Hewitt, Agassi, Safin Beaten at Masters

The Masters Cup round-robin format gives top-ranked players Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi and Marat Safin a chance to recover from Wednesday’s upsets at Shanghai.

The top two players in each four-man group advance from round-robin play to Saturday’s semifinals of the $3.75-million season-ending tournament that will decide the No. 1 ranking for the year.

Hewitt, trying to become the first player since Pete Sampras in 1996-97 to win consecutive Masters titles, needed a victory to virtually clinch No. 1. Instead, Carlos Moya beat Hewitt, 6-4, 7-5.

Agassi lost to Jiri Novak, 7-5, 6-1, and Safin lost to Albert Costa, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Auto Racing

Roush Racing has filed an appeal of the 25-point penalty levied against Mark Martin by NASCAR for using an unapproved spring during the Oct. 27 race in Rockingham, N.C.

NASCAR docked Martin 25 championship points, Jack Roush 25 owner points and fined crew chief Ben Leslie $5,000.

Martin’s twin-engine plane blew two tires as it tried to take off Sunday night from an airport in Goodyear, Ariz., leaving him scared but unhurt.

Martin, who disclosed the incident Wednesday, finished fourth hours earlier in the Checker Auto Parts 500K at Phoenix International Raceway.

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Joe Nemechek will return next season to Hendrick Motorsports. Nemechek replaced Jerry Nadeau in May. ... Canadian Ron Fellows was hired by Dale Earnhardt Inc. to drive twice next season in NASCAR.

Miscellany

San Antonio will have a WNBA franchise for the 2003 season. The team doesn’t have a name, and it has not been determined whether it will be a new franchise or a team moved from another city.

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The 2003 freestyle wrestling World Championships were awarded to New York’s Madison Square Garden.

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Idaho handed the Ice Dogs their first West Coast Hockey League home loss with a 5-2 decision at Long Beach Arena.

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Crewmen on San Francisco’s Oracle repaired a broken spinnaker pole today to beat Seattle’s OneWorld and take a 2-0 lead in an America’s Cup best-of-seven challenger quarterfinal series off Auckland, New Zealand.

Top qualifiers Alinghi of Switzerland and Sweden’s Victory Challenge also lead 2-0 after victories over Prada of Italy and Le Defi of France, respectively. New York’s Stars & Stripes tied its series with Britain’s GBR Challenge, 1-1.

Passings

Glenn Dobbs, an All-American tailback at Tulsa in 1942 who later coached the team for eight seasons, died Tuesday night at his home in Tulsa, Okla. He was 82.

Dobbs coached Tulsa from 1961-68, compiling a 45-37 record. His 1964 team finished 9-2 after defeating Mississippi in the Bluebonnet Bowl.

Dobbs was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1980.