and Detroit agreed to switch, Brown said 12 AL teams indicated that they favored the three-division plan as long as a balanced schedule is kept through at least 1997. Brown said the Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox opposed the plan.
Owners will attempt a formal vote at today's joint meeting of the two leagues, but probably won't be able to take one because they didn't give clubs the required 20 days notice and need unanimity to waive it. Texas general partner George W Bush, who objects to expanded playoffs, said he would vote no but expected a three-division proposal to eventually pass.
"This is an exercise in folly, but I will go down defending principle and history history
judges me correct. "Bush said. "I represent the frequent voices of baseball's purists."
Brown also said he was opposed, but he doesn't have a vote.
"I'm a dinosaur," he said. "I don't like any of it."
Brown said the AL wanted to maintain a balanced schedule, in which teams play about the same number of games against each other. AL West teams don't want to lose games against East Coast clubs that are big draws. The NL would keep a balanced schedule in 1994, but it's unclear what would happen in future seasons.
John Harrington of the Red Sox, chairman of the schedule-format committee, said owners could still vote to stick with two divisions in each league.
Proposed divisions, teams
The proposal, after yesterday's change, calls for the following
AL East:
Baltimore
Boston
Detroit
New York.Yankees
Toronto
NL East:
Florida
Montreal
New York Mets
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
AL Central:
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland
Kansas City
Milwaukee
Minnesota
NL Central:
Atlanta
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati
Houston
St. Louis
AL West:
California
Oakland
Seattle
Texas
Source: The Associated Press
NL West:
Colorado
Los Angeles
San Diego
San Francisco
KANSAN
PRESENTS
KICK OFF CLASSIC
ZENITH DATA SYSTEMS
Z-NOTE 325Lp Notebook Productivity Package
STATS:
- Intel 25MHz i386SL Processor
- 4MB RAM.120MB Hard Drive
- 9.5" STN Passive-Matrix Color LCD
- MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows 3.1 preinstalled
- Logitech® TrackMan® Portable Mouse
- Ethernet-Compatible LAN Port
- EXTRA POINTS
- Lotus SmartSuite Productivity Software
- Epson Laser Printer (AL-1500)
- 10' Parallel Printer Cable
- READYDESK™ Port Replicator
FAST, FRIENDLY FINANCING Jayhawk Bookstore
your Computer source at the top of Naismith Hill!
1420 Crescent Road Lawrence,KS 66044 843-3826
843-3826
For A Limited Time Only While Supplies Last