Kwan to Replace Injured Hughes

Olympic figure skating gold medalist Sarah Hughes withdrew from the first two Grand Prix events of the season because of a strained right hamstring and medial tendon of her right calf muscle.

Skate America, to be held next weekend in Spokane, Wash., was to be Hughes’ first full-fledged event since her stunning triumph at Salt Lake City. She will be replaced at Skate America by six-time U.S. champion Michelle Kwan, who finished third at Salt Lake City behind Hughes and Irina Slutskaya of Russia.

“This is earlier than she planned to compete, but Michelle’s enthused about it,” said Kwan’s agent, Shep Goldberg. “[The U.S. Figure Skating Assn.] asked her to support the event, and she agreed.”

However, Goldberg said no agreement was made for Kwan to also step in for Hughes at Skate Canada, to be held Oct. 31-Nov. 3 in Quebec City.

Helene Elliott

Golf

Chris DiMarco continued his torrid putting -- only 44 putts in two rounds -- for a 63 that set the 36-hole Disney World Golf Classic record of 17-under 127 and gave him a two-stroke lead over Scott Hoch at Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The previous record was 128 by Steve Flesch in 2000 and Tim Simpson in 1990.

Tiger Woods shot three-under 69 to move to nine-under 135 and eight strokes behind.

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New Zealand’s Michael Campbell won the longest match in World Match Play Championship history, then defeated Ian Woosnam later in the day, 3 and 2, to reach the semifinals at Virginia Water, England. Campbell’s 10-foot birdie putt at the seventh sudden-death hole beat Nick Faldo in the 43-hole, record-setting match.

Campbell will face Sergio Garcia, who defeated Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, 2 and 1. Ernie Els defeated Colin Montgomerie, 6 and 5, and will face Vijay Singh, who beat Retief Goosen, 4 and 3.

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George Archer made an eagle and three birdies on the back nine to shoot a seven-under 64 and take the opening-round lead in the Senior PGA’s SBC Championship at San Antonio.

Tennis

Andre Agassi swept past French Open finalist Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-3, 6-2, to reach the Madrid Masters semifinals. Agassi got 69% of his first serves in and wasn’t broken for the second straight match.

In the semifinals, Agassi will play seventh-seeded Sebastien Grosjean, who beat Agustin Calleri, 6-3, 7-6 (4). Jiri Novak defeated Paradorn Srichaphan, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, and advanced to play Fabrice Santoro, who beat Roger Federer, 7-5, 6-3.

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Defending champion Lindsay Davenport beat Kim Clijsters, 6-3, 7-6 (5), in the quarterfinals of the Swisscom Challenge at Zurich. Clijsters saved five match points before finally losing. Davenport will play fourth-seeded Justine Henin, who defeated Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian, 7-5, 6-2.

Conchita Martinez, who defeated Alexandra Stevenson, 7-5, 7-5, will play Patty Schnyder, who upset seventh-seeded Daniela Hantuchova, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (5).

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Michael Chang defeated Brazil’s Ricardo Mello, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, in the quarterfinals of the USTA Challenger of Burbank. Robby Ginepri, Michael Russell and Sweden’s Bjorn Rehnquist also advanced to today’s semifinals.

Miscellany

Rookie Ryan Newman posted a lap of 92.837 mph to win the pole for the Winston Cup Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville, Va. Jeff Gordon was second at 92.733.... Greg Biffle won the pole with a lap of 116.817 mph in qualifying for the Busch Series Sam’s Town 250 at Memphis, Tenn.

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Top-ranked USC remained undefeated by defeating UCLA, 30-24, 30-22, 30-24, in a Pacific 10 Conference women’s volleyball match before a capacity crowd of 1,214 at USC. Outside hitter April Ross had 13 kills for the Trojans (16-0, 9-0), who held the Bruins (12-7, 5-4) to an .034 hitting percentage with 26 errors.

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Utah State will end its association with the Big West Conference, accepting an invitation to join the Sun Belt Conference in all sports beginning with the 2005-06 season.

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Stanford was picked by Pacific 10 coaches to repeat as the women’s basketball regular-season conference champion. USC was picked fourth and UCLA eighth.

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Shawn Hawkins, the grandson of Connie Hawkins, has committed to Long Beach State. Hawkins, a 6-foot-6 forward, averaged 21 points, 11 rebounds last season at Columbus State Community College in Ohio.