Agassi’s Winning Streak Ends

Fourth-seeded Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands ended Andre Agassi’s 14-match winning streak with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 semifinal victory at the du Maurier Open at Toronto on Saturday.

His opponent in today’s championship match will be third-seeded Patrick Rafter, who continued to methodically dispatch the opposition with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Tim Henman of Great Britain.

“I had six break points in the second set,” said the unseeded Agassi, who beat top-seeded Pete Sampras on Friday night. “I was just a sniff from a 6-4, 6-3 match. He weathered my storm.”

Still, Agassi will be ranked No. 9 when the ATP’s new rankings are announced Monday, his first time in the top 10 since January 1997.

In a bizarre event during a doubles quarterfinal match, Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Daniel Nestor of Canada advanced when their opponents, Philippoussis and Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia, were forced to retire after colliding while both were playfully trying to head a mis-hit ball soccer-style.

Ivanisevic suffered a cut between his nose and left eyebrow that gushed blood and required six stitches. Philippoussis had a bruised forehead.

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Australia’s Richard Fromberg rallied in the final set to upset top-seeded Slovak Karol Kucera, 6-1, 6-7 (7-4), 6-4, and reach the final of the Grolsch Open clay court tournament at Amsterdam.

Sweden’s Magnus Norman also advanced to the final, defeating Argentine Mariano Zabaleta, 7-5, 6-4, after receiving treatment for heat exhaustion.

Swimming and Diving

Canadian swimming authorities will seek to have Michelle Smith stripped of the three gold medals she won at the Atlanta Olympics.

If that happens, Canadians Marianne Limpert and Joanne Malar would move up to first and third in the 200-meter individual medley at the 1996 games.

Smith was suspended for four years by FINA, swimming’s international governing body, for tampering with an out-of-competition drug test urinalysis in January. The Irish swimmer has vowed to fight the sanction and sue the swimming federation for damages.

Swimming Canada Chief Executive Harold Cliff said he will petition FINA later this month at meetings in Lausanne, Switzerland, to pressure the IOC into taking back Smith’s medals.

Erica Sorgi of Mission Viejo won the 16-18 girls’ one-meter springboard final Saturday at the Junior National Diving Championships in Largo, Fla. Sorgi scored 451.70 points to beat runner-up Michelle Davison (427.01) of Columbia, S.C. Kristen Marquis of San Juan Capistrano finished 11th with 383.03 points.

Motor Racing

Dario Franchitti won the pole position for the CART Miller Lite 200 at Lexington, Ohio, as the track record at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was broken for the second consecutive day.

Franchitti, a second-year driver from Scotland, had a lap of 123.766 mph in his final qualifying try over the 2.25-mile, 13-turn road course.

Terry Cook defeated defending Stevens Beil 200 champion Ron Hornaday at Flemington, N.J., in a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race.

San Bernardino’s Charlie Venegas won the four-lap scratch main event in front of 6,008 in the weekly speedway motorcycle program at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. Riverside’s Gary Hicks was second and Cucamonga’s Chris Manchester third.

Brea’s Shawn McConnell won the eight-lap handicap main event. San Juan Capistrano’s Brad Oxley was second and Hicks third.

Miscellany

Ato Boldon got revenge against Olympic champion Donovan Bailey in the 100 meters at the Herculis Golden League track and field meet at Monte Carlo, and Michael Johnson won the 400 in 43.96, the second time he has been under 44 seconds this season.

Boldon was timed in 9.92 seconds in defeating Bailey, second at 9.96.

Marion Jones stayed unbeaten in the women’s 100, winning in 10.72, only .01 of a second off her season’s world best.

The Orange County Cardinals hit six home runs to win their opening game at the Connie Mack World Series Saturday in Farmington, N.M.

The Cardinals (34-4) defeated New York Youth Service, 22-4, in a game called after five innings. Missouri-bound Brian Ackerson, a Fountain Valley graduate, was the winning pitcher.

The Cardinals’ next game is 4:15 p.m. Monday against defending series champion Midland, Ohio.