Agassi Upset by Pavel

Andre Agassi completed the exodus of the top four seeded players from the Stuttgart Masters Series, losing Thursday to Andrei Pavel of Romania, 6-3, 6-4, in the third round at Stuttgart, Germany.

Agassi, seeded fourth, dropped his opening service games in each set. The Romanian had never beaten Agassi in four previous matches.

The loss interrupted Agassi’s comeback after a two-month break following his second-round defeat at the U.S. Open.

French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil and U.S. Open champion Marat Safin of Russia, battling for the No. 1 world ranking, also lost third-round matches.

Greg Rusedski of Britain dented Safin’s hopes of closing on top-ranked Kuerten by upsetting the top-seeded player, 7-6 (2), 6-4, to reach the quarterfinals. Kuerten, who was seeded second, lost to Sebastien Grosjean of France, 7-6 (9), 6-3.

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Kim Clijsters, 17, of Belgium upset Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, 7-5, 6-1, to reach the quarterfinals of the Sparkassen Cup at Leipzig, Germany. . . . Meilen Tu upset third-seeded Julie Halard-Decugis of France, 7-6 (5), 7-5, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Bell Challenge at Quebec. Top-seeded Jennifer Capriati had a few tense moments before beating Jana Nejedly of Canada, 6-4, 7-6 (3).

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Four tennis players from Southern California, making up the entire U.S. team, are competing this weekend in the Nike Junior Tour International Masters in Sun City, South Africa. In the event for boys and girls 12 and 14 from 23 countries will be Carla Tamborini of Arcadia, Lindsay Kinstler of Downey, Adam Loucks of Irvine and Jason McNaughton of San Diego.

College Basketball

Arizona, which has all five starters back from last season, edged Duke for the top spot in the USA Today/ESPN college basketball coaches’ preseason poll. Stanford, North Carolina and defending national champion Michigan State round out the top five, followed by Kansas, Maryland, Tennessee, Illinois and Seton Hall. UCLA is 19th, USC 24th.

USC guards Jeff Trepagnier and Nate Hair might be sidelined at the start of the season because of injuries, Coach Henry Bibby said.

Trepagnier, a senior starter, suffered a hairline fracture in his left foot in practice and could be out two to three weeks. He will not need surgery, Bibby said. Hair, a sophomore reserve, suffered a strained tendon in his knee that could sideline him for up to six weeks.

Other injured Trojans are recovering. David Bluthenthal, who had arthroscopic knee surgery in October, is expected to resume practicing at full strength Monday. Freshman guard Robert Hutchinson is practicing despite a broken finger.

USC opens with an exhibition game Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Lyon Center against the Double Pump California West All-Stars.

Miscellany

World champion Alexei Yagudin of Russia won the men’s short program in Skate Canada International despite an erratic performance. American Todd Eldredge was second. Russia’s Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, the 1999 world champions, won the pairs short program.

A Romanian soccer team lost an appeal against a one-season ban from European Cups competition for “offering female company” to match officials. The Union of European Football Assns. imposed the ban on the club, Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt, after a complaint by a French referee in charge of Ceahlaul’s Intertoto Cup match against Austria Vienna in July.

Tom Moe will become Minnesota’s athletic director today, after almost a year of performing those duties on an interim basis.

Cuba said its three-time Olympic heavyweight champion, Felix Savon, will have to retire next year because of international amateur boxing age limits that Havana had been unable to change.

The Avengers have signed four players in preparation for their second season in the Arena Football League. Two of the free agents, offensive-defensive linemen Victor Hall and Kevin Carroll, played key roles in the Avengers’ inaugural 2000 season. The other two, defensive specialist Mark Ricks and offensive-defensive lineman Chris Butterfield, played for the Oklahoma Wranglers last season.