NO-HEADLINE

TENNIS

Pete Sampras has a chance to regain the No 1 ranking this week from his American compatriot Andre Agassi, but he must win the Monte Carlo Open that starts today. Sampras is the top seed and gets a first-round bye, as do the other top players. His first opponent will be either Jaime Yzaga or Paul Haarhuis. Boris Becker, a Monte Carlo regular, is seeded second, Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia is third and Goran Ivanisevic fourth. Sergi Bruguera, Michael Stich, Alberto Berasategui and Magnus Larsson follow in the top eight. Bruguera has twice won in Monte Carlo but lost last year's final to Andrei Medvedev, who is seeded 11th. Thomas Muster, of Austria, who could meet Sampras in the quarter-finals is unbeaten in 16 matches on clay this season and has won three tournaments. He has won 25 career titles on clay and has not lost a final on the surface since 1990.

NICE OPEN Men's singles final: M Rosset (Swit) bt Y Kafelnikov (Rus) 6-4 6-0.

HONG KONG OPEN Men's singles final: M Chang (US) bt J Bjorkman (Swe) 6-3 6-1.

BERMUDA OPEN (Paget) Men's singles final: M Hadad (Colom) bt J Frana (Arg) 7-6 3-6 6-4.

FED CUP WORLD GROUP First round (Freiburg, Ger): Germany bt Japan 4- 1. ( Turnberry Isle, Florida): United States bt Austria 4-0. (Sofia. Bul): Spain bt Bulgaria 3-2.(Metz, Fr): France bt South Africa 3-2.

GROUP ONE First round: (Ancona, It) Canada bt Italy 3-2. (Jakarta, Indon): Argentian bt Indonesia 3-2, (Perth):Australia bt Slovakia 3-2. (Vasteras, Swe): Netherlands bt Sweden 5-0.