Agassi Loss in Masters Cup Is No. 1 Gain for Hewitt

Andre Agassi’s second loss in the season-ending Masters Cup on Thursday at Shanghai means Lleyton Hewitt will finish the year with the world No. 1 ranking.

Agassi double-faulted on match point, handing Juan Carlos Ferrero a 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (6) victory. Shortly after the match, Agassi withdrew from the tournament because of a hip injury. Thomas Johansson of Sweden will replace Agassi.

Agassi came into the eight-player tournament with a chance to overtake Hewitt in the rankings and finish the year No. 1. But he failed to reach the semifinals after his second consecutive loss.

Hewitt then handed Marat Safin his third straight loss, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

Agassi’s second straight defeat also clinched a semifinal berth for Switzerland’s Roger Federer, who ran his record to 2-0 by stopping Jiri Novak, 6-0, 4-6, 6-2.

The round-robin portion of the tournament ends today.

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Men’s tennis pro Taylor Dent, a Huntington Beach resident who is among the hardest-hitting servers on the ATP Tour, will make an appearance and sign autographs Sunday as part of the final-day festivities at the $15,000 Costa Mesa Pro Classic at Costa Mesa Tennis Center.

Dent, 21, will appear at the Futures-level event Sunday from 10-11:30 a.m., before the tournament doubles and singles final matches and in conjunction with a session of free drills and contests that are open to the public.

Auto Racing

Adrian Fernandez has been forced to drop out of the CART season finale at Mexico City because of a neck injury suffered at Surfers Paradise in Australia on Oct. 27.

Winston Cup regular Jeff Green won the pole for the Ford 300 Busch Series race at Homestead, Fla. .... Mike Bliss won the pole for the season finale of the NASCAR truck series at Homestead, Fla.

Golf

Ben Crenshaw will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame with his teacher, Harvey Penick, who died in 1995, along with four others tonight at St. Augustine, Fla.

The other inductees are two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer, U.S. Open champion Tommy Bolt, British Open and U.S. Open champion Tony Jacklin, and LPGA founder Marlene Hagge.

The PGA Tour is returning to the Boston area for the first time in five years with a $5-million event that will end on Labor Day and feature Tiger Woods, whose foundation will get the charitable proceeds.

The Deutsche Bank U.S. Championship will cap three consecutive weeks of high-profile tournaments, following the PGA Championship and a World Golf Championship event.

Miscellany

Sacramento King forward Chris Webber’s lawyer filed a motion in federal court Wednesday asking a judge to throw out federal charges the player lied to a grand jury about his involvement with former Michigan booster Ed Martin.

Switzerland’s Alinghi defeated Italy’s Prada and San Francisco’s Oracle topped Seattle’s OneWorld to move within one win of victory in their best-of-seven quarterfinals in the Louis Vuitton Cup qualifying series for the America’s Cup at Auckland, New Zealand..

Sweden’s Victory Challenge defeated France’s Le Defi to take a 3-0 lead and Stars & Stripes defeated Britain’s GBR Challenge to take a 2-1 lead in their quarterfinal.

Funeral services for sports broadcaster and journalist Chuck Benedict will be held today at 11 a.m. at the Church of the Hills in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, 6300 Forest Lawn Dr., Hollywood Hills. Benedict, 83, died Saturday after suffering a heart attack at his home in Glendale.

In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that donations be made to the Chuck Benedict Scholarship Fund, Southern California Sports Broadcasters, P.O. Box 240015, Los Angeles 90024-9115.

Passings

Former NFL tight end Jim Hester died Thursday at Davenport, Iowa, after battling heart and lung disease. He was 57.