Philippoussis Wins Again

Mark Philippoussis of Australia earned his third victory in the $2.55-million Paris Open by defeating 10th-seeded Tim Henman of Britain, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, on Thursday.

Philippoussis served 14 aces to Henman’s seven, and Henman double-faulted six times to none for Philippoussis.

“All I am lacking from my game is matches under my belt and this week that is what I am getting,” said Philippoussis, coming back from knee surgery. “I am concentrating extremely well and enjoying playing again.”

Philippoussis faces Andre Agassi in today’s top quarterfinal match. Agassi had to come back from 0-2 in the final set to beat Sjeng Schalken, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

Michael Chang beat John van Lottum of the Netherlands, 6-1, 6-2, in 59 minutes. He will face Cedric Pioline of France in the quarterfinals. Pioline beat Australian Lleyton Hewitt, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 7-6 (8-6).

Jim Courier became the third American in the final eight with a 6-7 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 victory over Thomas Enqvist of Sweden in a match that took 2 1/2 hours. Courier’s next opponent is unseeded Russian Marat Safin, who beat Marc Rosset of Switzerland, 6-4, 6-4.

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Top-seeded Mary Pierce of France, seeking her second consecutive title, beat Sandra Kleinova of the Czech Republic, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, to reach the quarterfinals of the $520,000 Sparkassen Cup at Leipzig, Germany. Pierce will meet former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez of Spain, who rallied to beat Russian qualifier Tatiana Panova, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1. Fifth-seeded Anna Kournikova of Russia and eighth-seeded Anke Huber of Germany also advanced. Kournikova beat Sandrine Testud of France, 6-2, 6-4, and Huber defeated Silvija Talaja of Croatia, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. . . . Jennifer Capriati beat Seda Noorlander of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-2, to reach the quarterfinals of the Bell Challenge tournament at Quebec. In other matches, Mashona Washington beat Japan’s Shinobu Asagoe, 6-3, 6-1, Lisa Raymond eliminated Jana Nejedly, the last Canadian in the singles field, 6-0, 6-1, and third-seeded Chanda Rubin beat Australian Nicole Pratt, 6-3, 6-3.

College Basketball

Arizona was acclaimed a near-unanimous media choice to win the Pacific 10 Conference men’s basketball championship, receiving 32 of a possible 36 first-place votes and 356 points to easily outdistance UCLA and Stanford.

The Bruins received three first-place votes and 307 points. Stanford picked up the remaining first-place vote and 296 points. USC was picked to finish seventh.

Defending national champion Connecticut was chosen No. 1 the ESPN/USA Today coaches preseason poll. Michigan State was second, followed by Cincinnati and Auburn. UCLA is 13th.

The USC men’s team will play an exhibition game tonight against the California All-Stars at the campus’ Lyon Center. Tipoff is 7:30. Tickets are $5. Former Clipper Bo Kimble plays for the All-Stars.

Connecticut center Jake Voskuhl, a 22-year-old senior, did not violate rules on accepting gifts when he borrowed a friend’s car to drive to classes, the NCAA ruled.

The NCAA restored the eligibility of Michigan State recruit Jason Richardson, selected last year as Michigan’s top high school player. The NCAA declared Richardson ineligible in July, saying he had not taken an acceptable core of high school courses.

Jurisprudence

Billy Brewer, former Mississippi football coach, is requesting a new trial, rejecting $221,355 in damages awarded to him by a jury in his breach of contract lawsuit against the university.

A circuit court jury found in Brewer’s favor last month, more than five years after he was fired in 1994 in the wake of an NCAA investigation. Jurors, however, did not award Brewer about $2 million in damages he sought from the school. Brewer filed his motion for a new trial in Oxford, Miss.

Former North Carolina defensive tackle Brian Norwood is facing 16 to 20 months in jail after admitting to sexually related charges involving an 11-year-old girl.

Norwood, 19, pleaded guilty earlier this week in Rockingham, N.C., to two felony charges of taking indecent liberties with a minor.

Names in the News

Romanian soccer Coach Victor Piturca, who led his team to a berth in next year’s European Championship, was fired by the country’s soccer federation after he insulted the country’s top star, Gheorghe Hagi. No replacement has been hired.

The move was made after Hagi and defender Gheorghe Popescu appeared on a television talk show last week, saying Piturca “stabbed them in the back” through a series of public insults. Piturca said Hagi, the longtime national team captain, was “illiterate.”

An Argentine court rejected an appeal by former soccer star Diego Maradona after a court sentenced him to two years in jail for shooting journalists with an air-powered pellet rifle.

Ken Schrader won his third NASCAR Busch series pole of the year, posting the fastest time among the top 25 qualifiers for the inaugural Outback Steakhouse 200 at Phoenix International Raceway. Schrader drove the irregular oval in 27.782 seconds at 129.580 mph.

Miscellany

Bosnia-Herzegovina plans to send a team of 19 athletes to compete in seven sports at next year’s Sydney Olympics. Under a five-point agreement announced by the International Olympic Committee, the former Yugoslav republic will field a common team representing all sectors of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

At a meeting in Sarajevo, officials from Bosnia-Herzegovina said their goal was to send athletes to compete in track and field, swimming, boxing, judo, cycling, wrestling and shooting.

Funeral services for Leonard Fisher, who taught and coached at schools in Compton from 1937-1962, will be held today at 1 p.m. at White’s Funeral Home in Bellflower. He died Tuesday of complications of Paget’s and Parkinson’s diseases. He was 86.

Fisher, an award-winning artist and art teacher, coached baseball and football at Compton High from 1952-62 and also assisted at Compton College.

The Big West Conference has accepted Cal State Northridge as an associate member in baseball for the 2001 season.

Alexei Yagudin, the world figure-skating champion from Russia, was in first place at Skate Canada in Saint John, New Brunswick, just ahead of Canada’s Elvis Stojko. The free-skating final is Saturday.