Tennis

In his first match since becoming a father, No. 3-seeded Andre Agassi lost the first two games then rallied to defeat No. 6 Patrick Rafter, 6-2, 6-4, on the opening night of the Tennis Masters Cup at Sydney. Agassi’s wife, Steffi Graf, gave birth to son Jaden Gil last month. In another match, No. 2 Lleyton Hewitt defeated No. 7 Sebastien Grosjean of France, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Miscellany

NASCAR said it can do little to improve safety at its small U.S. tracks, where a newspaper investigation found that 150 people have died since 1990. NASCAR sanctions 92 short tracks, but doesn’t have the resources to set and enforce safety rules at those events, vice president Jim Hunter said. “I don’t think we can assume a bigger role than we currently do,” Hunter said in Homestead, Fla. He gave no reasons for the stand in an interview published in the Charlotte Observer. An investigation by the Observer, published Sunday, found that at least 260 people have died in auto racing since 1990.

Michele Ferrari, a doctor who has worked with three-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, will testify next week about whether he gave banned drugs to cyclists. Prosecutors believe Mario Cipollini of Italy, Axel Merckx of Belgium, and Pavel Tonkov of Russia are among the cyclists to whom Ferrari gave the banned endurance-building drug EPO, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

In the NCAA women’s soccer tournament, UCLA received the third seeding overall and will host a four-team regional Friday. The Bruins (17-2), last season’s NCAA runner-up, will play Cal State Fullerton (13-6), in the first round. Pepperdine (11-4-3) and USC (10-6-2) will play at Drake Stadium before the UCLA-Fullerton matchup.