Sampras Defeats Corretja

With his game looking much sharper, Pete Sampras bounced back Wednesday to defeat Alex Corretja of Spain, 7-6 (2), 7-5, and remain in contention for the Masters Cup title at Lisbon.

Sampras has won the season-ending tennis tournament five times, a record he shares with Ivan Lendl.

After losing to Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, 7-5, 6-0, in his opening round-robin match Tuesday, Sampras needed a victory against Corretja to maintain his chances of claiming the record for himself.

Sampras will play Marat Safin of Russia on Friday for a spot in the semifinals.

Earlier, Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia rallied to defeat Magnus Norman of Sweden, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, in his opening match in the $3.7-million tournament.

Safin took another step toward wrapping up the No. 1 spot for the year by defeating Hewitt, 6-4, 6-4. Safin is 2-0 in the tournament; Hewitt fell to 1-1.

The only way Safin can fail to clinch No. 1 is if he loses every remaining match and Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil wins the tournament. Safin, 20, would be the youngest player to finish No. 1.

Jurisprudence

As his pregnant girlfriend lay wounded, Rae Carruth confessed to planning her shooting and said he wished she would die, a former girlfriend testified in Charlotte, N.C.

“He said, ‘I can’t get in trouble, can I, because I didn’t actually pull the trigger?’ ” Candace Smith said. “He said police could check his car and his clothes and not find any gunpowder.”

Smith told jurors that the former NFL receiver also told her that he paid men involved in the shooting over time to avoid raising suspicions and that he “saw the guys pull up and shoot into her car.”

He then drove away to the house of Hannibal Navies, a Carolina Panther teammate, she said.

Carruth, 26, is charged with first-degree murder in the Nov. 16, 1999, shooting of Cherica Adams, who was eight months pregnant. Witnesses have testified that Adams was shot as she drove behind Carruth’s car after a movie. One co-defendant has testified that Carruth planned the shooting to avoid child-support payments.

Carruth has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his attorney has said he was not present when Adams was shot.

Brazilian authorities canceled 55 traffic fines against soccer superstar Romario after lawyers said some of the violations were committed by robbers who stole his silver Mercedes-Benz, media reported in Rio de Janeiro.

Miscellany

A Florida group seeking to host the 2012 Olympics unveiled plans for an Olympic stadium and village in downtown Tampa at the sites of two public housing projects.

The proposal by the Florida 2012 bid committee, vying with other U.S. cities and then international sites, calls for Olympic events to be held across central Florida in Tampa, Orlando, St. Petersburg and other nearby locations. Some soccer games would be played in Miami and Jacksonville.

Florida, New York City, Baltimore-Washington, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco will submit their bids for the 2012 Summer Games to the U.S. Olympic Committee on Dec. 15.

The USOC will select the winning U.S. bid in 2002 to compete with bids from other countries. The International Olympic Committee is scheduled to pick a 2012 Olympic site in 2005.

The concrete foundation of the 2002 Olympic speedskating oval in Salt Lake City must be torn up and repoured, again threatening competition scheduled for the $27-million facility. Core samples showed irregularities in the way the concrete had set.

Sun Wen, the top scorer and most valuable player in the 1999 Women’s World Cup, was among five Chinese players who signed with the Women’s United Soccer Assn.