Third Set

WITH the transfer of the Panama Canal to Panama scheduled for December 31, the canal's capacity will receive increased attention.Although 92 percent of the world's oceangoing vessels still are able to transit the waterway, the trend is clearly to larger ships. Only 82 percent of the vessels on today's drawing boards will be able to clear the canal's 1,000-by-110-foot locks.Will it be necessary to enlarge the canal? The answer really depends on whose shoes you are walking in. Putting nationalistic pride aside, the real issue is the price tag that must be paid for any enlargement.

Policarpio Espinoza Perez and Adan Canela have been mentioned in the same breath since they were charged nine years ago in Baltimore with slashing the throats of three young relatives, ages 8, 9 and 10. They have sat side-by-side at two trials, but as prosecutors this week make a third try at convicting them, each man will get a chance to tell his own story. The change could allow the defendants to challenge the prosecution's theory that they were both involved in the Northwest Baltimore murders - another hurdle for a prosecution already without key pieces of evidence from the last trial seven years ago. E. Wesley Adams III, a former Baltimore homicide prosecutor who was not involved in the case, said it is generally more difficult to convict defendants separately.

WASHINGTON -- Why, it seems reasonable to ask, would a sellout crowd of 7,500 people drag out in the midday sun and watch two men slap away at a tennis ball for more than two hours?(Agassi vs. Edberg).Chances are patrons at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic yesterday and all week purchased tickets well in advance, say in January when things weren't quite as tepid in these precincts.(Agassi vs. Edberg).Still, it's a good bet that most of them have lingering memories of tournaments past, which have contributed toward the D.C. stop becoming known among players as the precursor event for a huge tourney that's being planned for Hell.

A date has been set for the third trial of two men, illegal immigrants from Mexico, charged with murder in the deaths of three young relatives in a Baltimore apartment in 2004. Policarpio Espinoza Perez, 29, and Adan Espinoza Canela, 24, also again pleaded not guilty Thursday. They have been held in custody since their arrests seven years ago, and are now scheduled to be tried again Nov. 10 in Baltimore Circuit Court. The first trial ended in a hung jury, and the second resulted in convictions that were later overturned because of a judge's error.

PARIS -- Martina Hingis has been No. 1 for two months, hardly long enough to forget her predecessors, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles. Hardly long enough to know if she intends to make a home in the penthouse suite.So yesterday, when Hingis walked on to Court Central at the French Open for her semifinal match against Seles, the No. 3 seed and now No. 2 women's tennis player in the world, every seat was taken.This match would be Hingis' first real test in this Grand Slam and her first big test since becoming No. 1. She had beaten Seles twice earlier this spring, in a third-set tiebreaker in Hilton Head, S.C., and in a two-set romp at the Lipton on a hard court.

NEW YORK -- "When I'm hitting the ball this well, I feel I can beat anybody," Andre Agassi said after advancing to the third round of the U.S. Open by beating Guy Forget, 6-3, 7-5, 6-7 (7-5), 6-2, late last night. "But you have to remember that anybody can beat you."Sometimes Agassi can beat himself. Just when the match was within his grasp, leading 5-2 in the third set, Agassi abruptly went into a fog."After losing that third set I thought I'd have to go to the hospital to get a 90-pound bullfrog surgically removed from my throat," Agassi said of his near-choke.

MELBOURNE, Australia - If a French man is to win the French Open again, here's one way to give the fairy-tale ending a fighting chance of staying intact: Just make sure Marat Safin of Russia is not in the final. Safin, thy name is national spoiler. It first happened in 2000 when he won the U.S. Open by taking out host Pete Sampras in ruthless fashion. That was nothing compared with yesterday, when this proud host nation was poised for one very g'night at Melbourne Park. Safin stopped the centenary party dead in its tracks.

Meghan Cornwall of Annapolis has played in more pressure-filled matches than most and adjusts well to them. But yesterday, in the final match of her high school career, pressure caused her trouble.Cornwall stumbled from the start in her state title match against Karen Prangley of Atholton. She made several mistakes which, combined with Prangley's steady play, helped the Atholton sophomore win the first set and advance to match point in the second.But Cornwall showed why she's a champion by saving that match point, rallying from behind in the subsequent tiebreaker and going on to win her third straight state title, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4)

NEW YORK -- Fourth seed Mary Pierce suffered stomach cramps during the second set of her match with Katarina Studenikova last night, but still was able to advance to the third round of the U.S. Open.Pierce exuded a stream of emotions as she worked her way to a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 victory.After rolling through the first set, she called for a trainer in Game 4 of the second, which she trailed 3-1. The trainer reappeared between the seventh and eighth games, just before she was broken to lose the set."

WASHINGTON -- No one has benefited more from Pete Sampras' absence at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic than qualifier Michael Tebbutt.Tebbutt, the 145th-ranked player in the world, reached the quarterfinals yesterday by beating 69th-ranked Chuck Adams, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (10-8), in a wild match on Court 1 at the William H. G. FitzGerald Tennis Center.To face Adams, Tebbutt had to defeat Sampras' replacement, Mark Knowles."I feel lucky," Tebbutt said of not facing the No. 1-ranked Sampras, who pulled out of the tournament with an ankle injury.

McDonogh's Alex Sidney lay on his stomach near the net, writhing in pain from cramps that attacked both of his legs and rendered them useless. He was playing a tiebreaker in the final set of a championship match and didn't want it to end like this. Michael Katz of Gilman stood quietly at the net and could barely look at Sidney. The two are close friends who play tennis together frequently, and Katz didn't want the match to end like this either. But Sidney couldn't get up and had to retire, giving Katz the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference No. 1 singles title, 7-5, 4-6, 6-6 (ret.

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Wimbledon champion Venus Williams crashed in the first round of the Australian Open today, losing, 2-6, 6-0, 9-7, to Tszvetana Pironkova. It was only the third time in 34 Grand Slam tournaments that the five-time major winner has lost in the first round. The 10th-seeded Williams sprayed 65 unforced errors, including 41 in the third set, as she struggled to control her ground strokes in her first tour-level event since September. Bulgaria's Pironkova, ranked 94th, was broken when she served for the match in the ninth game of the third set. Williams, who also had a chance to serve for the match in the 12th game, gave Pironkova match point with a backhand into the net and surrendered the 2-hour, 28-minute match on another backhand error.

NEW YORK - In 20 years of playing tennis at the U.S. Open, so much has changed for Andre Agassi - his clothes, his hair, his attitude, his wives. In many respects, the world has watched him grow up and now grow old here, watched him evolve from a cocky, brash teenager into a philosophical family man. But over the course of so many Septembers, one thing about Agassi has never changed. His face, and especially his eyes, have never been good at helping him hide his emotions. This is especially true in big moments, in both good times and bad, and as a result, one needed only to look at Agassi's face yesterday to understand his match against Roger Federer in the U.S. Open men's singles final.

WIMBLEDON, England - What had the potential to be an electrifying day of tennis at Wimbledon came up a few shots shy of truly memorable yesterday. Not that Lindsay Davenport and Lleyton Hewitt of Australia didn't try their best, albeit unintentionally, to push things in that direction in the fourth round. Third-seeded Hewitt, unusually, squandered two match points in the third set and needed another set to finish off Taylor Dent, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-3. Top-seeded Davenport, who blew a match point in the second set by pushing a backhand just long, lost the second-set tiebreaker but rallied to defeat No. 15 Kim Clijsters of Belgium, 6-3, 6-7 (4)

WIMBLEDON, England - Andy Roddick was well into his swarm to the net yesterday when Daniele Bracciali, whose gift for tennis has remained anonymous during the years, cranked up one of his vapor-trail service returns, leaving Roddick half a nano-second to put his stamp on this gripping five-set match. Whatever instincts take over in those situations, they were there for Roddick, who vaulted off both feet to his right, extended his arm, dropped his racket and bunted a soft volley back cross-court that left his Italian tormentor no play.

WIMBLEDON, England - There was perhaps 10 minutes of playable light left on this uncommonly warm Thursday, just enough time for Andy Roddick to whack a few more unreturnable serves and restore order to a Wimbledon that had been turned on its ear all afternoon by a succession of upstart players. Incredibly, after dominating the free-swinging Italian Daniele Bracciali with his 130-140 mph blasts, Roddick's serve was taken apart in a third-set tiebreak and, instead of going to the locker room yesterday with a cozy ride into the third round, he found himself having to come back today and plot a way to finish off a very dangerous opponent.

The fans poured out of the subway trains and streamed across the boardwalk and clogged the front gates three hours before the match began.The air was warm and thick on a cloudless summer evening under the lights at the National Tennis Center. The U.S. Open was hitting its stride.Connors vs. McEnroe.But this was neither a rematch nor a rebirth. It was a drama that stretched across the night and into the early morning.Jimmy Connors went against John McEnroe's youngest brother Patrick, and he won, 4-6, 6-7 (4-7)

NEW YORK - It was a night of firsts for Maria Sharapova at the U.S. Open. It was her first match on the Arthur Ashe Stadium Court. It was her first singles match in the U.S. Open as the reigning Wimbledon champion. But most memorable and most important, it was her first escape from a hungry Open underdog. Laura Granville came out nipping at Sharapova's heels last night, fighting for every point. No Wimbledon women's champion had ever lost in the first round of the U.S. Open, a cold fact that Granville came so close to rewriting.

MELBOURNE, Australia - If a French man is to win the French Open again, here's one way to give the fairy-tale ending a fighting chance of staying intact: Just make sure Marat Safin of Russia is not in the final. Safin, thy name is national spoiler. It first happened in 2000 when he won the U.S. Open by taking out host Pete Sampras in ruthless fashion. That was nothing compared with yesterday, when this proud host nation was poised for one very g'night at Melbourne Park. Safin stopped the centenary party dead in its tracks.

NEW YORK - It was a night of firsts for Maria Sharapova at the U.S. Open. It was her first match on the Arthur Ashe Stadium Court. It was her first singles match in the U.S. Open as the reigning Wimbledon champion. But most memorable and most important, it was her first escape from a hungry Open underdog. Laura Granville came out nipping at Sharapova's heels last night, fighting for every point. No Wimbledon women's champion had ever lost in the first round of the U.S. Open, a cold fact that Granville came so close to rewriting.