Graf Comes Back to Beat Hingis

Unseeded Steffi Graf of Germany, already rebounding from wrist surgery, overcome a sore leg Friday to beat second-seeded defending champion Martina Hingis of Switzerland, 6-2, 4-6, 6-0, and move into the semifinals of the Advanta Championships at Villanova, Pa.

Graf will meet sixth-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France, who downed Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, in one semifinal. Lindsay Davenport, the top-ranked player in the world, will face fifth-seeded Monica Seles in the other.

Davenport had to overcame a slow start to defeat Amy Frazier, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. Seles had little trouble with her doubles partner, Natasha Zvereva of Belarus, in a 6-0, 6-1 victory.

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Juan Antonio Marin of Costa Rica upset top-seeded Marcelo Rios of Chile, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, to reach the semifinals of the Chevrolet Cup at Santiago, Chile, and block Rios’ hopes of recovering the No. 1 ranking. Also reaching the semifinals was second-seeded Felix Mantilla of Spain, who beat Jim Courier, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6). . . . Defending champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia overpowered Frenchman Guillaume Raoux, 6-1, 6-1, in the quarterfinals of the $1.1-million Kremlin Cup at Moscow.

Basketball

NBA union director Billy Hunter again refused to call Commissioner David Stern, reneging on a vow he made to touch base with his adversary and see if the process of ending the lockout can be moved forward.

Instead, Jeffrey Kessler, the outside lawyer for the union, called the NBA’s chief legal officer, Jeffrey Mishkin, to say that the union saw no point in a meeting.

There have been no meetings since last Friday, and there have been no full negotiating sessions since Oct. 28.

WNBA players voted, 55-24, in favor of having the locked-out NBA players’ union as their exclusive bargaining representative.

A downtown arena under construction for the NBA’s Miami Heat caught fire and burned for about four hours. Damage was limited to scaffolding on top of the $165-million arena.

Jurisprudence

Adidas has sued the NCAA, contending the rule limiting the display of manufacturers’ logos on uniforms violates antitrust law.

“The NCAA cartel, including its member colleges and universities, [has agreed] to unreasonably restrain trade and otherwise violate Adidas’ rights,” the lawsuit said.

NCAA spokesman Wally Renfro called the lawsuit “another example of a commercial enterprise trying to take out the regulation of college sports.”

The battery case against Shaquille O’Neal of the Lakers was reopened in Orlando, Fla., after his accuser, Kim Grant, 23, re-contacted authorities. Grant, who works at Walt Disney World, said in a complaint last month that O’Neal had grabbed her neck outside a nightclub after she tried to end a conversation with him. But her complaint had been dropped when police were unable to get in touch with her.

Auto Racing

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who wrecked in the final practice session before qualifying, went to his backup Chevy to make the field of the Jiffy Lube Miami 300 at Homestead, Fla., and needs only to start the race Sunday to clinch the Busch Series crown.

The payout for the season-long Busch Series championship will more than double to $1.5 million next year.

Miscellany

Bob Charles, 62, used six birdies to upset third-seeded Larry Nelson, 2 and 1, in the first round of the Senior Match Play Challenge at Big Horn Golf Club in Palm Desert.

Russians led after the first three events at the Nations Cup of figure skating at Gelsenkirchen, Germany--men’s world champion Alexei Yagudin, ice dance world champions Angelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov, and pairs skaters Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov.

Chivas of Guadalajara defeated Gimnasia y Esgrima of Argentina, 2-1, in the final of soccer’s Coliseum Cup before a crowd of 25,299. . . . UCLA got first-half goals from Chris Wolff and Viet Nguyen in a 5 1/2-minute span to defeat Washington, 2-0. Both teams are 15-3.

Sports federations that refuse to adopt common anti-drug policies could be kicked out of the Olympics or lose their share of television money, according to Thomas Bach, a senior official for the International Olympic Committee. The IOC will meet Nov. 27 in Switzerland in hopes of adopting a single set of doping rules.

The 11th-ranked USC women’s volleyball team improved to 18-4 with a 15-4, 15-10, 15-13 victory over Washington at Seattle. . . . The UCLA women (11-4) defeated Washington State, 10-15, 15-4, 15-5, 15-10, at Pullman.

Whittier can win the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football championship tonight with a victory at Occidental. . . . Azusa Pacific can clinch its first NAIA playoff berth with a victory at Pomona Pitzer.

Karoliina Lundahl put the shot aside for a few months and brought a first women’s medal to Finland in the World Weightlifting Championships at Lahti, Finland. Lundahl won the 75-kilogram class with a total lift of 506 pounds in the snatch and clean-and-jerk.