Pete Sampras and Steffi Graf earned the No. 1 seeds for next week's Australian Open, with Michael Chang and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario topping the other half of the singles brackets as the No. 2 seeds for the year's first Grand Slam tournament (full seedings in Scorecard, this page).
French Open champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, seeded No. 4, withdrew yesterday with a broken right hand, joining a long list of casualties to deplete the field. His withdrawal opened up a spot for unseeded American MaliVai Washington.
Meanwhile, Sampras and Chang will meet tomorrow in the finals of the Colonial Classic at Kooyong, where Chang advanced with a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) semifinal win over Boris Becker and Sampras received a semifinal forfeit from the injured Kafelnikov.
-- Martina Hingis of Switzerland and a revitalized Jennifer Capriati won quarterfinal matches at the Sydney International. Hingis, the No. 2 seed, survived a first-set scare before beating Indonesia's Yayuk Basuki 7-6 (8-6), 6-1. Capriati advanced with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over fellow American Amy Frazier.
Also, American Mary Joe Fernandez beat third-seeded Iva Majoli of Croatia 7-5, 6-4 and No. 4 seed Lindsay Davenport beat Naoko Sawamatsu of Japan 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1.
Top seeded Goran Ivanisevic led the advance to the men's semifinals with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Sandon Stolle of Australia.
FOOTBALL
Shula leads Hall of Fame finalist list
Don Shula, who won more games than any NFL coach (347-173-3) and took six teams to the Super Bowl, leads the list of 15 candidates announced as finalists for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
One of Shula's players with the Miami Dolphins, center Dwight Stephenson, also is up for induction. Others are defensive ends Carl Eller and Jack Youngblood, cornerback Mike Haynes, punter Ray Guy, safety Paul Krause, guard Tom Mack, tight end Ozzie Newsome, wide receivers John Stallworth and Lynn Swann, tackle Ron Yary, center Mike Webster, seniors nominee Jerry Kramer and New York Giants president Wellington Mara.
A 36-member board of selectors will meet in New Orleans Jan. 25, to elect the class of 1997.
-- Terry Battle, who rushed for 18 touchdowns and more than 1,000 yards last season to help Arizona State get to the Rose Bowl, has decided to skip his senior season and turn pro.
-- Alabama linebacker Dwayne Rudd, the Southeastern Conference defensive player of the year and a second-team All-American, said he will leave the Crimson Tide to enter the draft. Many draft analysts project him as a first-round pick in the April draft.
-- University of Miami wide receiver Yatil Green said he plans to enter the NFL draft, the third Hurricane underclassman to take a shot at the pros this season. The loss of Green, along with safety Tremain Mack and defensive end Kenard Lang, will hurt the Hurricanes. Miami, which is limited to 15 scholarships this year because of NCAA sanctions, can't replace them.
-- Junior wide receiver Will Blackwell, San Diego State's career receptions leader, announced he will skip his senior season and enter the NFL draft even though he's projected as a third- or fourth-round pick.
ELSEWHERE
Golota fined for 1990 disco brawl
Heavyweight boxer Andrew Golota received a two-year suspended prison sentence and a $7,000 fine for beating up a man in a May 1990 disco brawl in Warsaw.
Prosecutors had originally charged the Pole with assault and robbery with a deadly weapon, which carries a minimum penalty of five years in prison. Golota admitted beating up Pawel Bialostoki, but denied pointing a gun at him.
According to media reports, Golota agreed to pay Bialostocki $10,052 in compensation.
-- Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Unser, who recently survived two nights of a blizzard before he and a companion were rescued after their snowmobiles broke down in a New Mexico wilderness area, now must face the legal fallout. A U.S. Forest Service official said that Unser was cited for violating the federal Wilderness Act by driving a motorized vehicle into the South San Juan Wilderness area. If convicted, Unser, 63, could face up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine.
-- Cigar, who won his first four races of 1996 to tie Citation's 16-race win streak, earned his second consecutive Eclipse Award for Champion Older Male Horse, the Thoroughbred Racing Associations announced. Among other winners, Skip Away, who beat Cigar in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, was named Champion 3-year-old Colt or Gelding, and Boston Harbor, the early Kentucky Derby favorite, was named Champion 2-year-old Colt or Gelding.
-- Former Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall was sentenced yesterday to five years, 10 months in prison and ordered to repay $5 million for his admitted role in a scheme to bilk banks, a securities firm and the NHL team of more than $236 million.
-- New York Rangers right winger Alexei Kovalev suffered possible ligament damage to his right knee in Wednesday's 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning and may be sidelined for the rest of the season. At best, he expected to miss four to six weeks of action.
