Match Point

PARIS -- She was on the run, on the defensive, and, after two sets on the French Open's red clay against Steffi Graf, Jennifer Capriati was on her way home to Florida.Not so with another underdog, fifth-seeded Mary Joe Fernandez, who resurrected herself from the brink of elimination against third-seeded Gabriela Sabatini in a bizarre quarterfinal encounter that produced five match points for each player.While a rematch of the 1992 Olympic final between the top-seeded Graf and Capriati played itself out on center stage, the standing-room-only crowd at Court One pulsated with disbelief over a match of Olympian proportions between Sabatini, who hasn't won a title in 18 events, and Fernandez, who's never won a Grand Slam.

YesterdayGymnastics: Kim Zmeskal tumbled from the balance beam -- and so did her hopes for an all-around medal -- but Shannon Miller and Dominique Dawes were rock solid as the U.S. team moved into second place behind the Unified Team after team compulsories.Basketball: Charles Barkley led the U.S. team with 24 points and one thrown elbow as the Dream Team outscored Angola, 116-48 -- very nearly an Olympic-record margin.Swimming: Nelson Diebel, who has Olympic rings tattooed on his hip, gave the United States its first gold medal, winning the 100-meter breaststroke in Olympic-record time.

WASHINGTON -- At a time in tennis when Andre Agassi says that "image is everything," the flamboyant Las Vegas native isn't the only American player on the men's tour with charisma.Enter Derrick Rostagno, a dark-haired, green-eyed, 26-year-old who is the epitome of California cool.The six-year veteran of the tour beat Gary Muller of South Africa yesterday in the quarterfinals of the NationsBank Classic in Washington. He'll play Henrik Holm today in the semifinals.In six years, Rostagno, who often wears Birkenstock sandals, a white T-shirt and shorts off the court, has found some interesting ways to travel from tournament to tournament other than in a conventional airplane.

CHICAGO -- Martina Navratilova became tennis' all-time singles titles leader the hard way yesterday.Navratilova, the second seed, edged third seed Jana Novotna, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 7-5, in the final of the Virginia Slims of Chicago."I was preparing my loser's speech during the match," Navratilova said. "I had to tell myself I could come back. I said, 'If I can't break the record in Chicago, where can I break it?' "Navratilova won her 158th career singles championship and 12th Chicago Slims crown.

Matt Sedgely has seen the boys volleyball banner on the C. Milton Wright gym wall too many times. More than half a dozen dates from the last 10 years mark C. Milton Wright county championships.Sedgely and his Bel Air High School teammates want the number "91" on a bannerin their own gym. Tuesday, they took a giant step toward the title with a 15-11, 15-14 victory over the Mustangs, who won the county title last year and shared it in 1988 and 89."We just came in hoping to win it quickly," said Sedgely, a 6-8 senior.

NEW YORK -- It was his first time in Louis Armstrong Stadium, and the kid was acting like he owned the place.For 3 hours and 3 minutes, he was shoving Ivan Lendl around the court, blowing in 120 mph serves that had Lendl backing off the baseline and swinging from the Long Island Railroad. The kid was slicing backhands and rumbling in for volleys, and here he was now at double match point in the fourth set of the first round of the U.S. Open.The crowd stirred, making that rustling noise of surprise and delight that is the soundtrack at every upset.

WASHINGTON -- When Zina Garrison's second serve skipped off the top of the net and sailed out for a double fault on match point last night, it was the end of a dismal evening for the fifth seed in the Virginia Slims of Washington tennis tournament.Garrison had just been blown away by second seed Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, 6-3, 6-2, in a quarterfinal match before 5,436 at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center.So much for a complete turnaround of Garrison's tennis fortunes.Garrison, a crowd favorite in Washington, will have to wait until next week's U.S. Open to continue righting what is wrong with her game.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The 87th World Series was put on 24 hours notice last night, not long after the reincarnated Big Red Machine rolled into the Oakland Coliseum and ran down the once-mighty Oakland Athletics again.It was supposed to be a mismatch and that's what it has become, but it is the surprising Cincinnati Reds who are on the brink of a four-game sweep after a seven-run third inning led them to a resounding 8-3 victory in Game 3.Third baseman Chris Sabo made one of baseball's most spacious stadiums look like a broom closet, hitting home runs in his first two at-bats as the Reds sent Oakland starter Mike Moore to his first postseason loss in five starts.