Chang Gets a Spot in U.S. Open

Michael Chang’s relationship with the U.S. Open started in 1987, and it is somehow fitting that the event will be his final tournament. Chang and seven other players received wild cards into the main draw of men’s singles at the Open, officials announced Thursday. The tournament starts Aug. 25.

Chang, 31, is retiring after this year and has been on a long farewell tour in 2003. He did not get wild cards at the Australian Open or Wimbledon but did receive one at the French Open, where he won his lone Grand Slam title in 1989, when he was 17.

This will be his 17th consecutive Open; he reached the final in 1996. The others to be awarded wild-card spots were Brian Baker, Alex Bogomolov Jr., Amer Delic, Robert Kendrick, Alex Kim, Jeff Morrison and Robert Yim.

Yim, 18, of Glendale was given the slot usually designated for the champion of the USTA Boys’ 18s Nationals at Kalamazoo, Mich.

-- Lisa Dillman

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Top-ranked Kim Clijsters was upset by unseeded Lina Krasnoroutskaya, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, in the third round of the Rogers AT&T; Cup at Toronto, ending her streak of advancing to the semifinals in every tournament this year.

Clijsters, who moved up to No. 1 for the first time Monday, replacing Serena Williams, had made the semifinals at her first 14 events of 2003. She also leads the tour with six titles.

Clijsters seemed headed for an easy victory before unforced errors overwhelmed her in the last two sets.

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Seventh-seeded Andy Roddick built momentum for the U.S. Open by fighting off a stiff challenge from unseeded James Blake, 7-6 (2), 6-2, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters in Mason, Ohio.

Guillermo Coria and Rainer Schuettler, the only other seeded players left, also advanced. Coria, seeded sixth, beat Mikhail Youzhny, 6-2, 6-1. Schuettler, seeded eighth, defeated Todd Martin, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.

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Golf

Laura Diaz had three consecutive birdies on the front nine and shot a six-under-par 65 in the opening round of the Jamie Farr Kroger Classic at Sylvania, Ohio, to take a one-stroke lead over defending champion Rachel Teske.

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College Football

The Big Ten has taken a step toward using instant replay, implementing a pilot program to determine whether to use it in all games in the future.

Commissioner Jim Delany said the conference would use a test program for a handful of games this season to determine the effects of replay.

It will be based on the NFL’s system of limited challenges and won’t disrupt play on the field. An independent person hired by the conference will decide which plays should be challenged based on game situations. The plays will be reviewed based on the television feed.

Purdue running back Joey Harris has been ruled academically ineligible for his senior season.

Harris was the Boilermakers’ leading rusher with more than 1,100 yards last season.

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College Basketball

USC’s nonconference basketball schedule underwent some tweaking on Thursday as the Trojans’ home game against Nevada Las Vegas, scheduled for Feb. 28, was moved to Dec. 3, a Wednesday. USC handed the Runnin’ Rebels a 98-73 defeat in Las Vegas in February, UNLV’s worst-ever loss at the Thomas & Mack Center. USC opens at Western Michigan on Nov. 21.

Paul Gutierrez

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Pan American Games

Cat Osterman threw a perfect game and struck out 14 as the United States defeated Canada, 4-0, and won the Pan Am women’s softball gold medal for the fifth consecutive time. The U.S. scored twice in the first inning on a pair of singles, a passed ball, and a wild pitch, and doubled their lead on a two-run home run by Natasha Watley.

The third failed doping test of the Pan American Games will cost Argentina two medals after rower Ulf Lienhard tested positive for cocaine.

Argentina won a silver in the men’s quadruple sculls, which now goes to Brazil. The United States gets the bronze. The men’s doubles won a bronze for Argentina, but it now goes to Guatemala.

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Miscellany

The widow of NFL running back Fred Lane pleaded guilty in Charlotte, N.C., to voluntary manslaughter for shooting him to death three years ago as he walked into his home.

Deidra Lane, 28, could get more than 19 years in prison. Sentencing was set for an unspecified date in September.

Authorities said she ambushed her 24-year-old husband at their Charlotte home in July 2000, hoping to cash a $5-million life insurance policy.

Lane and her attorney had said she was a battered wife who shot her husband in self-defense.

Todd Pletcher broke the 48-year-old record for victories by a trainer in a meet at Saratoga, getting his 25th win in the eighth race with Irish Road. Hall of Fame trainer Sylvester Veitch had set the previous record in 1954.

The College Sports Council plans to sue the Education Department today over its July decision to keep enforcing Title IX as it has for years.

The council contends that federal policy forces schools to cut or cap men’s teams to keep women’s sports teams in proportion.