Sponsor Answers Call in Six-Year WTA Deal

The Women’s Tennis Assn. Tour announced an $88-million, six-year title sponsorship agreement with Sony Ericsson on Wednesday, said by officials to be the largest of its kind in pro tennis.

The tour did not have a title sponsor the last two years since the expiration of its deal with Sanex. There had been a struggle to fill the void of such previous title sponsors as Virginia Slims, Avon and Kraft, companies associated with the tour in the glory days of Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.

Existing relationships with such regional sponsors as Porsche in North America will continue, and the tour will be renamed the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.

There have been other big-money sponsorships in tennis, including a $1.2-billion, 10-year deal between the ATP, which runs men’s tennis, and the Swiss marketing company ISL in 1999, but that was for sponsorship of the Masters Series events, not the tour. And ISL went bankrupt not long thereafter.

WTA chief Larry Scott also dismissed speculation about the relocation of the season-ending Championships at Staples Center in 2005.

“It’s absolutely 100% confirmed that it will be in L.A.,” he said.

-- Lisa Dillman

*

Roger Federer defeated Greg Rusedski, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Qatar Open at Doha. Federer will face Feliciano Lopez, who defeated Uros Vico, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6).

*

Top-seeded Nadia Petrova and No. 2 Patty Schnyder advanced to the quarterfinals of the Australian women’s hard-court championships at Gold Coast. Petrova beat Li Na, 7-5, 6-3, and Schnyder defeated Angela Haynes, 6-4, 6-1.

*

Thomas Enqvist defeated Florian Mayer, 6-3, 6-3, to advance to the quarterfinals at the Australian men’s hardcourt championships at Adelaide. Enqvist will face Joachim Johansson, who defeated Xavier Malisse, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (2).

*

Justin Gimelstob defeated Jonas Bjorkman, 6-0, 4-6, 6-3, to reach the Chennai Open quarterfinals at Madras, India. Defending champion Carlos Moya advanced when Ivo Heuberger withdrew because of back pain.

*

Guillermo Coria and Gisela Dulko defeated Anastasia Myskina and Marat Safin, 6-2, 6-0, in mixed doubles to give Argentina a 2-1 victory over Russia at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia. Argentina will play Germany for a spot in the final. The U.S. plays Slovakia today.

Baseball

The Minnesota Twins gave Manager Ron Gardenhire, 47, who has led the team to American League Central Division titles in each of his three seasons, a two-year contract extension through 2007.

Free-agent infielder Alex S. Gonzalez, 31, agreed to a $1.75-million, one-year contract with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Soccer

Coach Bruce Arena’s proposal to push back the deadline in the U.S. Soccer Federation’s labor dispute was disavowed by management, which asked the union to accept binding arbitration for a new contract.

The USSF is threatening to use untested players Feb. 9 at Trinidad and Tobago in the opener of the final round of World Cup qualifying unless a collective bargaining agreement is reached by Feb. 1.

Winter Sports

American skier Bryon Friedman, 24, broke his right leg in two places and also broke two bones in his left hand in a downhill training crash at Chamonix, France. He probably is out for the season.

Silke Kraushaar broke the track record to lead a German sweep of the top four places in women’s singles at a luge World Cup competition at Koenigsee, Germany.

Wendy Wagner won her fourth national title by defeating Alison Crocker by 1.5 seconds in the women’s five-kilometer classical race in the U.S. Cross-Country Championships at Midway, Utah.

Miscellany

Defending College World Series champion Cal State Fullerton will begin the season with a No. 3 national ranking according to the Baseball America poll. Long Beach State will start with a No. 22 ranking.