TIM HENMAN proved himself the top British tennis player last night, edging past Greg Rusedski to reach the quarter-finals of the Newsweek Champions Cup in Indian Wells.
The British number one overcame a nightmare second set to triumph 6-4 2-6 6-4. He broke Rusedski decisively in the seventh game of the final set, but then had to rally from 0-40 when serving for the match.
OLYMPICS: International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch has telephoned major sponsors vowing reforms even after another Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Games official quit.
The latest casualty of the scandal is Rod Hamson, once finance director of the Salt Lake organisers, who handed in his resignation.
Samaranch told the top executives of a major US soft drink maker and package delivery service that the IOC would make major changes in the wake of a bribes-for-votes scandal.
CYCLING: Colombia's Santiago Botero, racing for the Kelme team, won the fifth stage of the Paris-Nice race in Firminy yesterday - a 187.9 k.m. ride from Cusset to the central French town.
Botero finished ahead of his breakaway colleague, Dutch rider Michael Boogerd, who took over the leader's white jersey from Australian Stuart O'Grady, who lost several minutes on the slightly mountainous stage.
SNOOKER: Stephen Hendry produced an excellent spell of form in Shanghai yesterday with a 5-2 quarter-final victory over John Parrott in the £255,000 China international. "That's probably my best performance of the season," declared Hendry. In today's quarter-finals Ken Doherty faces Alan McManus.
