Dent Serves Notice, but Agassi Wins in Florida

In the first game of his match at Key Biscayne, Fla., against Andre Agassi, 19-year-old Taylor Dent hit a 142-mph serve, the fastest of the year on the ATP Tour--and lost the point.

That’s the way it went for Dent, who showed plenty of potential but lost to Agassi, 6-4, 6-2, in the second round of the Ericsson Open.

Another all-American clash between generations is on the schedule today, when Andy Roddick plays Pete Sampras.

Top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil struggled to defeat Hicham Arazi, 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-4. Mark Philippoussis of Australia also advanced by defeating Michael Chang, 7-6 (2), 6-4.

In women’s play, Elena Dementieva of Russia was leading 6-2, 2-0 when Alexandra Stevenson retired because of a strained back.

Motor Sports

Matt Kenseth, struggling this season in his Winston Cup car, found success in the Busch series by winning the crash-filled Cheez-It 250 at Bristol, Tenn. Kenseth led the final 48 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway and easily defeated Tim Fedewa to the finish line for his 12th career Busch victory.

Del Worsham held the top spot in the funny car division after final qualifying at the NHRA’s O’Reilly Nationals at Baytown, Texas. Mike Dunn (top fuel) and Mike Edwards (pro stock) were the leading qualifiers in their divisions.

Boxing

Wladimir Klitschko of Ukraine stopped Derrick Jefferson of the United States in the second round at Munich to retain his World Boxing Organization heavyweight championship. . . . Sven Ottke stopped James Crawford in the eighth round at Magdeburg, Germany, to retain his International Boxing Federation super-middleweight title. . . . Heavyweight Mike Tyson will fight David Izon in June, possibly in Australia.

Football

USC begins spring practice this afternoon with a new coaching staff and hopes of rebounding from an unprecedented last-place finish in the Pacific 10 Conference last season.

Coach Pete Carroll, hired to replace Paul Hackett in December, has been guarded with his comments, saying he is eager to get his players on the field because “that’s where the talking stops.”

The Trojans will hold 15 practices over the next month, including a scrimmage at the Coliseum on April 7 and the Cardinal and Gold game on April 21.

The Pittsburgh Steelers signed free-agent safety Mike Logan to a three-year, $3.1-million contract.

Winter Sports

Relatives of comatose skier Bill Johnson were encouraged late Saturday by movement of his hands and feet and a hospital official said the former Olympic downhill champion’s stable signs were good news. Johnson, 40, remained hospitalized in a coma in Kalispell, Mont., two days after losing consciousness when he crashed during a race.

Dave Irwin, a star Canadian skier in the 1970s and 1980s, slammed his head on the snow Friday while making a jump during a training run and was hospitalized at Calgary. He remains in critical condition.

Casey Puckett and Erik Schlopy shared a victory in the men’s super-G, finishing in 1:43 seconds at the U.S. Alpine nationals at Whitefish, Mont. Daron Rahlves, the world super-G champion, struggled on his run and placed third. Jakub Fiala appeared to win the race but was disqualified for missing a gate.

Miscellany

Mary Zorn of the U.S. edged Fatima Agudo of Spain in a shoot-off to win the gold medal in the compound event at the Archery Indoor World Championships at Florence, Italy. U.S. archer Richard Johnson lost in the men’s recurve final to Italy’s Michele Frangili.

Paula Radcliffe of Britain won a world cross-country title at Ostend, Belgium, finishing the 7.7-kilometer race in 27 minutes 49 seconds. Enock Koech of Kenya won the men’s 4K race at 12:40.

Olympic champion Ian Thorpe won the 400-meter freestyle in 3:40.76, missing his world record by .17 of a second at the Australian swimming championships at Hobart. . . . USC’s Anthony Ervin tied Matt Biondi’s record in the 100 freestyle (41.80 seconds) and Texas won its second consecutive team title in the NCAA swimming and diving meet at College Station, Texas.

Jesus Carbajal, Julian Solis Perez, Andres Milan and Favian Ramos, who worked for the same drug rings that supplied former Dallas Cowboy player Mark Tuinei with a lethal dose of heroin, were sentenced at Sherman, Texas, to long prison terms. Carbajal was sentenced to life in prison, Perez and Milan to 11-year prison terms and Ramos to 12 years.

Goalie Martin Engren made 28 saves as the Ice Dogs defeated the Tacoma Sabercats, 3-1, in a West Coast Hockey League game before 7,001 at the Long Beach Arena.