Sampras Will Face Safin in First U.S. Open Match

Pete Sampras will begin his bid for a record 13th Grand Slam men’s singles title with a potentially tough opening-round match at the U.S. Open against Marat Safin, a 19-year-old Russian considered to be a future star.

Safin was drawn Wednesday to be Sampras’ first hurdle when the year’s final Grand Slam event begins its two-week run Monday at the National Tennis Center in New York.

Pat Rafter of Australia, seeded fourth and the winner of the last two U.S. Opens, could also have his hands full with his first opponent, Cedric Pioline of France. Pioline reached the U.S. Open final in 1993 and the Wimbledon title match in 1997.

Andre Agassi, seeded second, opens against Sweden’s Nicklas Kulti.

Switzerland’s Martina Hingis, the top-seeded player in the women’s field, will face Kveta Hrdlickova of the Czech Republic in her opener.

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Second-seeded Venus Williams breezed into the quarterfinals of the Pilot Pen at New Haven, Conn., with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Maria Antonia Sanchez Lorenzo of Spain.

Third-seeded Monica Seles had to hang on against Elena Likhovtseva of Russia for a 6-0, 7-6 (8-6) second-round win. Other seeded players didn’t fare as well. Ruxandra Dragomir of Romania eliminated fourth-seeded Jana Novotna, 7-6 (7-5), 6-0, and unseeded Amelie Mauresmo of France upset her sixth-seeded countrywoman, Julie Halard-Decugis, 6-1, 6-2.

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Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic, ranked 80th in the world, eliminated third-seeded Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Hamlet Cup at Commack, N.Y. . . . Top-seeded Greg Rusedski of Britain needed only 51 minutes to defeat Solon Peppas of Greece, 6-3, 6-3, and advance to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Pro Tennis Championships at Brookline, Mass.

Hockey

Hockey great Mario Lemieux cleared one of the last couple of hurdles in his purchase of the Pittsburgh Penguins, completing a Civic Arena lease two months after the deal was announced. The sale is expected to be completed today. The NHL must then approve it.

The Boston Bruins agreed to two-year contracts with center Sean Pronger, 26, and goalie Kay Whitmore, 32. The team also said it had re-signed center Shawn Bates, 24, to a one-year deal and left wing Ken Belanger, 25, to a two-year deal. Additional terms weren’t revealed. Pronger played last season with the Kings. . . . The New York Rangers agreed to terms with free-agent center Mike Harder, 26. The Rangers also signed free-agent defenseman John Namestnikov, 27. Terms were not disclosed.

Jurisprudence

Former heavyweight champion Michael Dokes faces up to 50 years in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 24 in Las Vegas for attacking his fiancee. Dokes pleaded guilty Aug. 18 to charges of attempted murder, second-degree kidnapping and battery with intent to commit sexual assault in the 1998 incident.

Raphel Cherry, a former NFL player with Washington and Detroit, was sentenced to life in prison at Little Rock, Ark., for the murder of his estranged wife, Jerri. . . . Delray Brooks, fired after two seasons as basketball coach at Texas Pan American on Tuesday, is the subject of a police investigation into possible misuse of university money. . . . All-star forward Sergei Krivokrasov, 25, of the Nashville Predators will participate in counseling as part of an agreement for dismissal of a domestic violence charge brought by his wife Aug. 8 in New Buffalo, Mich. . . . Kim Jung Hoon, the son of Kim Un Yong, a powerful South Korean member of the International Olympic Committee, filed a $100,000 defamation suit in Seoul against Utah businessman David Simmons over alleged false testimony given in the controversy over Salt Lake City’s winning bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Major League Soccer

Jeff Baicher, John Harkes and Giovanni Savarese scored shootout goals to lift the New England Revolution to a 2-1 victory over New York-New Jersey, extending the MetroStars’ losing streak to a Major League Soccer-record 10 games. The Revolution ended a seven-game losing streak before 9,143 at East Rutherford, N.J. . . . Jaime Moreno assisted on three first-half goals as D.C. United overcame a wet field to beat the visiting Miami Fusion, 3-1, for its sixth consecutive victory before 11,136. . . . Chicago goaltender Zach Thornton made some key stops in the Fire’s 2-0 victory over the Kansas City Wizards before 6,223 in Chicago.

Miscellany

The United States placed four fighters in the finals of the World Amateur Boxing Championships at Houston: heavyweight Michael Bennett, light-heavyweight Michael Simms Jr., light-flyweight Brian Viloria and featherweight Ricardo Juarez.

Romanian distance runner Elena Murgoci, 39, was stabbed to death outside her home in Bucharest, and police arrested her ex-boyfriend in the attack. Murgoci won the world marathon in Osaka, Japan, in 1993 as well as several silver and bronze medals at international track meets before being banned from the sport after failing a drug test in 1996.