European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 20, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday november 20,1992 sports the stars and stripes b Page 25courier tightens grip on no. 1 by Nesha starcev1c Frankfurt Germany a Jim courier moved a step closer to retaining his world no. 1 ranking wednesday with a come from behind Victory Over Richard Zajicek. Courier outlasted the big hitting dutchman 6-7, 7-6, 7-5 to win his opening match at the at world championships. Krajicek bounced Back in thursdays Early match however by mixing Power with a delicate touch and sending Michael Chang to a 2-6,6-3,7-6 defeat. The 20-year-old dutchman was thoroughly outplayed in the first set thursday but came Back to win the Sec at world tournament Ond and took the tiebreaker 7-4 after dropping his serve while serving for the match. Krajicek is 1-1 in the eight Man tournament Chang dropped to 0-2. Pete Sampras with an Eye on the no. 1 ranking beat Stefan Edberg 6-3,3-6,7-5 wednesday. % top eight players Edberg who is now 1-1 in the round Robin portion of the event could still get enough computer Points to climb from no. 2 to no. 1 for the third time this year depending How Well courier does. Sampras who beat Boris Becker on tuesday brought his record to 2-0. Becker 1-1seeking to win the title for the first time since the tournament moved to his Homeland in 1990, beat Petr Korda 0-2 6-4,6-2 in the last match of the Long night. The German double faulted on his first match Point but then blasted an Ace. Sampras broke Edberg in the fourth game of the third set but suffered a break of his own in a he seventh. After wasting two match Points in the 10th game the american set up three match Points in the 12th game after scrambling to reach the Ball and score with a backhand Volley. He then forced the second ranked swede into a backhand error to win the match in two hours and six minutes. Sampras lost to Edberg in the final of the . Open this year the grand slam event he won last year. A at the . Open i also took the first set 6-3, but then i let it slip away a he said of the four set loss. A when i missed those two match Points i had a Flashback and i thought about the . Open. I Felt it was slipping away again. But 1 put a couple of Good shots together when it mattered. A it was Good to get that Monkey off my Back. I really wanted revenge today a said Sampras who had 15 aces i a Jim courier misses four match Points before Downing Richard Krajicek 6-7,7-6,7-5 on wednesday in Fvank Tut Germany. For Edberg a seven. Courier also got some revenge but was unhappy about the Boring level of the match. He blew four match Points before Krajicek double faulted to surrender after 2 hours and 59 minutes. The 20-year-old dutchman Defeated courier in the semifinals of the dec championship in Antwerp Belgium on saturday and went on to win that event his second title of the year. The win allowed Krajicek to move up to 10th in world rankings and qualify for the year ending event pitting the top eight players in the world. Krayicek qualified after higher ranked Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi pulled out of the $2.5 million event with injuries. There were few rallies Between the two powerful hitters and both players made plenty of errors. In the third game of the second set courier moaned a Boring Krajicek did not agree with courier. At the pos match news conference he said a if he thinks it s Boring maybe he should go off the court take a Shower Ali at a his opinion. I was having fun trying to win a Tennis when courier was later asked if he thought the match was really that Boring he noted that the Hall had become half empty by the third set after the match had started before a full House. A the serves Well you done to get to hit the Ball too much. When someone serves like that you have no Chance to out hink the other Guy ont he court a courier said. Krajicek had 15 aces bringing his season total to 721, the third highest after Goran Ivanisevich a 923 and Sampras 724. Courier was to face Ivanisevic on thursday. Small crowd watches devils slip by sabres nil by the associated press Hamilton Ontario Alexander Semakis goal Early in the second period gave the new Jersey devils a 3-2 Victory Over the Buffalo sabres on wednesday night before the smallest Neutral site crowd this season. Just 6,972 tickets were sold at Copps coliseum where a Toronto Quebec game on tuesday night Drew 17,026, anti sabres sentiment lingers with some Hamilton fans who believe the sabres owners lobbied against nil expansion to the City. When a few dozen sabres fans began chanting a let s go Buffalo in the third period they were drowned out by booing locals it was the fifth of 24 games played at Neutral Sites this season three of the five have been played in Hamilton. Valeri Zel Pukin and Tom Chorske also scored As the devils won their third in a Row to improve to in a second in the Patrick Ury Ision. Pat la Fontaine with his 700th nil a Uil and Rob Ray scored for the sabres which is 0-8-2 in its last 10 games away from memorial auditorium. In other games wednesday whalers 5, blues 2 Hartford Conn. Hartford earned its 400th nil Victory on its 10th try by scoring three times in three shifts in the second period to beat St. Louis. Andrew Cassels Pat Verbeek and Mark Janssens scored 1 41 apart As the whalers ended a nine game win less Streak 0-8-1 and won at Home for just the second time in 11 games 2-8-1. North stars 5, capitals 4 Landover my. Mike me Phee and Shane Churla scored m a 47-second Span of the third period and Russ Courtnell scored the garage Winner with 17.2 seconds left rallying Minnesota past Washington. Oil Ort 4, canucks 2 Edmonton Alberta Shayne Corson surpassed the 300-Point Mark of Bis career with a goal and an assist As Edmonton beat Vancouver. Sabatini romps new York a a night after the no. 2 seed was bumped out of the tournament the Virginia slims championships ran True to form wednesday night. Third seeded Gabriela Sabatini no. 5 Arantha Sanchez Vicario and no. 7 Jennifer Capriati posted straight set victories to move into the quarterfinals of this season ending event. In what was rapidly becoming a fad in the $3 million tournament Capriati and Sanchez Vicario had to win first set tiebreakers in route to Victory. Not so Sabatini who crushed Amy Frazier 6-0, 6-2 in the nights final match. Capriati Defeated Helena Sutkova 7-6 7-36-1 after Sanchez Vicario upended Zina Garrison 7-6 7-0 6-1. On tuesday Lori Mcneil shocked no. 2 seed Steffi Graf 7-6 7-16-4, and Jana Novotna eliminated no. 6 Mary Joe Fernandez 7-6 7-36-2. L. With the crowd cheering her on m both English and Spanish Sabatini bad Little trouble banding Frazier a lopsided loss in her first appearance in the tournament. It was the Sabatini show and Frazier definitely was the second banana on this night. The argentinians ground strokes were deep and Neavy her serves powerful and Well placed her volleys Crisp. Frazier was in a Way the perfect foil As Sabatini began what she Hopes will end in her Sec Virginia slims Ond slims title. She won in 1988. A in the beginning it was hard to concentrate a Sabatini said. A she Wasny to giving me enough rhythm. She was just hitting balls. A in the second set the balls started going in and she was playing although Sabatini was easily the favorite with the crowd Frazier Drew a big round of applause when she held serve in the second game of the second set winning her first game of the match. Her second a and last a came three games later when she broke Sabatini s service after that it was just a queston on How quickly the Graceful Sabatini would Advance into her quarterfinal match against Capriati. For Capriati haying to play the tiebreaker was just a Little bump in her fast Lane to the next round although she needed a Little help from her hotel. She had left her contacts in her room but they were delivered to the Garden arriving five minutes before her match. A otherwise i would t have been Able to see Quot she said. A everything would have been Blurry. I probably would have missed every Ball. Sutkova could Only wish she was that Lucky. A i had so Many chances and i did no to take any of them Sutkova said
