Injured Seles Out of Australian Open

Defending champion Monica Seles pulled out of the Australian Open because of a broken finger Monday.

Seles, who has never lost a match in Australia, has won the Australian Open four times.

“I want so much to return to Australia, where I have so many happy memories and good friends,� Seles said. “All I can do is look forward to 1998 with great anticipation.�

Seles broke her right ring finger in two places, the finger tip and the knuckle. The injury has kept her from playing since Dec. 4.

The Australian Open, the first of the year’s four Grand Slam tournaments, begins its two-week run Jan. 13 in Melbourne.

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Jason Stoltenberg of Australia will undergo a wrist operation today that will force him out of the Australian Open.

The tendon injury also prompted Stoltenberg to withdraw from the Colonial Classic at Kooyong, which begins Wednesday. His place in the eight-man field that includes Pete Sampras and Boris Becker has been taken by Andrei Medvedev.

Horse Racing

Keeneland race course in Lexington, Ky., said Washington Redskin owner Jack Kent Cooke will sell his thoroughbred racing and breeding stock later this year.

Keeneland said Cooke’s 2-year-olds and horses of racing age will be sold there in April, his yearlings in July and September, and his broodmares, 1997 foals and stallion shares in November.

About 140 horses will be sold, the track said.

Tom Keyser of the Baltimore Sun and Don Clippinger, managing editor of the Thoroughbred Times, are 1996 Eclipse award winners for turf writing.

Winter Sports

Matthew Grosjean, 26, of Laguna Beach posted his best result in the men’s World Cup slalom at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, finishing fourth in a race won by Austria’s Thomas Sykora.

Grosjean’s best previous result was a ninth in a slalom in Park City, Utah, in 1991. No American skier had finished fourth in a World Cup slalom since Felix McGrath in 1989.

“I have been right on the verge of this for quite a while--maybe four or five years,� Grosjean said. “This result takes a huge monkey off my back. I am a family man now and I have lot of things to worry about, bills to pay.�

Frenchman Sebastien Amiez, winner of last year’s World Cup slalom title, was second. Austrian Thomas Stangassinger, the defending Olympic Champion in the discipline, was third.

Luge racer Georg Hackl, the 1992 and 1994 Olympic gold medalist, overcame a training crash and led a German sweep of all three events in the annual dash-for-cash known as the Race of Champions at Winterberg, Germany. His teammate, Susi Erdmann, won the women’s singles, and the team of Stefan Krausse and Jan Behrendt won in doubles.

Women’s Basketball

Louisiana State is in the Associated Press women’s basketball poll for the first time in almost five years. The Tigers (11-0) are ranked 22nd.

Connecticut held the No. 1 spot for the third consecutive week, receiving 36 of 41 first-place votes.

Baseball

Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield escaped serious injury after being hit by a car while jogging in Melbourne, Fla.

Wakefield, a right-handed knuckleballer, was treated at a hospital and released.

“I was really very fortunate,� said Wakefield, who suffered bruises and scrapes. “I know I’m lucky to be alive.�

Colorado Rockies reliever Jerry DiPoto and Chicago White Sox second baseman Norberto Martin agreed to one-year contracts, reducing the number of players eligible for salary arbitration to 100.

The King County (Wash.) Council voted, 8-5, to authorize the sale of $336 million in bonds to build a new ballpark for the Seattle Mariners and a parking garage.

The money will be used by the Public Facilities District to build a 45,000-seat, retractable-roof stadium and a 1,500-car garage just south of the Kingdome, where the Mariners play.

The project has estimated funding of $414 million, although the official budget remains $384.5 million.

Names in the News

Former World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Oliver McCall will fight Lennox Lewis Feb. 7 at the Las Vegas Hilton, it will be announced Thursday. McCall won the title in 1995 with a controversial first-round knockout of Lewis. The rematch is being promoted by Main Events and will be shown live on HBO.

Former Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Joe Gilliam was arrested in Nashville on a misdemeanor charge of drug possession. Nashville policeman Mike Urquhart reported that he found Gilliam, 46, holding a pipe with a rock of crack cocaine in it. Gilliam admitted having smoked the pipe, Urquhart said.

Australian rescue officials said French yachtsman Thierry Dubois had climbed onto a life raft dropped by an Australian air force plane in the South Pacific. But there was no sign yet of Britain’s Tony Bullimore, another round-the-world solo race yachtsman who had set off distress signals Sunday.

Miscellany

The list of finalists for the 1997 Jesse Owens International Trophy Award has been narrowed to three candidates, including last year’s winner, Michael Johnson.

The other finalists are Ireland’s Michelle Smith, winner of three swimming gold medals and one bronze at the Atlanta Games, and Turkish weightlifter Naim Suleymanoglu, the first in his sport to win gold medals at three consecutive Olympics.