Well-Rested Agassi Holds Off Tired Chang

Andre Agassi, shaking off only his second loss in 33 sets this year, turned back Michael Chang, 6-2, 1-6, 6-3, on Sunday night to win the San Jose Open.

Chang had rallied from a 1-4 deficit in the third set to defeat Jim Courier in a grueling semifinal Saturday night, but the wear-and-tear of that match might have kept him from repeating the comeback against a well-rested Agassi.

Agassi is 8-2 against Chang, last losing to him in 1993 at Cincinnati. They had never before met in a tournament final.

*

Magdalena Maleeva, not originally scheduled to play the Ameritech Cup in Chicago, used her passing shots and an effective mix of power and placement to defeat Lisa Raymond, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2), in the final, earning her fourth WTA Tour title.

Maleeva was a late addition to the field after Mary Jo Fernandez had to pull out because of illness. But as the third-seeded player, Maleeva didn’t have to play her first singles match until Friday because of a bye and a walkover.

*

Boris Becker won his 43rd pro title, defeating Czech Daniel Vacek, 6-7 (7-2), 6-4, 7-5, in the final of the Marseille Open in France.

*

South Africa’s Wayne Ferreira won the Dubai Open in the United Arab Emirates, defeating Italian Andrea Gaudenzi, 6-3, 6-3.

Winter Sports

Bonnie Blair set a world record of 38.69 seconds in a 500-meter World Cup speedskating race at Calgary, breaking her previous record of 38.99. . . . Defending champion Christoph Langen, fastest in all four runs, steered Germany I to victory in the two-man World Bobsled Championships at Winterberg, Germany, with a combined time of 3:46.91. . . . Andreas Goldberger of Austria won the large hill ski jumping competition in the Holmenkollen Nordic Ski Festival at Oslo, Norway, clinching his second World Cup overall title.

Finland edged Sweden by two-tenths of a second to win a men’s World Cup 20-kilometer cross-country ski relay in the Holmenkollen Ski Festival. . . . Dutchman Rintje Ritsma won his first world speedskating championship after a season of dominating the field. Ritsma, the 1994 Olympic silver medalist, won both the 1,500- and 10,000-meter races at Baselga Di Pine, Italy.

Sailing

Hasso Plattner’s front-running Morning Glory from Germany fell into light winds and averaged only 4.1 knots over 106 miles on the second full day of the Del Rey Yacht Club’s biennial race from Marina del Rey to Puerto Vallarta.

Joe Case’s Mongoose from Long Beach YC, the leader among six ULDB 70s that started a day later, gained 33 miles and was 182 behind Morning Glory.

Miscellany

Mater Dei football Coach Bruce Rollinson has been contacted by Oregon about replacing Rich Brooks, who last week was hired to coach the Rams.

American Jeff Rouse and Australia’s Angela Kennedy set short course world swimming records in the heats of a World Cup meet at Sheffield, England.

Rouse was timed in 24.37 seconds in the 50-meter backstroke. That shaved .23 seconds off the mark of 24.60 set by Frenchman Franck Schott.

Kennedy’s record came in the 50-meter butterfly. Her time of 26.56 bettered the 26.73 set by American Amy Van Dyken.

Eric Wainaina of Kenya won the Tokyo International Marathon in a time of 2 hours 10 minutes 31 seconds. Antoni Niemczak of Poland, who led after 23 miles, finished second at 2:10:44.

Moses Kiptanui of Kenya set a world indoor record of 7:35.15 in the 3,000 meters at Ghent, Belgium.

Nat Holman, the basketball coach at City College of New York for 41 years and a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, died in New York. He was 98.

Necaxz of Mexico scored all its goals in the first half of a 3-1 soccer victory over Luis Angel Firpo of El Salvador before 42,000 at the Coliseum.

Pairings were announced for the Southern Section boys’ basketball playoffs, which will begin Tuesday in six of 10 divisions.

Sandra Pires and Jackie Silva of Brazil won the FIVB Women’s Beach Volleyball World Series at La Serena, Chile, defeating Karolyn Kirby and Deb Richardson of the United States, 12-7, 9-12, 13-11.

Golden State Coach Don Nelson met with Warrior owner Chris Cohan this weekend to discuss his future. The meetings came amid reports Nelson will step down today as coach and general manager.

Rod Laver will headline the Southern California Tennis Convention Feb. 19-20 at the Newport Sheraton Hotel in Newport Beach.