Tennis

Steffi Graf is injury-free again and looking to make another title run in the Australian Open, which starts Monday at Melbourne.

Graf, 29, continued warming up for the Open with a 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, 2 1/2-hour victory over Serena Williams in the second round of the Adidas International at Sydney.

The victory moved Graf into a quarterfinal match against Venus Williams, Serena’s older sister, who defeated Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.

“It’s been a while that I’ve been able to start off the year without any injuries and be physically in very good shape,” said Graf, a winner of 21 Grand Slam titles but none since the 1996 U.S. Open. She is three Grand Slam titles short of Margaret Court’s record.

“I wanted to have as many matches as I could before playing a Grand Slam.”

In other second-round matches, top-seeded Lindsay Davenport defeated Mary Joe Fernandez, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6), and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain defeated Anke Huber of Germany, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Monica Seles is training in Melbourne for her return to the Australian Open after sitting out the last two. Seles won the event in 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1996.

“I love coming here,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like I’m at a tournament when I’m here and when you feel like that you play more relaxed which usually means you play better.”

Names in the News

The Phoenix Coyotes, in need of defensive help, acquired journeyman J.J. Daigneault from the Nashville Predators for considerations. Daigneault, 34, has two goals, two assists and 38 penalty minutes in 35 games with Nashville, which selected him from the New York Islanders in the expansion draft. . . . Steve Collins of Ireland, a former World Boxing Organization super-middleweight champion, confirmed that he is coming out of retirement to fight Roy Jones Jr. for Jones’ World Boxing Council light-heavyweight title on April 17. Collins quit boxing 18 months ago, saying he couldn’t wait any longer for Jones to agree to a fight. . . . Glen Taylor, owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves, is recovering after successful triple-bypass heart surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. . . . Marquette co-captain Jarrod Lovette is under medical care for major depression and related panic attacks and has decided to stop playing basketball. . . . Upper Deck has stopped making a rookie card for New York Yankee minor-league third baseman Drew Henson because of a risk to his NCAA eligibility as a Michigan quarterback. The card had been on the market about two weeks, but Upper Deck agreed to stop production after the Henson family noted a conflict with NCAA rules.