Hill Wins Easily in Australia

Britain’s Damon Hill took the lead on the 22nd of 81 laps and pulled away to a two-lap victory today in the Australian Grand Prix as his Formula One rivals self-destructed in a drama-filled race on the Adelaide street circuit.

Hill, in a Williams-Renault, covered 190.251 miles on the 2.348-mile layout in 1 hour 49 minutes 15.946 seconds.

Olivier Panis of France was second, with Gianni Morbidelli of Italy a career-best third.

Only eight cars still were running at the end of the race.

Finland’s Mika Hakkinen, who sustained serious head injuries in a high-speed crash in the opening qualifying session, began sitting up and talking after being unconscious for almost 24 hours. A statement issued by an Adelaide hospital said Hakkinen probably will be released from the hospital’s intensive care unit within 24 hours.

Baseball

Atlanta center fielder Marquis Grissom, who caught the final out as the Braves won their first World Series title, agreed to a four-year contract with the team.

Grissom, 28, was acquired in a trade with Montreal on April 6 and had a one-year contract with the Braves worth $4.9 million. Terms of the new deal weren’t immediately available.

With the Braves during the regular season, Grissom had a .258 average with 12 home runs, 42 runs batted in and 29 stolen bases.

The agent for former New York Yankee manager Buck Showalter will arrive in Phoenix today, according to a report in the Arizona Republic, and a contract naming Showalter the first manager of the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks could be completed by Thursday.

Jerry Colangelo, managing general partner of the Diamondbacks, told the newspaper on Friday night that Showalter’s agent, Jim Krivacs, will arrive in Phoenix, and the newspaper speculated that Showalter could sign the contract Thursday in conjunction with groundbreaking ceremonies for the Diamondbacks’ 48,000-seat downtown stadium.

Don Zimmer, who announced his retirement last season after 47 years in baseball, reportedly has changed his mind and will return in 1996 as a coach for the Yankees. The New York Daily News reported that Zimmer, 64, has accepted an invitation from new Yankee Manager Joe Torre to serve as bench coach.

Florida Marlin pitcher Pat Rapp underwent surgery to repair a herniated disk in his lower back. The right-hander, who finished the season with nine consecutive victories for a 14-7 record and 3.44 earned-run average, should be ready to pitch by the start of spring training.

Tennis

Steffi Graf rolled over unseeded Zina Garrison Jackson, 6-3, 6-1, to reach the finals of the $800,000 Advanta Championships at Philadelphia. Graf, who never faced a break point in her 55-minute victory, will meet Lori McNeil, who upset defending champion Anke Huber, 6-4, 6-7 (7-1), 7-6 (12-10), in 2 hours 47 minutes.

“Lori takes every chance she can to approach the net,” Graf said. “She keeps the ball low and forces you to pass her. She’s tough.”

Carl Uwe-Steeb and Daniel Vacek, both unseeded, meet in today’s final of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Vacek, of the Czech Republic, upset top-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, 7-6 (10-8), 3-6, 7-6 (7-5). Uwe-Steeb of Germany beat two-time Kremlin Cup winner Marc Rosset of Switzerland, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4.

Thomas Enqvist routed Richey Reneberg, 6-2, 6-1, and became the first Swede in four years to reach final of the Stockholm Open. Enqvist, a Stockholm native seeded second and ranked eighth in the world, will play Arnaud Boetsch of France. Boetsch, seeded fifth, struggled to a 6-1, 1-6, 7-5 victory over David Prinosil.

Golf

Fred Couples and Davis Love III headed toward a record fourth consecutive title after extending their lead to 10 strokes after three rounds of the World Cup of Golf at Shenzhen, China. Love had six birdies on the Jack Nicklaus-designed ITPC at Mission Hills for a four-under 68. Couples added a 70 to give the United States a three-day total of 25-under-par 407.

Japan moved from fourth to second place in the $1.5-million event, one stroke ahead of Scotland, after Hisayuki Sasaki carded a 67 and teammate Hiroshi Goda had a 70. Sasaki maintained his lead for the individual honor with a three-day score of 198, two strokes ahead of Love.

Jim Colbert shot a one-under-par 71 to take a six-stroke lead into the final round of the Senior Tour Championship at Myrtle Beach, S.C. Colbert, who tied for last a year ago, could become the first wire-to-wire leader to win the $1.5-million tournament.

Colbert’s closest challengers for the $262,000 first-place check are Dave Stockton, Rocky Thompson and Ray Floyd, all at 214.

Liselotte Neumann shot a 71 for a seven-under par 212 and maintained a one-stroke lead over Jane Geddes heading into the final round of the Women’s Australian Open at Melbourne. Neumann, 29, had a poor start, bogeying the first and fourth holes, but finished with three birdies on the par-73 Yarra Yarra course.

Betsy King was formally inducted into the LPGA Hall of Fame before more than 400 people at Reading, Pa.

Miscellany

The UCLA women’s soccer team lost to the Washington, 2-1, in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. Mari Meinhart scored at 1:59 for the host Bruins, but the Huskies countered with goals by Erin Poachman and Carolyn Jenkins.

Winds clocked at 55 m.p.h. forced organizers to cancel the opening of the World Cup ski season at Tignes, France. The event was stopped after 17 skiers had completed the course in the women’s giant slalom, the first race of the season. The forecast for today, when a men’s giant slalom is to be run, was for much of the same. Organizers said the race would not be made up later in the schedule.

Playing together for the first time since 1992, fourth-seeded Karolyn Kirby and Nancy Reno defeated Sandra Pires and Jackie Silva, 12-4 and 14-8, to win the FIVB women’s beach volleyball event in Carolina, Puerto Rico.

James Cotton scored 22 points to lead Long Beach State past Spalding America, 87-78, in an exhibition basketball game.

Cuba cannot afford to send all 275 of its Olympic athletes and officials to Georgia next year for pre-Olympic training because of the cost of room and board, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The Caribbean nation could decide instead to send between 25 and 40 boxers, weightlifters and track and field athletes, the newspaper reported.

Bulgarian weightlifters Nikolai Boevski, Petar Stefanov and Petar Tanev have tested positive for a banned stimulant and may be banned from competition, the daily Standart reported.

The results of first tests of two members of the women’s weightlifting team, Daniela Kerkelova and Zhaneta Georgieva, have been positive as well, the report said, but an athlete is not considered to have violated rules until a second sample also reads positive.

Cold weather was forecast for today’s New York City Marathon. A high temperature in the upper 40s was forecast for early in the day, with the temperature dropping to the low 40s during the afternoon.