ACC Approves an Expansion

Atlantic Coast Conference presidents voted 7-2 on Tuesday to expand, setting the stage to invite Miami and two other schools to join their nine-team league, two sources familiar with the discussions told Associated Press.

Any expansion plan would probably go into effect in 2004.

ACC Commissioner John Swofford, meeting with coaches and athletic directors this week at Amelia Island, Fla., was hesitant to call expansion of the 50-year-old league a done deal.

He knows Miami, which will get an invitation soon, and two other schools -- Syracuse, Boston College and Virginia Tech are candidates -- still must accept.

“The conference call among the league’s chancellors and presidents this morning was another step toward completion of an ongoing process that is not yet finalized,” Swofford said.

Miami Athletic Director Paul Dee said his school was interested but would have to look at the specifics.

By adding three teams, the ACC would have a definite role in the next football bowl championship series, due to be revamped in 2006.

College Basketball

USC guard Desmon Farmer has been invited by USA basketball to try out for the national team that will play in the Pan Am Games on Aug. 2-6 at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Oregon guard Luke Ridnour, the Pacific 10 Conference player of the year who last month made himself available for the NBA on June 26, said he will be represented by a law firm and forgo his senior season.

Tennis

Serena Williams and Monica Seles overcame challenges from unlikely sources in the clay-court Italian Open at Rome.

Williams, the defending champion, had her serve broken twice in the first set but managed to defeat Czech qualifier Klara Koukalova, 6-4, 6-3.

Seles had to rally for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over 46th-ranked Myriam Casanova.

Lleyton Hewitt started his clay-court season with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Markus Hantschk of Germany in the first round of the Hamburg Masters in Germany.

Goran Ivanisevic pulled out of the French Open, which starts May 26, because of a foot injury. He will be replaced in the field by Marc Rosset of Switzerland.

Jurisprudence

Former major league outfielder Ozzie Canseco, 38, received at least seven weeks in jail on charges he violated probation stemming from a 2001 nightclub brawl in Miami Beach.

A NASCAR fan who flooded the Fox affiliate in Boston with more than 500,000 angry e-mail messages after a Boston Red Sox baseball game preempted an auto race in 2001 pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge. Michael Melo’s sentencing is Aug. 12.

Miscellany

International Boxing Federation junior-lightweight champion Carlos “Famoso” Hernandez (38-3-1, 23 knockouts) will fight Gustavo Corral (12-4-3, seven) in a non-title, 10-round bout May 31 at the Arrowhead Pond.

Point guard Kristen Veal said she was leaving the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA and returning to her native Australia because of personal reasons.

Melissa Stark will not return to ABC’s “Monday Night Football” next season as a sideline reporter because she is pregnant.

Whittier College plays host to Hampden-Sydney (Va.) today at 3 p.m. in an NCAA Division III men’s lacrosse quarterfinal.

Earlier this season, Whittier (13-0) scored a 17-10 victory at Hampden-Sydney (12-2).