Sporting Digest: Tennis

PRIZE-MONEY at the French Open from 24 May to 6 June will total around pounds 5.5m, an increase of nine per cent on last year. The men's and women's singles' winners will receive pounds 350,000 and pounds 330,000 respectively.

VIRGINIA SLIMS OF HOUSTON WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT (Houston, Texas) First round: K Maleeva (Bul) bt K Kschwendt (Ger) 6-3 2-6 6- 3; R Simpson-Alter (Can) bt C Kuhlman (US) 6-4

6-4; P Tarabini (Arg) beat M Maleeva-Fragniere (Swit) 6-3 6-1; R Zrubakova (Slov) bt A Temesvari (Hun) 6-3 5-7 7-6. Second round: S Hack (Ger) bt J Halard (Fr) 6-2 2-6 6-3; J Novotna (Cz) bt V Martinek (Ger) 6-3 6-2.

ASSOCIATION OF TENNIS PROFESSIONALS' RANKINGS: 1 J Courier (US) 3,781pts; 2 P Sampras (US) 3,559; 3 S Edberg (Swe) 3,054; 4 B Becker (Ger) 2,680; 5 P Korda (Cz Rep) 2,452; 6 G Ivanisevic (Croa) 2,294; 7 A Agassi (US) 2,176; 8 I Lendl (US) 1,982; 9 M Chang (US) 1,861; 10 M Stich (Ger) 1,828; 11 R Krajicek (Neth) 1,813; 12 C Costa (Sp) 1,624; 13 M Washington (US) 1,590; 14 W Ferreira (SA) 1,564; 15 T Muster (Aut) 1,538; 16 S Bruguera (Sp) 1,521; 17 G Forget (Fr) 1,519; 18 K Novacek (Cz Rep) 1,460; 19 A Volkov (Rus) 1,352; 20 H Holm (Swe) 1,287.

WOMEN'S TENNIS ASSOCIATION RANKINGS: 1 M Seles (Yug) 321.1114pts; 2 S Graf (Ger) 287.1185; 3 M Navratilova (US) 199.6006; 4 A Sanchez Vicario (Sp) 196.6193; 5 G Sabatini (Arg) 179.1654; 6 M J Fernandez (US) 118.6983; 7 J Capriati (US) 118.4954; 8 C Martinez (Sp) 101.0102; 9 J Novotna (Cz Rep) 87.6709; 10 M Maleeva-Fragniere (Swit) 81.1472; 11 A Huber (Ger) 75.5938; 12 N Tauziat (Fr) 68.6174; 13 H Sukova (Cz Rep) 60.8131; 14 M Pierce (Fr) 60.4167; 15 K Maleeva (Bul) 60.3967; 16 M Maleeva (Bul) 58.2063; 17 A Coetzer (SA) 57.5167; 18 Z Garrison Jackson (US) 56.6168; 19 K Date (Japan) 54.2500; 20 N Zvereva (Belarus) 53.5278.