Agassi Moves to Quarterfinals

A resurgent Andre Agassi advanced to the quarterfinals of the $2.95-million Cincinnati Masters Series tennis tournament with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Thomas Enqvist on Thursday at Mason, Ohio.

Today, he will face top-seeded Lleyton Hewitt, who beat Jarko Nieminen, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

“It was a high-standard match,” said Agassi, who wore Enqvist down with unrelenting baseline strokes. “It was quite a thriller.”

Agassi, seeded sixth, has won four titles this year and is coming off a victory in Los Angeles. He is 37-5 in matches this year.

“I feel pretty good about the year,” Agassi said. “Unfortunately, the Slams haven’t worked out very well.”

Agassi missed the Australian Open because of a wrist injury, lost in the quarterfinals of the French Open and lost in the second round at Wimbledon, his last tournament before Los Angeles.

Otherwise, he has had a remarkably consistent year, reaching at least the quarterfinals in eight of 10 appearances.

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Denisa Chladkova of the Czech Republic upset top-seeded Silvia Farina Elia of Italy, 7-5, 7-6 (3), in the second round of the $140,000 Nordic Light Open at Espoo, Finland.

Fourth-seeded Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain lost to Hungary’s Petra Mandula, who came from behind for a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) victory.

Hockey

The Detroit Red Wings expect captain Steve Yzerman to recover from a knee operation in time for the second half of the season, a team spokesman said.

The 37-year-old Yzerman had knee surgery for the third time in two years on Aug. 2.

“I want to play, but I accept the fact that if it hurts too much, you get to the point where it doesn’t make sense,” Yzerman told the Detroit News. “If I get to that point, I won’t play. Common sense would take over.”

Aaron Ward averted a weekend arbitration hearing with the Carolina Hurricanes by signing a four-year, $7.5-million contract.

The defenseman, who had career highs in games, assists and points last season for the Eastern Conference champions, will make $1.5 million this season, and then $2 million a year for three seasons.

The Ottawa Senators will keep center Radek Bonk despite the two-year, $6.7-million contract he won in salary arbitration this week.

That was $1 million more than the Senators wanted to give him, but General Manager John Muckler said the club would not attempt to trade their No. 1 center.

Goaltender Martin Biron of the Buffalo Sabres signed a two-year contract that will pay him $1.9 million next season and $2.2 million in 2003-04.

Miscellany

Runners Mehdi Baala of France and Reyes Estevez of Spain finished in an apparent tie and each thought he won the men’s 1,500 meters at the European Athletics Championship at Munich, Germany, before Baala was eventually declared the winner.

They finished in 3 minutes 45.25 seconds, and officials at first called it a tie.

Estevez even celebrated with a victory lap. But after 10 minutes of confusion, officials awarded the win to Baala when advanced timing showed he had finished ahead by .002 of a second.

Defending triple jump champion Jonathan Edwards of England lost his title to Sweden’s Christian Olsson, who jumped 57 feet, 6 1/2 inches. Edwards settled for third with a jump of 56-10.

Forward Shawn Marion signed a six-year, $79-million contract extension with the Phoenix Suns.... A televised game between the Lakers and Sacramento, and a Minnesota-Miami matchup in the Dominican Republic, highlight the NBA exhibition schedule. In a rematch of the Western Conference finals, the Lakers and Kings will play Oct. 25 at Staples Center. The game will be televised by ESPN.... The Denver Nuggets signed free-agent center Mark Blount to a one-year contract.

Former Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding was sentenced to 10 days in jail at Camas, Wash., for drinking alcohol while on probation.

“I’m grateful to the judge for giving me this opportunity; I finally found out what my problem is: It’s alcohol,” Harding said.

Mohini Bhardwaj, an 11-time All-American at UCLA, dislocated her right elbow performing on uneven bars and will miss the rest of the U.S. Gymnastics Championships at Cleveland.

The sixth-place team from the Pacific 10 Conference will meet a team from the Western Athletic Conference in the third annual Silicon Valley Football Classic in San Jose on Dec. 31 under an agreement announced this week.

An influx of international sailors will more than double the usual number of boats for the West Coast’s largest Star class regatta this weekend, the annual King of Spain Regatta at Marina Del Rey.

Many of the 114 entries from 26 countries will use the King of Spain as a tune-up for The Nautica 2002 Star Class World Championships, which will run Aug. 18-23.