Blake Is No Problem for Agassi

Andre Agassi won four of seven break points en route to a 6-4, 6-2 victory over James Blake on Saturday in the semifinals of the Siebel Open in San Jose.

Agassi, who won his 11th consecutive match of the season, will play Italy’s Davide Sanguinetti in today’s final. Sanguinetti advanced with a 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-3 victory over Justin Gimelstob.

The top-seeded Agassi was nearly surgical in his serve-and-volley attack against the third-seeded Blake. Agassi had more winners (22) than errors (18).

Sanguinetti is seeking his third career ATP title. He broke Gimelstob’s serve twice in the third set.

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Top-seeded Venus Williams easily defeated Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, 6-1, 6-4, in the semifinals of the Proximus Diamond Games at Antwerp, Belgium. She will play second-seeded Kim Clijsters of Belgium in today’s final. Clijsters defeated Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, 6-2, 7-6 (3).

Williams, meanwhile, has pulled out of the Dubai Open. She told tournament organizers she has taken a closer look at her tight schedule and decided to skip the tournament, which starts Monday in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

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Top-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland defeated Karol Kucera of Slovakia, 7-6 (5), 6-3, to advance to the final of the Open 13 at Marseille, France.

Federer will face Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden, who advanced when Nicolas Escude of France withdrew before their semifinal match because of a thigh injury.

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Winter Sports

Olympic champion Janica Kostelic of Croatia won the slalom for her second gold medal at the World Alpine Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Kostelic led by 0.40 seconds after her first run and defeated Austria’s Marlies Schild by 0.63 with a strong second run, finishing in 1 minute 39.55 seconds.

American Travis Cabral won his third World Cup freestyle moguls title of the season at Inawashiro, Japan. He received 27.06 points to beat Mikko Ronkainen of Finland, who had 26.89 points. Vitali Glushenko of Russia was third with 26.16 points.

In the women’s finals, Kari Traa of Norway won her fourth title of the season with 26.25 points. American Michelle Roark was second with 24.76 points and Sandra Laoura of France was third with 24.70 points.

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Miscellany

Two-time defending supercross champion Ricky Carmichael raced to his fourth 250cc World Supercross victory of the season at the Minneapolis Metrodome.

Troy Rutherford of Ojai won a race of attrition in the first SCRA sprint car race of the season at Perris Auto Speedway. Rutherford led the final seven of 30 laps after three leaders encountered mechanical or fuel problems. Tony Jones of Garden Grove finished second and Mike English of Norwalk was third.

Former Oregon State football coach Mike Riley is among the candidates being considered for the Beavers’ open head coaching job, school officials said. Hawaii Coach June Jones, meanwhile, took himself out of the running.

Former world boxing champion Pernell Whitaker was ordered held without bond after being charged for driving under the influence early Friday morning in Virginia Beach, Va. Police said he was weaving on a secondary road. He performed poorly on field-sobriety tests and refused to take a breathalyzer test. A hearing is scheduled for March 11.

UCLA will be the host of a track and field meet April 4-5 at Drake Stadium to honor Olympic champions Rafer Johnson and Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Johnson won the 1960 Olympic decathlon gold medal. Joyner-Kersee won a silver medal in the heptathlon in the 1984 Olympics and won gold in the 1988 and 1992 Olympic heptathlons.

Alan Webb faded on the backstretch of the final lap and finished third in the New York Road Runners Challenge Cup at the Armory Collegiate Invitational in New York.

On the same track where he became the first high schooler to run a mile indoors in under four minutes, Webb was beaten by James Thie of Wales, who won in 3:57.71, four yards ahead of Kenya’s Eliud Njubi, who finished in 3:58.72. Webb finished in 3:59.42.