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Williams, Seles Reach Semifinals at Tokyo

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From Staff and Wire Reports

Serena Williams defeated Jelena Dokic, 6-3, 6-4, Friday to make the Toyota Princess Cup semifinals at Tokyo and will next face a Czech teenager who began the year ranked 294th.

Daja Bedanova, 17, defeated No. 5 Amy Frazier, 5-7, 7-6 (0), 6-2, for the best result of her career.

Top-seeded Monica Seles also advanced to the semifinals, defeating Japanese wild card Shinobu Asagoe, 6-3, 6-4. She plays fourth-seeded Julie Halard-Decugis in the semis. The Frenchwoman downed Kristina Brandi, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4.

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Top-seeded Martina Hingis needed only 56 minutes to overpower Belgium’s Dominique Van Roost, 6-2, 6-1, and advance to the semifinals of the Porsche Grand Slam at Filderstadt, Germany.

Hingis’ next opponent will be Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, the fourth-seeded Spaniard who defeated South Africa’s Amanda Coetzer, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.

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Seventh-seeded Patrick Rafter of Australia upset top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, 7-6 (4), 6-4, to advance to the semifinals of the Salem Open at Hong Kong.

Rafter will face fellow Australian Mark Philippoussis, who defeated Sergi Bruguera of Spain, 6-2, 6-3.

Tim Henman of Britain also advanced to the semifinals, defeating Michael Chang, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Henman will face Nicolas Kiefer of Germany, who defeated Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador, 6-2, 6-4.

Jurisprudence

A judge in Denver has given former World Boxing Council lightweight champion Stevie Johnston until Feb. 22 to complete requirements of his probation for two drunk-driving convictions and warned the fighter he will be jailed if they are not met.

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Former World Boxing Assn. light-heavyweight champion Louis Delvalle has filed a $7-million lawsuit claiming that his former manager stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from him.

Delvalle, 32, says in court papers that Joseph DeGuardia, who became his manager and lawyer in 1992, stole some of the money by accepting secret payoffs merely for “delivering” Delvalle for fights.

Massachusetts basketball player Monty Mack was arrested on shoplifting charges, accused of hiding seven DVD movies worth $159.93 in his sweat pants. The team suspended him Friday for the first three games this season.

Miscellany

Players and spectators at a high school football game in Chapel Hill, N.C., fled the stadium in panic Friday night after a gun was fired into the crowd, authorities said.

No one was seriously injured in the shooting or the scramble out of the stadium during the third quarter of a game between Chapel Hill and Jordan high schools. The game was suspended.

Brian McBride, a starting forward for the U.S. national soccer team, probably will sit out the Americans’ next two World Cup qualifiers because of a blood clot under his armpit. McBride, on loan to Preston North End in England’s first division from Columbus of Major League Soccer, suffered a slight injury during a Sept. 23 game against Sheffield Wednesday. . . . Ben Olsen, the U.S. Olympic and D.C. United midfielder, will play for England’s Nottingham Forest for at least three months, although the club has expressed interest in a permanent transfer.

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Tony Schumacher led top-fuel qualifying for the NHRA’s AutoZone Nationals at Millington, Tenn., with a quarter-mile run of 4.593 seconds at a top speed of 315.19 mph.

Tom Geyer, who had limited playing time in two seasons, quit the Indiana basketball team, saying he couldn’t play for any coach but Bob Knight.

Robert G. Petersen, a speedskater who participated in the 1936 Olympics, died Sunday at 86 from a rare degenerative brain disorder.

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