Kuerten Sends Agassi Limping

Andre Agassi walked quickly to his changeover chair, picked up his racket bag, brushed past autograph seekers at the railing and disappeared through an exit.

It was the best he had moved all day.

Hampered by a mild sprain in his right ankle, Agassi limped out of the Ericsson Open after a 6-1, 6-4 loss to Brazil’s Gustavo Kuerten in the semifinals at Key Biscayne, Fla.

Kuerten’s upset prevented an Agassi-Pete Sampras showdown in Sunday’s final. Sampras, seeded second, slugged 16 aces and beat Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, in the other semifinal.

In the women’s final today, Lindsay Davenport will try to defeat Martina Hingis for the sixth time in a row. Davenport already is assured of reclaiming the No. 1 ranking from Hingis next week.

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A man who claims he is romantically involved with Hingis was arrested and charged with stalking her at the Ericsson Open. Dubravko Rajcevic, 45, had been following Hingis and sending her letters, her coach and mother, Melanie Molitor, told police.

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Staples Center made a presentation to ATP Tour officials two weeks ago at Indian Wells to host the 2002 Tennis Masters Cup--the tour’s year-end championship for the top eight players. The late November tournament has a round-robin format and players are chosen based on the year-end ATP Champions Race standings.

An announcement will be made this summer after bids from other cities have been reviewed, according to an ATP source.

Figure Skating

Michelle Kwan may have returned her focus to figure skating a little too late for a world title this year.

Kwan wobbled during the short program in the World Figure Skating championships at Nice, France, and finished third going into the final free skate.

Russian Maria Butyrskaya, 27, won the short with an elegant program that emphasized her maturity, defeating younger rivals Irina Slutskaya, 21, of Russia and Kwan, 19, even though both had slightly more difficult jumps.

France’s Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat ended Russia’s eight-year lock on the ice dance title with an intense and intricately choreographed free program that earned four 6.0s for presentation.

Pro Football

The Buffalo Bills re-signed unrestricted free agent Ruben Brown, a four-time Pro Bowl guard, and also extended tackle John Fina’s contract. Brown, 28, got a seven-year deal worth about $32 million. Fina received a six-year extension worth about $27 million.

The Los Angeles Avengers added two more players to their Arena Football League training camp. Defensive specialist William Yarborough, an All-Big East safety at Virginia Tech in 1995, was claimed off waivers from the Nashville Kats, and wide receiver Chris Jackson, a graduate of Mater Dei High, comes to the Avengers from NFL Europe’s Berlin Thunder.

Jacksonville Jaguar guard Anthony Cesario was arrested and charged with misdemeanor DUI when he failed a field sobriety test after being stopped for speeding in Jacksonville. . . . Wisconsin political leaders and the Green Bay Packers have agreed on a deal to use a higher sales tax in Brown County to partially finance a $295-million renovation of Lambeau Field. . . . A federal judge has upheld an NFL special master’s ruling that the Arizona Cardinals did not violate the league’s collective bargaining agreement in its negotiations with wide receiver Rob Moore, meaning the club can designate defensive end Simeon Rice as its franchise player.

Miscellany

Senior USC quarterback Mike Van Raaphorst, sharing snaps with sophomore Carson Palmer, completed 10 of 15 passes for 104 yards and sophomore fullback Chad Pierson had a 47-yard touchdown run to highlight a 50-play scrimmage.

Terry Labonte took the top qualifying spot for Sunday’s DirecTV 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Forth Worth with a lap of 192.137 mph, breaking the track qualifying record of 190.154 set last year by Kenny Irwin.

Mike Ditka has been banned for three months from Harrah’s casino for throwing a cigar and cursing a pit boss who issued a ruling that, according to New Orleans television station WVUE, cost the former coach “thousands of dollars” at a craps table.

Less than a month after making a verbal commitment to play baseball at Cal State Fullerton, Anthony Gwynn, son of San Diego Padre Tony Gwynn, changed his mind and has decided to attend his father’s alma mater, San Diego State.

Penn State came from behind to upset top-ranked defending national champion Michigan at Iowa City for the Nittany Lions’ first NCAA men’s gymnastics championships since 1976. Cody Casey of UC Santa Barbara won the floor exercise.

Michael Johnson ran a hand-timed 43.9 seconds for 400 meters at Cape Town to complete his three-meet tour of South Africa.