The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 7, 2000 - 31A
Agassi
says no to
* "NEW YORK (AP) - Defending .
gold medalist Andre Agassi, his
mother and sister both fighting
bireast cancer, pulled out of the
$'udney Olympics yesterday.
<Agassi, who has said all year the
Olympics are among his top priori-
cited "personal reasons" for
csltting the team a little more than a
,ek before the opening ceremony.
As a conse-_
yence of a E
tiily medical TENNIS
Sitation, I will Notebook
?be be able to
l ltticipate in the upcoming Sydney
lyrmpics," Agassi said in a state-
met released by the U.S. Tennis
,,sociation. "My time and attention
f >ould be with my family during this
piod-."
,USTA president Judy Levering
"d, "Our thoughts and prayers are
th Andre during this very difficult
time. We wish him and his family all
jte best, and look forward to having
pm return to tennis when he is
'xo replacement was immediately
attnounced. Agassi's spot would be
(ofred first to the players who pre-
viusly turned down an ivitation,
Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras
and Jan-Michael Gambilt. If the'v
eline, the next highest ranking
7ayer who would be asked to join
t team is Chris Woodruff.
Agassi, 30, has had a difficult
mer. As defending U.S. Open
4mpion, he lost in the second
rtund at the French Open, where he
vias defending champion. At
$imbledon, he lost to Patrick Rafter
ithe semifinals, then injured his
lack in a traffic accident after
turning to the United States.
Gustavo Kuerten, who was seeded
N 2 behind Agassi at the U.S.
Open and lost in the first round, also
4nlounced he was quitting Brazil's
lympic team following a dispute
offer whose uniform he would wear
Itthe Sydney Games.
;. AMPRAS DEFEATS KRAJICEK: For
tte four-time champion Pete
Sampras, it was the sweet 4-6, 7-6
6-4, 6-2 defeat yesterday night
Richard Krajieek, who had the
flest record against Sampras of any
aive player and was the only man
tobeat him at Wimbledon in the past
eni ht years.
Sampras moved into the semifi-
tials against Lleyton Hewitt, a 19-
yer-old Australian who is seeking
t6 becomle the youngest winner since
Sampras won his first title in 1990.
*The 6-foot-5 Krajicek, who beat
Sampras en route to winning
Wimbledon in 1996 and had held a
6 record against him, sought to
iltlyose his big serve on Sampras
djwe again.
die did just that in the first set and
wound up with 23 aces, but the
mtch turned on a spellbinding'
cpreback by Sampras from 2-6 in
ts econd-set tiebreaker.
r acing four set points, Sampras
eed them all.
First came a spectacular drop vol-
16 that nicked the net cord. Next
there was a forehand return that
Sampras mis-hit but saw it land safe-
ly for a winner.
He then drilled a perfect backhand
prass into the corner and pumped his
fis to the crowd.
,When he saved number four with
eapproach shot that Krajicek net-
and followed it up with a service
winner and a sizzling return winner
teclose out the set, Sampras deliv-
ered an uppercut to the air that might
as well have been straight to
lKrjicek's jaw.
"It was his tiebreaker, somehow"
said Krajicek, who couldn't figure
out how it slipped away. "It was
meant to be that he would win that
st. I don't know."
Volunteers' two-year backup
gets his chance against Florida
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A.J.
Suggs is Tennessee's starting quar-
terback - for now.
Suggs will trade places with last
week's starter, Joey Mathews, and
lead the Volunteers against Florida in
two weeks.
Suggs, a redshirt freshman, had a
better outing in Saturday's win over
Southern Mississippi than Mathews,
Tennessee offensive coordinator
Randy Sanders said after practice
Tuesday.
"I think A.J. is the guy from now
until next Saturday unless he proves
us wrong or Joey proves us wrong.
I'm going to operate under the
assumption that A.J. is the guy,"
Sanders said.
"We just think he may be the guy
to give us the best chance against
Florida"
No final decision has been made,
and Mathews, Tei Martin's backup
last year, has a chance to win back
the starting ob, Sanders said,
"If (Suggs) comes out and starts
laying eggs in practice then we may
change our minds. or if Joey just
really battles and competes and takes
it over he may be the guy. But until
that happens A.J. will be the starter,"
Sanders said.
Suggs said it was still up to the
coaches who will start next, but he
said he was named the No. I quarter-
back - at least for Tuesday's prac-
tice.
"We'll just have to see." Suggs
said. "It's the coaches' decision. We
don't really have anything to do with
it. So they are going to make their
call and we'll have to go with it."
Mathews said he wasn't disap-
pointed with the turn of events.
"I have no reason to be. We won
the game Saturday," Mathews said.
"I think I did pretty well. A.J. did
very well."
Tennessee coaches were particu-
larly pleased with the way Suggs
confidently managed the team.
"It wasn't that A.J. did that much
better or that Joey did anything that
badly," Sanders said. "We just
thought A.J, changed the tempo. He
brings a little something to us mov-
ing around that Joey doesn't have."
Neither quarterback had stellar
performances in Saturday's 19-16
victory.
Mathews made a complete pass to
Eric Parker in his first play of the
game, but Leo Barnes intercepted his
next pass two plays later.
In his next series, Mathews didn't
attenpt a single pass and handed the
ball to Travis Henry five times
before David Leaverton had to punt
it away.
Mathews' touchdown pass to
Cedrick Wilson -that helped put
'ennessee ahead 7-3 in the first
quarter was not pretty. Mathews was
hit as he threw the ball, and Wilson
had to jump above a defender to haul
in the wobbly pass. He finished 9-of-
15 for 50 yards with his longest pass
a 12-yarder.
Suggs came in for one series in the
second quarter and again with 5:31
left in the third quarter through the
end.
He completed two straight passes
to Troy Fleming in the first series b0
didn't connect on another until
Donte' Stallwortlh turned a catch info
a 51-yard touchdown in the third
quarter. Suggs was 4-of-9 for 7
yards.
Suggs said he thought it was ad.
advantage to watch the beginningof
the game from the sidelines. '
"I could see what was going-On
and see what defense they were play
ing and get the flow of the game.,t
made it easier to go in," Suggs said.
Mathews, 6-3, 215 pounds, has
had time to develop an understand=
ing of Tennessee's offense, even
naling in the plays to Martin in the
1998 national championship gane
against Florida State.
Suggs roomed with Martin fe:
road games last year. Suggs, a 6
220-pounder, of Powder Spring, CI
led McEacheron High School to,
14-0 record his senior year in 199:
Tennessee's newest quarterback
signee, Casey Clausen, ranked oi
of the top quarterback recruits in b
nation, made some progress Tuesday:.
The 6-4,. 210-pounder, fro'Mw
Northridge, Calif., has been sid
lined with an inflamed rotator cuff i.
his throwing shoulder.
He threw about 20 times in pra
tice Tuesday and said he didn't feel
any pain.
Sanders said the coaches are just.
trying to get him caught up and were
unsure if he would be ready in thIe
to play Florida in two weeks.
A5P PHTO
Serena Williams had a lot to scream about in her U.S. Open quarterfinal match
against Lindsay Davenport. Williams was soundly thrashed, 6-4, 6-2
Men's Quarterfinals
Today: (6) Marat Safin vs. (14) Ncolas Kiefer
Todd Martin vs. Thomas Johansson
Women's Semifinals
Today: (1) Martina Hingis vs. (3) Venus Williams
Undsay Davenport took a
Tomorrow: (2) Lindsay Davenport vs. Elena Dementieva big step toward the U.S.
Open championship by
Men's semifinals take place tomorrow. The women's dispatching Serena
final is Saturday, and the men's final (not the gentle- WllIams.
men's, this isn't Wimbledon) will be held Sunday in front 1W PHO
of national television audiences.
Davenport tosses
erena fiomOpen
NEW YORK (AP) - Serena Williams finally cracked at 4-4 in the
Williams fractured her racket on the first set, slapping forehands long on the
court as her game fell apart, and final two shots of her service game and
Lindsay Davenport emerged from the screaming in frustration as she was bro-
shadows as a forgotten former chatn- ken.
pion to a berth in the U.S. Open semi-
finals.
Williams, the defending champion
who was so eager to meet her sister,
Venus, in the final, succumbed to her
own impatience and Davenport's deep,
sizzling groundstrokes in a 6-4, 6-2 rout
yesterday night that took everyone by
surprise.
Everyone except Davenport.
The 1998 champion never fell for all
the hype over a Williams sisters final,
never worried about her record against
Serena - five straight losses over the
past three years.
"It feels great to get over the hurdle of
beating her," Davenport said. "It was a
big match to get through, but I'm only
into the semis and I look to keep going.
"There's no revenge. I'm going to lose
to her again and I'm going to beat her
again."
Williams said Davenport's perfor-
mance was "the best she ever played
against me. She should take that attitude
toward everyone."
Three of their matches were close
three-setters, including their semifinal
meeting at the U.S. Open last year, and
Davenport knew that she could beat
Williams if she could hold serve, keep a fte r
the pressure on her and pin her to the
baseline.
That's exactly what Davenport did, andw
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