Patrick Mcenroe

Patrick McEnroe, a semifinalist at the Australian Open last year, lost a draining five-set match today against Andrei Chesnokov of Russia. McEnroe fell, 6-4, 1-6, 1-6, 6-1, 6-3, in a third-round match in Melbourne after making 92 errors capped by a double fault on match point. David Wheaton reached the fourth round with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Lars Koslowski of Germany. Monica Seles raced into the round of 16 by defeating Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia, 6-1, 6-1, in 50 minutes.

Jimmy Connors was playing tennis by memory. His memories were better than Patrick McEnroe's dreams. Down two sets to none last night, limping sometimes from a twisted left knee, and toweling off after nearly every point to buy time, Connors somehow pulled out a 4-6, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 first-round victory over McEnroe in a 4-hour, 19-minute match at the U.S. Open that ended at 1:37 this morning. Less than a week from his 39th birthday and 3 1/2 hours into the match, Connors was bending so low he scraped his knees on the court.

Patrick McEnroe yesterday ousted second-seeded Guy Forget from an indoor tennis tournament in Milan, Italy, beating the Frenchman, 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), a day after top-seeded Ivan Lendl had been bounced. Third-seeded Emilio Sanchez was upset by Stefano Pescosolido, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, and the fourth seed, Petr Korda, was beaten by Goran Prpic, 7-6 (7-1), 6-1. The tournament comes on the heels of first-round Davis Cup play, and some players have shown signs of weariness. Lendl was dispatched on Wednesday in the first round by a qualifier, Arne Thoms of Germany.

One American - Patrick McEnroe - and three players from Down Under - Brett Steven of New Zealand and Richard Fromberg and Simon Youl of Australia - yesterday earned places in the field for the U.S. Indoor Tennis Championship at the Spectrum. The four won their spots in a qualifying tournament at Penn's Levy Pavilion. McEnroe overcame fellow American Bryan Shelton, 6-3, 6-3. Steven, seeded first in the qualifier, barely made it to the tournament proper. He fought off a match point in the second-set tie-break and continued on for a 2-6, 7-6 (8-6)

Ivan Lendl had his back up for the better part of the 2 hours, 21 minutes it took him to get rid of Patrick McEnroe, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, in a first-round match yesterday at the Comcast U.S. Indoor at the Spectrum. He angrily slammed balls off sponsor signs. He smacked one that almost reached the ceiling. He banged his racket off the blue, cushiony surface. And he snarled and glared at just about everyone who moved, and someone who didn't - the fellow in the umpire's chair. Then, for about an hour and a half afterward, Lendl had his ailing back worked on by a therapist.

Greg Haugen tested positive for marijuana after beating Hector "Macho" Camacho last weekend to win the World Boxing Organization junior-welterweight title, Nevada boxing officials in Las Vegas said yesterday. A spokesman said the commission, at its March 12 meeting, will set a date for a hearing on the drug test, and would notify Haugen to be present for the hearing. Haugen faces a possible fine and the suspension of his license to box in the state. PRO BASKETBALL The San Antonio Spurs agreed to contract terms with guard David Wingate yesterday, one day after a Maryland prosecutor dropped a sexual-assault charge against Wingate.

Andre Agassi, sporting his new short-hair look, was beaten by Australian Patrick Rafter, 6-3, 6-2, in the opening round of the Adelaide International exhibition tournament yesterday in Adelaide, Australia. In other tennis news: Second-seeded Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands and Austrian Gilbert Schaller, the No. 3 seed, advanced to the third round of the Indonesian Open in Jakarta. Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands upset top-seeded Wayne Ferreira of South Africa, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3, and Switzerland's Jakob Hlasek upset fourth-seeded Javier Sanchez of Spain, 6-1, 6-2 in the New Zealand Open in Auckland.

Monica Seles deserted her usual baseline territory for something closer to a net game today and rallied to become the youngest Australian Open women's champion. Seles, the No. 2 seed, who was plagued by errors on her usually deadly ground strokes in the first set, became more aggressive in the second and third sets and rattled No. 10 seed Jana Novotna of Czechoslovakia for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 victory. Seles allowed just five points in the first five games of the final set as she raced to a 5-1 lead, and closed the victory with her sixth straight game when Novotna hit a backhand volley long.

Jim Courier, ranked 18th in the world, will make his Davis Cup debut when the defending champion United States plays Mexico in a first-round match March 29-31 in Mexico City. Also on the team, announced yesterday by the United States Tennis Association, are Brad Gilbert and the doubles team of Rick Leach and Jim Pugh. "Brad has lots of experience, and Jim is playing very well," said Davis Cup captain Tom Gorman, who bypassed Patrick McEnroe in selecting the team. "They're the guys that are ready to go. " Top-seeded Steffi Graf, who has lost the No. 1 spot in the women's rankings to Monica Seles, swept past seventh-seeded Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere in a 6-1, 6-3 quarterfinal win at the $2.55 million International Players Championship in Key Biscayne, Fla. The top-seeded male, Stefan Edberg of Sweden, had a more difficult time with hard-serving German Michael Stich, but eventually prevailed, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Patrick McEnroe, the No. 32 seed who upset second-seeded Boris Becker, 6-1, 6-4, in the second round, lost to 17th-seeded Marc Rosset, 7-6 (7-4)

Top-seeded John McEnroe set up a family showdown against younger brother Patrick McEnroe in the finals of the Volvo Chicago indoor tennis tournament by eliminating MaliVai Washington, 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, last night. The elder McEnroe, a former No. 1 player, will be going for his 107th career singles title. Patrick McEnroe, who beat Grant Connell of Canada, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, earlier in the day, will be playing for his first title. The meeting will be the second in a tournament for the brothers.

More than a dozen former student-athletes are suing the NCAA in an effort to compensate college athletes. Former basketball star Ed O'Bannon and quarterback Sam Keller filed two of the eight lawsuits consolidated into one action in federal court in San Francisco. Legal analysts say the lawsuits are the most significant challenge the NCAA has faced over the compensation debate. O'Bannon accuses the NCAA of antitrust violations, alleging it prevents him from receiving royalties when his image is marketed.

Kevin Durant and Chauncey Billups powered the American team into the basketball world championship quarterfinals Monday with a 121-66 victory over Angola in Istanbul, Turkey. With Billups scoring 16 of his 19 points and Durant all of his 17 in the first half, the Americans saved their most impressive performance in Istanbul for the elimination stage, overwhelming the Angolans from the start after a couple of lackluster performances to close the group stage. The U.S. team forced turnovers that led to easy baskets in transition, and when forced into the halfcourt, shot 18 of 38 from three-point range, one off the team record for threes in a world championship game.

Michael Phelps will swim in a meet in Charlotte, N.C., in May after his three-month suspension for being photographed with a marijuana pipe. Meet officials yesterday announced that the Olympic great had made a commitment to the Charlotte UltraSwim, scheduled for May 14-17. Phelps, 23, won a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, but he was suspended by USA Swimming this month after a British tabloid published a photograph showing him with a pipe at a party in November at the University of South Carolina.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said yesterday in Brussels, Belgium, that Michael Phelps failed in his duty as a role model but deserves a second chance after being photographed with a marijuana pipe. Rogge said the American swimmer's apology and promise not to do it again earned him the benefit of the doubt. Phelps won a record eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympics. He was suspended by the U.S. swimming federation for three months after a British newspaper published the photo of Phelps holding the pipe at a party in South Carolina.

Max Mosley, the president of auto racing's governing body, will miss Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix because of legal issues stemming from his involvement in a sex scandal. Mosley has said he will take legal action against a British tabloid that accused him of engaging in sexual acts with five prostitutes in a scenario that involved Nazi role-playing. The 67-year-old executive had been scheduled to attend the Formula One race and join the Bahraini Royal Family for a formal dinner.

Andy Roddick got the United States off to a fast start in the Davis Cup final yesterday in Portland, Ore., beating Russia's Dmitry Tursunov, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. In the later match, James Blake held off feisty Mikhail Youzhny, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), to give the United States a 2-0 lead over Russia. Roddick threw his hands up in triumph after Tursunov's final return landed long on the hardcourt in Portland's Memorial Coliseum. The mostly pro-American crowd went wild. Roddick took the first set after he hit an 146-mph serve that No. 34 Tursunov returned long, ending a game that went to deuce four times.

Former WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko gave up his bid to fight for his old title in June, allowing No. 1 challenger Samuel Peter to take on current champ Oleg Maskaev. Bernd Broente, Klitschko's manager, said yesterday the Ukrainian is guaranteed to fight the Maskaev-Peter winner later this year. The decision ends months of wrangling between Klitschko and Peter. The Nigerian refused $2.5 million to step aside and let Klitschko sign for a lucrative title bout in Moscow.

Duquesne forward Sam Ashaolu, the only one of five injured basketball players still hospitalized after last month's shootings, was moved from a critical-care unit into rehabilitation yesterday. Ashaolu spent several days fighting for his life with multiple gunshot wounds to the head following the Sept. 17 on-campus shootings, but is progressing faster than expected at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh. Doctors initially thought he still would be on a ventilator at this stage of his recovery.

Duquesne University forward Sam Ashaolu, the only one of five injured basketball players who is still hospitalized in Pittsburgh after last month's shootings, was moved from a critical-care unit into rehabilitation yesterday. Ashaolu spent several days fighting for his life with multiple gunshot wounds to the head after the Sept. 17 on-campus shootings, but he is progressing faster than expected at Mercy Hospital. Doctors initially thought he would still be on a ventilator at this stage of recovery.