Agassi Wins in Straight Sets, Advances to Final in Germany

Andre Agassi reached his first clay-court final in three years when he beat Galo Blanco, 6-4, 6-4, on Saturday in the semifinals of the BMW Open at Munich, Germany.

Agassi needed 85 minutes to defeat the Spanish clay-court specialist and earn his 30th singles victory of the year, the best record on the pro tennis tour. Agassi improved to 30-6 for the year.

“I played well but I can still improve,” he said after his victory in a match delayed five hours because of rain.

Once No. 1 in the ATP Tour rankings, Agassi fell as low as No. 141 last year. But after winning two tournaments this year, he is ranked No. 20.

Agassi’s opponent in the final will be seventh-seeded Thomas Enqvist, who beat his fellow Swede Magnus Gustafsson, 6-3, 6-4.

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Top-seeded Pete Sampras cruised into the final of the $315,000 AT&T; Challenge with a 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 victory over Alex Calatrava of Spain at Duluth, Ga.

Sampras’ solid and aggressive play contrasted sharply with his matches earlier this week, when he struggled to find rhythm on his serves and groundstrokes in cold, damp conditions.

Sampras, seeking only his third career title on clay, will meet second-seeded Jason Stoltenberg of Australia in today’s championship match.

Stoltenberg defeated Andrei Pavel of Romania, 6-2, 6-4.

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Steffi Graf, off the women’s tour since March because of a strained hamstring, has pulled out of this week’s Italian Open in a further blow to her comeback attempts.

The German Sports Agency, SID, also reported that the world’s former top-ranked player will be forced to miss the French Open, which runs from May 25 to June 7, because of the injury.

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Top-ranked Martina Hingis cruised into the final of the German Grand Prix and will meet second-seeded Jana Novotna for the clay-court title at Hamburg.

Hingis took only 51 minutes to defeat Barbara Schett, 6-2, 6-2, and Novotna rallied to beat Patty Schnyder, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.

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Defending champion Mirjana Lucic of Croatia advanced to the finals of the Bol Ladies Open by beating top-seeded South African Joanette Kruger, 6-2, 6-1, at Bol, Croatia.

Lucic will meet the same opponent she beat in last year’s championship match, American Corina Morariu, who defeated Silvija Talaja, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

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Slava Dosedel beat Ecuador’s Nicolas Lapenti, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, in a two-hour battle of clay-court specialists at the Czech Open in Prague.

Dosedel will play for the title against take Brazilian Fernando Meligeni, who defeated Dinu Pescariu of Romania, 7-6, 7-6.

Golf

Jeff Maggert humbled his home course with an eight-under-par 64 to pull even with Dan Forsman. They share a three-shot lead at 206 after three rounds of the Houston Open at The Woodlands, Texas.

Lee Janzen is at 209 after shooting a 71 and Fred Couples at 210 after a 70.

Mike Hulbert, Franklin Langham and Stephen Ames are at 211.

Annika Sorenstam grabbed a share of the lead for the first time this year after a three-under-par 69 in the Titleholders Championship at Daytona Beach, Fla.

Sorenstam, winless this year but in the top 10 in all six events she has played, is tied at 205 with fellow Swede Carin Koch and Danielle Ammaccapane.

Terry Dill came back to reality, but salvaged enough of his putting touch late in his round to retain a one-stroke lead over Gil Morgan in the Bruno’s Memorial Classic at Hoover, Ala.

Dill shot an even-par 72 in the second round to finish at nine-under 135 a day after he tied the course record with a career-best 63 at the 6,992-yard Greystone Country Club course.

Jurisprudence

State District Judge John Donovan has ordered the jailed Charlotte Hornet guard Vernon Maxwell to answer questions about his sexual history with partners other than his wife.

The former Houston Rocket player must provide the information in response to a lawsuit filed by a woman who accuses him of knowingly giving her genital herpes.

He was sued in 1996 by Sheila Rias for allegedly knowingly passing on the disease during a brief relationship in the summer of 1995.

Tyrone Bradley, point guard on Fresno State’s 1983 National Invitation Tournament championship basketball team who has criticized some of the 1998 players for drug and assault problems, has been charged with felony assault and battery on a friend of his estranged wife.

Bradley will be arraigned Friday in Fresno Municipal Court.

Hockey

In its first international match since the room-trashing incident at the Nagano Olympics, the United States defeated Switzerland, 5-2, at the World Ice Hockey Championships at Zurich, Switzerland.

Bryan Smolinski of the New York Islanders scored two power-play goals and set up another to lead the Americans to victory.

Olympic finalist Russia overcame a one-goal deficit and held off Kazakhstan, 8-4; Sweden scored four goals within two minutes on its way to a 6-1 trouncing of France, and Olympic bronze medalist Finland defeated Latvia, 6-0.

College Basketball

Kentucky junior Nazr Mohammed reportedly plans to announce that he will forgo his senior season and enter the NBA draft.

Mohammed was Kentucky’s center and second-leading scorer and led the Wildcats in rebounding (7.2 a game) and blocked 75 shots. His 59.7% shooting accuracy was the fourth-highest by a Kentucky player in a season.

College Football

Three Northwestern Louisiana State football players were suspended after police accused them of breaking into a campus building and stealing a television set.

Trell Thomas Warren Jr., 19, Burnell Jordan Jr., 21, and Darvell De’Sire Bivens, 19, of Los Angeles were booked at Natchitoches, La., on simple burglary charges and released on their recognizance.

Miscellany

Jockey Kemberly Stogner, 36, died because of injuries from a fall in a training race she won at Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw, Okla. Stogner was thrown into the infield when her 3-year-old mount, W.T. Taylor, hit the rail after crossing the finish line in a race with three other horses Friday.

NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue will meet with Tom Clancy on Thursday to discuss the author’s plans for financing his proposed purchase of the Minnesota Vikings.

Tagliabue has expressed concern about whether a group of about 18 investors headed by Clancy has sufficient financial resources to win league approval of the sale.

Fabrice Tiozzo defended his WBA cruiserweight title by stopping Terry Ray in the first round in his first defense of the title at Villeurbanne, France.

Frenchman Hacine Cherifi withstood a knockdown to take the WBC middleweight title from American Keith Holmes, winning a unanimous decision.

Norm Duke beat weeklong leader Eric Forkel, 279-256, to win the championship match in the Professional Bowlers Assn. Tucson Open.

Joe Amato, Cruz Pedregon and Warren Johnson are the leaders entering today’s finals of the National Hod Rod Assn.’s Lone Star Nationals at Ennis, Texas.

Paris-St. Germain won the French Cup for the fifth time, beating Lens, 2-1, at Saint-Denis, France, on goals by Rai and Marco Simone.