49ers Tip Salary Cap by Releasing Bono

Steve Bono, the San Francisco 49ers’ backup quarterback, was released Friday in a move aimed at giving the team more room under the salary cap.

Bono would have earned $1.55 million next season as Steve Young’s backup. With the 49ers bumping up against the $34.6-million cap before signing any of the eight players drafted last week, the team has been looking to cut its payroll.

Bono will be free to pursue his own deal and Carmen Policy, the 49ers’ president, said the team might try to re-sign Bono at a lower salary. The club had asked Bono to take a 50% pay cut, to about $750,000.

*

The Dallas Cowboys are reportedly close to signing quarterback Rodney Peete to a one-year contract worth less than $700,000, the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram reported. Peete, who earned $1.05 million last year with Detroit, would back up Troy Aikman.

*

The Houston Oilers agreed to a two-year contract with Arizona Cardinal punter Rich Camarillo.

Tennis

Fifth-seeded MaliVai Washington beat third-seeded Andre Agassi, 6-4, 7-5, to reach the semifinals of the $300,000 AT&T; Challenge in Duluth, Ga.

Top-seeded Michael Chang defeated Swedish qualifier Christian Bergstrom, 6-1, 6-3, and second-seeded Todd Martin beat Mats Wilander of Sweden, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3). Qualifier Wade McGuire beat Sweden’s Lars Jonsson, 6-3, 6-2. . . . Agassi has decided not to play Davis Cup for the United States in the quarterfinals against the Netherlands in July.

Jaime Yzaga, ranked 28th in the world but unseeded in the tournament, beat top-seeded and third-ranked Stefan Edberg, 6-4, 6-2, in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open.

Also in the quarterfinals, third-seeded Sergi Bruguera defeated No. 5 Carlos Costa, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4; Alex Corretja defeated Jakob Hlasek, 6-3, 6-2, and No. 4 Thomas Muster beat No. 6 Ivan Lendl, 2-6, 6-3. 6-0.

Bruguera will face Corretja in the semifinals. Muster will play Yzaga.

Michael Stich, the world’s second-ranked player, reached the semifinals of the BMW Open at Munich by outlasting Wayne Ferreira, 6-4, 6-7 (7-3), 7-6 (7-1). Stich’s opponent will be Andrei Chesnokov, who defeated David Rikl, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1). In the other half of the draw, Petr Korda will play Bernd Karbacher.

Steffi Graf dropped her second set of the year and struggled to defeat Magdalena Maleeva, 7-5, 3-6, 6-0, in the quarterfinals of the Citizen Cup at Hamburg, Germany.

Graf’s semifinal opponent will be third-seeded Jana Novotna, who ousted Barbara Rittner, 6-2, 6-2. Arantxa Sanchez Vicario also advanced by edging Leila Meskhi, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), and will face Sabine Hack, who beat Anke Huber, 6-3, 6-3.

Boxing

Dave Tiberi sued the International Boxing Federation and others in Delaware under the Racketeer Influenced Corruption Organization Act, claiming they fixed his 1992 middleweight title fight against James Toney.

Former welterweight champion Donald Curry and former Kronk Gym boxers Darrell Chambers and William Longstreet have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of running a drug ring that tried to smuggle cocaine from the Bahamas to Detroit.

Auto Racing

Ayrton Senna set a record, touring the 3.1-mile Ferrari track at Imola, Italy, in 1 minute 21.548 seconds in a Williams Renault, winning the provisional pole in the Grand Prix of San Marino.

Ernie Irvan the pole position for Sunday’s Winston Select 500 at Talladega Superspeedway with a lap of 193.298 m.p.h. . . . Former NFL coach Jerry Glanville, 52, will start 22nd in today’s ARCA Food World 500k stock car race at Talladega.

Miscellany

Tate George’s 26 points led the Quad City Thunder to a 132-127 overtime victory over the defending champion Omaha Racers for the Continental Basketball Assn. title at Omaha.

Auburn senior John Powell struck out 15 in a 2-0 loss to Mississippi and tied the NCAA career record for strikeouts with 541. Derek Tatsuno of Hawaii struck out 541 from 1977-79.

Top players for the former East Germany’s national soccer league were given banned stimulants, sometimes in drinks they didn’t know were spiked, according to files of the Stasi, the country’s secret police.

Suzy Powell of Downey High in Modesto broke her national high school federation record in the discus with a throw of 181-10 in the Modesto City championship meet.

The chances of having the NHL’s top players compete in the Winter Olympics were hurt when the president of the International Ice Hockey Federation, Gunter Sabetzki, said in Italy that he opposes the idea.

Andrei Kovalenko and Valery Kamensky of the Quebec Nordiques scored goals to lead Russia to a 4-1 victory over Austria in the World Hockey Championships at Alba di Canazei, Italy.

Names in the News

Funeral services are scheduled Monday for Martinez Jackson, 89, the father of baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson. . . . Marcel Bernard, who won the French Open men’s singles title in 1946, died at a Paris hospital of a heart attack at 89. . . . German skier Markus Wasmeier, who won gold medals in the giant slalom and super-giant slalom in the 1994 Olympics, retired.