A roundup of the sports information of the week

BOXING—SHOZO SAIJO recovered from a first-round knockdown to win a 15-round split decision over Frankie Crawford of Los Angeles and retain his WBA featherweight title in a bout at Sendai, Japan.

FENCING—ALBERT AXELROD, America's 1960 Olympic bronze medalist, won the national foil championship in New York, becoming the first man to gain that title four times and the oldest (at 49) ever to hold it. He defeated 21-year-old Ty Simmons in a fence-off, five touches to four.

GOLF—KERMIT ZARLEY, finishing with a five-under-par 67, claimed the second victory in his six-year career in the $125,000 Canadian Open at London, Ontario. His 72-hole total of 279, nine-under-par, put him three strokes ahead of Gibby Gilbert, who turned in a final-round 71. Chi Chi Rodriguez, tied for the lead going into the last round, carded a 75, tying for third with Bob Stone at 283.

Donna Caponi won her second straight U.S. Women's Open by sinking a five-foot putt on the final hole for a double bogey to beat Sandra Spuzich by one stroke in Muskogee, Okla. (pane 49).

HARNESS RACING—GIL HANOVER ($4.20) moved to the front at the start and led all the way to win the $24,345 Hanover-Hempt Stake for 3-year-old trotters at Pocono Downs, with Jouster just a nose away in second, a neck ahead of Art Hill. Bill Haughton drove the Farmstead Acres entry in 2:03[4/5] for the mile on a rain-slowed track. COLUMBIA GEORGE ($3), owned by Dr. and Mrs. George Smith, took the $26,295 division of the same stake for pacers, lasting for a head win over Adover Rainbow, with Truluck 1¾ lengths back in third. Roland Beaulieu drove the winner, posting a notable 1:58[1/5] for the mile.

Stanley Dancer drove his own colt, MOST HAPPY FELLA ($2.40 and $2.60), to win the $14,393 Orange County Cup at Goshen in straight heats on the final day of Grand Circuit Week (page 52). He broke the track record with a 1:58[2/5] mile in the first heat, best time this season for a 3-year-old pacer on a half-mile track, beating Keystone Pat by two lengths. In the second heat Colonial was second, 2½ lengths back.

Armstrong Brothers' HORTON HANOVFR ($12), a converted trotter, won his third pace in a row, taking the $25,000 Governor's Cup at Sportsman's Park by 2½ lengths over Ozzie Hanover. Favored Rum Customer came in a half-length back in third. Jack Williams drove the winner in 1:58 for the mile.

HORSE RACING—Marion Frankel's unheralded BAROMETER ($32.40) swept away to his first stakes victory, winning the $110,100 Suburban Handicap at Aqueduct by an easy 2½ lengths over Verbatim, with Hitchcock third, another three lengths back. Angel Cordero Jr. guided the winner home in 2:01[1/5] for the 1¼ miles.

Cragwood Stable's MR. LEADER ($4.20) pulled away in the stretch to a 1½-length win over Kerry's Time in the $57,400 Stars and Stripes Handicap at Arlington Park, with stablemate Ribofilio finishing third. Jorge Tejeira rode the winner in the track-record time of 1:47[2/5] over the 1‚⅛ miles.

Pattee Canyon ($3.60) won the unofficial filly-and-mare championship of Hollywood Park with a two-length victory over Blow Up II in the 1‚Öú mile, $55,450 Beverly Hills Handicap. Summer Sorrow was third. Bill Shoemaker rode the winner in 2:13 on the turf course.

Fiddle Isle ($3.20) galloped to his fifth consecutive win, the $54,250 American Handicap at Hollywood Park. Jockey Bill Shoemaker brought the Howard B. Keck entry home in 1:47[3/5] over the 1‚⅛ miles, more than three lengths ahead of Baffle, while stablemate Pinjara finished third.

MOTOR SPORTS—Alabama's DONNIE ALLISON rolled to victory in the Firecracker 400 at Daytona Beach when front-running Ford teammate David Pearson blew a tire 17 miles from the finish. Allison picked up a $20,975 first-place prize in the $95,000 event, averaging 162.235 mph in a 1969 Talladega, beating Dodge-driver Buddy Baker by 15 seconds. A record Fourth of July crowd of 57,500 turned out for the event.

Gary Bettenhausen won the Michigan 200 at Cambridge Junction, hitting an average 140.625 mph in his Gerhardt-Offenhauser. He inherited the lead, and the $17,760 purse, when leader Gordon Johncock spun out spectacularly with only nine laps to go. In a companion event for stock cars, A. J. FOYT led from start to finish in a Ford Torino, posting an average speed of 149.969 mph.

Two Colorado natives, TED FOLTZ and FRANK PETERSON, won their divisions of the 48th annual Pikes Peak Hill Climb. Foltz roared up the 14,110 feet at 58.60 mph in his Chevy-powered championship car, and Peterson took the stock-car event in an Oldsmobile Toronado, covering the 12.42 miles at 50.45 mph.

Jochen Rindt of Austria added the French Grand Prix to his campaign for the Formula 1 world driving championship, wheeling a Lotus-Ford to victory at an average 98.419 mph for 38 laps around the 5.002-mile course.

ROWING—Californians TOM McKIBBON and JOHN VAN BLOM captured the double-sculls Challenge Cup in the Royal Regatta at Henley-on-Thames in England, while RIDLEY COLLEGE of Canada added the Princess Elizabeth Cup to its U.S.-Canadian schoolboy championships, beating Hampton Grammar School by 2½ lengths. For the second straight year the Grand Challenge Cup went to EAST GERMANY, which beat the Dutch champions in 6:34, the fastest time of the week.

TENNIS—JOHN NEWCOMBE defeated fellow Australian Ken Rosewall 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in the men's final at Wimbledon. MARGARET COURT beat Billie Jean King 14-12, 11-9, their 2½-hour match marking the longest women's final in 21 years (page 50).

TRACK & FIELD—Brooklyn's ATOMS TRACK CLUB—Michele McMillan (57.2), Shelley Marshall (56.1), Gail Fitzgerald (54.3) and Cheryl Toussaint (53.7)—broke its world record at the Women's AAU National Championships in Los Angeles, covering the one-mile relay in 3:41.3. MAVIS LAING won the 440 in an American record 52.9 and TENNESSEE STATE took the 440 relay in 45.2, also setting a U.S. mark. CHI CHENG of the Los Angeles Track Club continued to dominate the dashes, winning the 100 in 10.2 and the 220 in a wind-aided 22.4 after setting a world record of 22.6 in the prelims.

Valentin Gavrilov, Russia's bronze medalist in the 1968 Olympics, high-jumped 7'2‚Öù" at the Brothers Znamensky meet in Kiev, and VALERY BORZOV won the 200-meter dash in 20.5, tying the Soviet record and posting the best time in Europe this season.

Australia's KERRY O'BRIEN set a world record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at a meet in West Berlin, clocking 8:22.0 to beat the old mark by .2 of a second. Rolf Burscheid placed second, almost 10 seconds behind the winner.

MILEPOSTS—DIED: WALTER O. (Spike) BRIGGS JR., 58, former owner of the Detroit Tigers, whose family tie with the team began in 1920; after a long illness, in Royal Oak, Mich.

DIED: WATHEN KNEBELKAMP, 69, president of Churchill Downs from 1959 to 1969, who guided a $5 million improvement program at the track; of a heart attack, in Louisville.

DIED: HAROLD STIRLING (Mike) VANDERBILT, international yachtsman—three-time defender of the America's Cup—the originator of contract bridge and a railroad financier, in Newport, R.I.; two days before his 86th birthday (page 9).