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In brief

Agassi loses chance to make move

Andre Agassi's bid to win the ATP Champions race was hurt Thursday when he was upset by Karol Kucera 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of the St. Petersburg Open in Russia.

Agassi led 4-1 at the start before losing six consecutive games.

"He started a little bit nervous, he missed a few shots, but when he settled down he started playing very well," Agassi said of Kucera. "He raised his level, and then I was unable to match that."

Agassi remains 43 points behind No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, who lost in the second round of the Stockholm Open on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, two-time defending tournament champion Marat Safin lost to wild-card entry Vladimir Voltchkov 6-4, 6-4.

MORE TENNIS: Andy Roddick eliminated U.S. Davis Cup teammate James Blake of Tampa 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 in the second round of the Swiss Indoors in Basel. In other action, defending champion Tim Henman came back from a set and a break down to beat Nicolas Escude 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. ... Unseeded Alexandra Stevenson beat sixth-seeded Anastasia Myskina 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) to advance to the quarterfinals of the Generali Open in Linz, Austria. ... Third-seeded Amanda Coetzer lost to qualifier Virginie Razzano 6-3, 6-0 in the second round of the Seat Open in Luxembourg. ... Marcelo Rios and Nicolas Massu advanced to the quarterfinals of the Stockholm Open. ... Boris Becker was sentenced to two years of probation for tax evasion. Becker, accused in Munich, Germany, of avoiding $1.7-million in taxes, also was fined $300,000 and ordered to pay court costs.

CYCLING: The route for next year's 100th anniversary Tour de France features more stages in the mountains, giving American Lance Armstrong a good chance at a record-tying fifth title. Armstrong sealed his fourth consecutive victory in July by crushing rivals in six mountain stages, and next year's Tour, which starts in Paris on July 5, has seven mountain legs.

BOXING: Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya, the reigning WBC-WBA super-welterweight champion, agreed to meet in Puerto Rico over dinner to discuss a possible rematch. In their first bout three years ago, Trinidad scored a disputed split decision. ... Jury selection was completed in the trial of promoter Bob Arum, accused by rival promoter Don King of stealing away former super-lightweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez. King's production company is suing Nevada-based Top Rank and Arum, its president, for "incorrigible efforts" to interfere with contracts between King and Chavez in 1996. Opening statements are scheduled to begin today in Broward County Circuit Court.

FIGURE SKATING: Russians Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin skated a near-flawless program to win the short program at Skate America in Spokane, Wash., as the International Skating Union unveiled its anonymous judging system. Fifteen minutes before each event, a computer randomly decided which judges' marks would count. And no one -- not even the judges -- knew whose marks were used. U.S. Olympians Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn were in sixth place going into tonight's free skate. ... A federal grand jury is reviewing the scandal-plagued pairs event at the Salt Lake City Olympics, and the FBI likely will do more interviews at Skate America.

HORSES: Elegant Designer beat Parisian Deputy by more than 3 lengths in the allowance feature at Aqueduct. Elegant Designer, ridden by Norberto Arroyo Jr., covered 6 furlongs in 1:10 3/5 and earned $28,200 for owner Michael H. Sherman. ... Ocean Drive caught Sand Springs with a quarter-mile left and drew away to a 4 3/4-length victory in the $111,500 Green River Stakes at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky. ... Man Among Men edged in front of Peace Rules late in the stretch to win the $52,300 Pinjara Stakes on the turf at Santa Anita.

SOCCER: Freddy Garcia scored a goal in the 30th minute to give Columbus a 1-0 win against the Major League Soccer champion Los Angeles in the final of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in Columbus, Ohio. ... Hermam Gaviria, who played for the Colombian national team in the 1994 World Cup, was killed when he was struck by lightning during practice in Bogota.

AMERICA'S CUP: Racing was called off in the challenger series after gale warnings were issued for the Hauraki Gulf in Auckland, New Zealand. Sail trimmer Stu Argo quit the Oracle team of San Francisco a day after the appointment of New Zealander Chris Dickson as its skipper and helmsman.

COLLEGES Junior outside hitter Leyre Santaella Sante had 22 kills to lead Central Florida to a three-game volleyball sweep at Birmingham-Southern.

SURFING: Shea Lopez and Cory Lopez of Indian Rocks Beach won first-round heats and earned byes into Round 3 at the Mundial Coca-Cola de Surf 2002 in Saquarema, Brazil.

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