Gordon Sends Martin Away as a Runner-Up

Jeff Gordon denied Mark Martin a big series finale by winning the Miami 300 Saturday at Homestead, Fla.

Martin, bidding farewell to the Busch Grand National Series, settled for second place.

Gordon, in his Chevrolet, led the final 71 laps of the 200-lap race and won by .241 seconds.

Martin made repeated charges in his Ford but could not pull even.

“I ran way better than I expected,” Martin said. “Homestead would not be a track that would be considered my strong suit.”

Gordon, who has competed sporadically in the Busch Series, is also giving up the circuit this year.

Martin, 41, held open the possibility of returning when he retires from Winston Cup, but he said he’s frazzled from competing in both.

Jeff Green finished third.

Tennis

Andre Agassi injured his right hip and quit after the first set of his semifinal against Frenchman Arnaud Clement at the Lyon Grand Prix at Lyon, France.

Agassi is completing a disheartening year marked by injuries, poor play and family illness.

Agassi, seeded second, lost the opening set 6-3.

Clement will play Patrick Rafter in today’s final. The eighth-seeded Australian defeated Hicham Arazi of Morocco, 6-3, 6-4.

Agassi will have tests to determine the extent of the injury and whether he can play at the Master Series event in Paris this week.

Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport breezed to victories and advanced to the final of the Advanta Championships at Villanova, Pa., for the second consecutive year.

Hingis, seeded first, defeated Nathalie Tauziat of France, 6-1, 6-2, in 61 minutes. Davenport, seeded second, beat Conchita Martinez of Spain, 6-0, 6-1, in a 50-minute match.

Marat Safin of Russia, yet to win a pro tournament in his home country, defeated Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden, 6-4, 6-4, to advance to the final of the St. Petersburg Open.

Second-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov lost to Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia in the other semifinal, 7-5, 6-3, ending hopes for an all-Russian final.

Miscellany

Troy Glaus of the Angels went three for five with five runs batted in and Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit a three-run homer as the major leaguers beat the Japanese All-Stars, 13-5, at Tokyo.

Bonds’ homer came during an eight-run fourth inning. The major leaguers improved to 4-2-1 in the eight-game series.

Charmaine Hooper had a goal and an assist in a three-minute span and Nicci Wright made 14 saves as Canada upset the U.S. women’s soccer team, 3-1, in an exhibition game at Columbus, Ohio.

Kim St. Pierre made 28 saves as Canada defeated the U.S. women’s hockey team, 2-0, to win the gold medal in the Four Nations Cup at Provo, Utah.

Figure skater Maria Butyrskaya of Russia won the Nations Cup at Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Yevgeny Plushchenko of Russia defeated American Timothy Goebel in the men’s competition. Each skater did a pair of quadruple jumps in his program.

Jirka Letzin of Germany won the 100- and 400-meter individual medleys at the FINA World Cup swimming competition at Rio de Janeiro.

Erik Schlopy and Kilian Albrecht of Austria tied for first place in the men’s slalom, and Sarah Schleper won the women’s race at the Chevy Truck Super Series at Loveland, Colo.

Billy Crystal will host a celebrity roast honoring Muhammad Ali on Thursday at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles to raise money for the construction of the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Ky.