Sampras Gets Past Ferreira at Toronto

Pete Sampras defeated Wayne Ferreira, 7-6 (6), 5-7, 6-4, Tuesday night in the first round of the Toronto Masters Series.

“It’s just great to win a match,” said Sampras, who hasn’t won a tournament since winning Wimbledon two years ago, a streak of 30 events. “It’s been a struggle this year.”

Sampras, seeded 13th, laid down a precise tiebreaking shot to squeak through in the first set, glancing up with a smile after his timely delivery. Sampras finished with 23 aces.

Second-seeded Marat Safin is now the favorite to win the $2.95-million tournament after top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt lost Monday.

Safin, 22, breezed past Juan Ignacio Chela, 6-4, 6-3, in his first-round match.

Third-seeded Tommy Haas defeated Frederic Niemeyer, 6-3, 6-3; fifth-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov beat Max Mirnyi, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2; Vince Spadea upset sixth-seeded Albert Costa, 6-3, 6-1, and 12th-seeded Andy Roddick defeated Dominik Hrbaty, 6-2, 6-4.

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Sisters Venus and Serena Williams, finalists at the last two Grand Slam tournaments, head the women’s field for the U.S. Open on Aug. 26-Sept. 8 at the National Tennis Center at Flushing, N.Y.

The field also will include Jennifer Capriati, Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport.

The tournament draw will take place Aug. 21.

Hockey

The Kings and defenseman Mike Pudlick agreed to terms on a one-year contract. No terms were announced. Pudlick played last season with Manchester of the American Hockey League.

The Ice Dogs signed forward Robb Wismer to a one-year contract. Wismer played the last three seasons at Seneca College in Canada.

The NHL might not have safety nets installed in every arena to protect fans behind goals before the start of the season, said Bill Daly, a league attorney.

Commissioner Gary Bettman last month ordered the league’s 30 teams to add netting to protect fans from flying pucks like the one that killed a 13-year-old girl at a Columbus Blue Jacket game in March.

Daly said the league is testing different designs and hopes to have the work completed by Oct. 9, the start of the season.

Boxing

Roy Jones Jr. (46-1, 37 knockouts) will defend his light-heavyweight championship against World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization No. 1 contender Clinton Woods (32-1, 19 KOs) of Sheffield, England, on Sept. 7 at Portland, Ore.

It will be the first world title bout in Portland since Denny Moyer won a unanimous decision over Joey Giambra for the junior-middleweight title Oct. 20, 1962.

Motor Racing

Robert Kasik had a heart attack before his fatal crash into a wall during the Road America race Sunday at Elkhart Lake, Wis., the Sports Car Club of America said.

The coroner had listed a skull fracture as the cause of death for Kasik, who was 56 and from Roscoe, Ill.

Mark Day, who organized a protest that led to Deborah Renshaw’s disqualification in a race earlier this month, was stripped of a victory in the Late Model race at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway on Saturday because he used unauthorized fuel.

Day organized a protest that cost Renshaw a sixth-place finish in a race and a chance to win a season title.

Energy-absorbing barriers installed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indy 500 in May will remain in place for the U.S. Grand Prix on Sept. 29.

Miscellany

Colorado offered to extend football Coach Gary Barnett’s contract through 2007 and boost his annual compensation to $1.2 million.

Barnett, who was hired in 1999, earns $720,000 a year on a contract that expires in 2005. The contract must be approved by university regents at a meeting Aug. 8.

Barnett was not available to comment.

World and Olympic champion Ian Thorpe of Australia improved his world record in the 400 meters freestyle, clocking 3 minutes 40.08 seconds to win the Commonwealth Games gold medal at Manchester, England.

Thorpe had set the previous mark of 3:40.17 at Fukuoka, Japan, on July 22, 2001.

Sweden’s Anna-Karin Kammerling won the 50 meters butterfly in the European Swimming Championships at Berlin in 25.57 seconds to set a women’s world record.

Passings

Richard Cleveland, a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame who set four world and 10 American records in the 1950s, died Saturday in his home at Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The cause of death was not released. He was 72.