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In brief

Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times
published November 15, 2002

Hewitt on top of world as Agassi loses again at Shanghai

Andre Agassi's second loss in the season-ending Masters Cup on Thursday means Lleyton Hewitt will finish the year with the world No. 1 ranking.

Agassi double-faulted on match point, handing Juan Carlos Ferrero a 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (8-6) victory in Shanghai, China. Shortly after the match, Agassi withdrew with a hip injury. Thomas Johansson will replace Agassi.

Agassi came into the eight-player tournament with a chance to overtake Hewitt in the rankings and finish the year No. 1. But Agassi failed to reach the semifinals after his second straight loss.

The Australian celebrated his top ranking by handing Marat Safin his third straight loss, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

"I think Lleyton obviously has had a great year," Agassi said. "He's again proven himself to be the best out there, and that's not easy to do."

Agassi's second straight defeat also clinched a semifinal berth for Roger Federer, who ran his record to 2-0 by stopping Jiri Novak 6-0, 4-6, 6-2.

The round-robin portion of the tournament ends today when Carlos Moya takes on fellow Spaniard Albert Costa, Ferrero plays Novak and Federer meets Johansson.

HOCKEY: The coach and a player from a team involved in a brawl-filled junior league game were suspended by the league. A total of 23 players were ejected during Halifax's 9-2 victory over Baie-Comeau on Wednesday night. Baie-Comeau's Louis-Philippe Martin was suspended for five games by the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, and coach Richard Martel was suspended for two.

CYCLING: Lars Clausen ended a 205-day, 9,136-mile unicycle journey from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic and back this week. Clausen's 5,032-mile ride from Washington state to New York City stands as the world record for long-distance unicycle riding. He expects the Guinness Book of World Records will change that to reflect the entire 9,136-mile journey. ... Dutch mountain biker Bas van Dooren, who won World Cup races in 1999 and 2000, retired after he was suspended for one year for testing positive for the endurance-enhancing drug EPO. AMERICA'S CUP: Victory, Oracle, Alinghi and Stars & Stripes won challenger quarterfinal races in Auckland, New Zealand. Sweden's Victory, Oracle of San Francisco and Alinghi of Switzerland held 3-0 series leads, and New York's Stars & Stripes led Britain's GBR Challenge 2-1.

FIGURE SKATING: Olympic champions Sarah Hughes and Alexei Yagudin will compete in the International Figure Skating Challenge at The Palace of Auburn Hills on Dec. 13. Hughes has not skated in a competition this season after withdrawing from Skate America with a leg injury. Yagudin won the short program at Skate America last month, then withdrew before the free skate with an inflamed hip. ... French ice dancers Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder were at the top of the standings after the compulsory dance portion of the Lalique Trophy in Paris.

SKIING: Olympic silver medalist Bode Miller is scheduled for surgery today on his left knee but is expected to race at the World Cups on Nov. 24 in Park City, Utah. ... Canadian Genevieve Simard rallied from 12th place after the first run to win the NorAm Cup giant slalom in Georgtown, Colo.

HORSES: Sparkling Ava beat Wishful Splendor by 11/4 lengths in Aqueduct's allowance feature. ... Silent Stream won for the third time in five tries on the turf course at Churchill Downs, beating Tippity Witch by three-quarters of a length in the featured $59,500 allowance. ... Himalayan pulled away from pacesetter Ava Darling in the stretch to win the $43,774 featured race by 21/2 lengths at Hollywood Park. ... Dean Gallagher, the winning jockey in this year's Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, England, was suspended for 18 months after testing positive for cocaine.

SOCCER: Glasgow Celtic eliminated Blackburn and Leeds United defeated Hapoel Tel Aviv to advance at the UEFA Cup. The third-round draw is scheduled for today in Geneva. ... Fans hurled a homemade bomb onto the field during a UEFA Cup match in Sofia, Bulgaria, injuring one person. In an unrelated incident, a gunman shot and seriously wounded Bulgarian player Stoicho Stoilov during a street brawl in Blagoevgrad, 56 miles south of Sofia.

BOXING: Former WBC featherweight champion Kevin Kelley scored a fifth-round knockout against Johnny West-Gutierrez in Miami.

OBITUARY: Former NFL tight end Jim Hester, who played for the Saints and Bears, died after a lengthy battle with heart and lung disease. He was 57.

-- Compiled from Times wires.

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