Kuerten Out, Agassi Advances

Patrick Rafter defeated top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil in the quarterfinals of the $800,000 Lyon Grand Prix at Lyon, France.

Playing a textbook serve-and-volley game, the eighth-seeded Australian eliminated the two-time French Open champion, 6-3, 6-4, to reach his first semifinals in five appearances in Lyon.

“Everything just went so well,” said two-time U.S. Open champion Rafter. “Everything now is a bonus.”

Earlier, the second-seeded Andre Agassi beat Karol Kucera of Slovakia, 6-1, 7-5.

Agassi took advantage of Kucera’s erratic serve and shaky forehand. Kucera committed 11 double faults.

“It took patience,” Agassi said. “The match was a bit tighter than the score would indicate. But I didn’t make many mistakes and that forces your opponent to play perfect.”

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Top-ranked Martina Hingis of Switzerland defeated Anna Kournikova of Russia, 6-4, 6-0, to advance to the semifinals of the Advanta Championship at Villanova, Pa.

Hingis took 18 minutes to finish off Kournikova in the second set, surrendering only seven points.

Hingis will face Nathalie Tauziat in the semifinals. Tauziat, seeded fourth, beat French compatriot Julie Halard-Decugis, 6-4, 6-4.

In the other quarterfinals, defending champion Lindsay Davenport beat seventh-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, 6-1, 1-6, 6-1, and third-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain defeated Holly Parkinson, 6-2, 6-0.

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Amelie Mauresmo became the fifth player to withdraw from the season-ending Chase Championships, which begin Monday in New York.

Elena Likhovtseva of Russia moves into the field, replacing Mauresmo.

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Top-seeded Marat Safin and No. 2 Yevgeny Kafelnikov advanced to the semifinals of the $800,000 St. Petersburg Open at Russia, keeping alive hopes of an all-Russian final.

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Chanda Rubin and Lisa Raymond will join Davenport and Monica Seles on the U.S. Fed Cup team for the semifinals against Belgium on Nov. 22 in Las Vegas.

Jurisprudence

Attorneys for former Minnesota basketball coach Clem Haskins are asking a Minneapolis court to dismiss a lawsuit by the school that seeks to recover some of the $1.5 million he was paid in a contract buyout in June 1999.

Haskins’ lawyers say the university violated a clause in the buyout agreement by not trying to resolve the dispute before going to court.

Two brothers who led a ring that distributed forged sports and celebrity memorabilia around the United States are each facing more than three years in prison.

Gregory and John Marino, were sentenced earlier this week in a San Diego federal court. In April, they and three other family members pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and tax evasion.

As part of their guilty pleas, the Marinos forfeited a home and land in Escondido; a boat; a $96,000 down payment on another boat; $101,000 in a bank account; and $75,000 seized by authorities during a search of their home last year.

Miscellany

UCLA defeated top-ranked Stanford in men’s soccer, 1-0, in double overtime, on a penalty kick by McKinley Tennyson Jr.

Tennyson was taken down in the penalty area in the 112th minute, and he scored his team-leading 14th goal of the season moments later. UCLA denied Stanford the Pac-10 title, which went to Washington.

Undefeated Irene Pacheco won an unpopular 12-round majority decision over Masibulele Makepula in Las Vegas to retain the International Boxing Federation flyweight title.

Steve Park won his second pole of the season in the opening round of qualifying for NASCAR’s Pennzoil 400 at Homestead-Miami Raceway in Homestead, Fla.

Park, the final Winston Cup driver on the track, zipped around the nearly flat 1 1/2-mile oval at 156.440 mph, slightly faster than Ricky Rudd and points leader Bobby Labonte.

Two Romanian weightlifters who passed independent drug tests after testing positive before the Sydney Olympics have no chance of overturning their bans, International Weightlifting Federation vice president Sam Coffa said.

Adrian Mateas and Traian Ciharean tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone in pre-Olympic drug tests and face lifetime suspensions.

The two were expelled from the Olympic Village before the Sept. 15 opening ceremony and did not compete at the Sydney Games.

Russian Yevgeny Plushchenko hit a quadruple jump in combination to beat American Tom Goebel in the men’s short program at the Nations Cup figure skating competition at Gelsenkirchen, Germany.