Aussie Sidelined by Injury

Australian tennis standout Mark Philippoussis will be sidelined for several months while recovering from surgery for a torn ligament in his left knee.

Philippoussis originally injured the knee at Wimbledon in 1999, and a recurrence forced him to withdraw from a tournament in Stockholm last month.

The surgery means Philippoussis will not play in the Hopman Cup mixed teams event in Perth, Australia, that begins Tuesday or the Australian Open. He also will not be eligible for the first-round Davis Cup match against Ecuador at Perth’s Royal Kings Park from Feb. 9-11.

Basketball

The L.A. Stars raced to a 133-128 victory against the Indiana Legends before 4,767 in an ABA game at the Great Western Forum. Curtis Staples had 26 points to lead the Stars (2-0). Jeff Nordgaard led Indiana (0-2) with 26 points.

Leon Smith, a former first-round NBA draft pick who never played for the Dallas Mavericks, has been released by the St. Louis Swarm of the International Basketball League. Smith, a 6-foot-10 forward-center, averaged seven points and nearly eight rebounds in three games with the Swarm.

Soccer

Ivan Zamorano, the Chilean striker who resigned last week from Internazionale Milan, arrived in Mexico to sign a two-year contract with Mexico City’s America, club officials said.

Eintracht Frankfurt, the struggling Bundesliga club, is ready to immediately release Chinese striker Chen Yang, a club official said. Chen was dropped from the first team this month after he missed a match because of headaches.

Meredith Florance, who helped lead North Carolina to the NCAA soccer championship and a 21-3 record, was voted winner of the Honda Award for top college player in balloting by NCAA member schools.

UCLA forward Stephanie Rigamat, a junior from La Crescenta, has been called up to the U.S. women’s national team for an eight-day, two-game trip to China. Rigamat will be part of an 18-member team that departs Jan. 7.

Miscellany

Irina Slutskaya retained her Russian figure skating title with a clean and challenging free program that included three triples and three triple-doubles at Moscow.

Slutskaya, the European champion and world silver medalist, received mostly 5.9s for technique and four 6.0s for presentation.

Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won the pairs title, earning seven 5.9s for technique and four 6.0s for presentation.

Andrew Hilbert and Richard Omberger each scored two goals to lead the U.S. past Slovakia, 7-2, in the World Junior Hockey Championships at Moscow. The victory gives the U.S. a 2-0-0 record in the opening round of Group A.

Janica Kostelic of Croatia won her fifth consecutive World Cup slalom of the season, putting together two flawless runs under the lights at Semmering, Austria. Kostelic, who led after the first heat, crossed the line in a combined time of 1:35.06.

Tyree Washington, a member of the world record-setting U.S. 4x400-meter relay team in 1998, has signed to compete in the 500-yard event at the Los Angeles Invitational indoor track meet at the Sports Arena on Jan. 20.

British boxer Paul Ingle, who was critically injured in a featherweight fight against South Africa’s Mbulelo Botile on Dec. 16, is showing signs of progress after undergoing an operation to remove a blood clot from his brain. But a hospital spokesman told the BBC it was still too early to determine whether he would make a full recovery.

Former jockey Eric Merlano, known more for his riding supplies business than his track accomplishments, died of lung cancer Monday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was 59.

Swedish maxi Nicorette won the Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race decisively today, completing the 630 nautical miles in two days 14 hours 2 minutes 9 seconds--the second fastest in the race’s 56-year history.