Sports briefs 1/7/06

Baseball

• Justin Upton, the 18-year-old shortstop who was the top pick in the 2005 major league amateur draft, agreed to a minor league contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks that includes a $6.1 million signing bonus payable over five years.

Arizona announced the agreement Friday and said Upton will be introduced at a news conference Monday. The signing bonus is the largest in a minor league contract for a drafted player who was not a free agent.

Upton hit .519 during his senior season at Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake, Va., with 11 home runs and 32 RBIs in just 54 plate appearances. Upton was selected Gatorade High School Player of the Year and was a consensus high school all-American.

Tennis

• Defending champion Roger Federer continued his strong preparation for the Australian Open with a 6-3, 6-3 defeat of German Tommy Haas in the semifinals of the Qatar Open on Friday.

The top-ranked Swiss player will face Gael Monfils of France, who defeated Filippo Volandri of Italy in the second semifinal 6-3, 6-4.

Federer broke Haas in the seventh game for a 4-3 lead in the first set and increased his lead by winning his next service game at love, hardly putting a foot wrong.

* Czech teenager Lucie Safarova won her third WTA Tour title with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Flavia Pennetta of Italy in the finals of the Australian women's hardcourt championships on Saturday.

Safarova, an 18-year-old left-hander, rose 12 places to No. 35 following her 1 hour, 22-minute win at Royal Pines.

Pennetta beat Martina Hingis in three sets Friday in the semifinals in Hingis' comeback tournament after a three-year retirement due to foot, ankle and heal injuries.

Safarova defeated three seeded players en route to the title, beating two-time Gold Coast winner Ai Sugiyama of Japan, defending champion and No. 7 Patty Schnyder and third-seeded Dinara Safina of Russia.

-- From wire reports