Sports briefs 5/11/05

College

* Murray State football coach Joe Pannunzio was reinstated on Tuesday, the school said in a written statement.

The university scheduled a press conference for 1 p.m. CDT that Pannunzio and athletic director Allen Ward are scheduled to attend.

Ward placed Pannunzio on paid administrative leave April 29 following the campus arrests of a player and former player on drug trafficking charges. Ward said then that "charges of this severity and magnitude demand stepped-up review of our football program."

Ron Lane, a junior running back, and Terrence Biggers, a former wide receiver, were charged with trafficking in a controlled substance within 1,000 yards of a school and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to Calloway County court officials. Both Lane and Biggers have pleaded not guilty.

Pannunzio has been the Racers' coach since January 2000 and has a 28-28 record in five seasons. Murray State finished 7-4 last season.

* Nicholls State was put on probation for four years by the NCAA on Tuesday following a scandal in which more than two dozen athletes on the football, volleyball and men's basketball teams claimed credit for correspondence course work done by someone else.

The NCAA also ordered victories forfeited and reduced scholarships.

Tennis

* With a nasty wind blowing and fans wrapped in blankets, Andre Agassi had little to offer Tuesday at the Hamburg Masters.

He was hoping for a good clay-court tuneup leading to the French Open, but instead made a first-round exit with a 6-2, 7-6 (5) loss to Spanish left-hander Feliciano Lopez.

The temperature dropped to 48 degrees during the match.

Also ousted was ninth-seeded David Nalbandian, who lost to Sweden's Robin Soderling 7-6 (8), 7-5. Third-seeded Marat Safin, the Australian Open champion, made a quick escape from the cold in the night match, routing Alberto Martin of Spain 6-1, 6-0 in 49 minutes.

Two clay-court specialists -- fourth-seeded Gaston Gaudio and 10th-seeded Guillermo Coria -- had an easy time. Gaudio, the defending French Open champion, beat David Sanchez 6-2, 6-2, and Coria routed Vincent Spadea 6-0, 6-2.

* Top-seeded Maria Sharapova beat Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-4, 6-2 Tuesday in the first round of the Italian Open.

Sharapova also received some help when Svetlana Kuznetsova, the next highest seeded player in her quarter of the draw, was upset at Foro Italico. The fifth-seeded U.S. Open champion lost to Paola Suarez of Argentina 6-2, 6-4.

In two first-round upsets, Anna Smashnova of Israel beat 11th-seeded Elena Likhovtseva of Russia 6-1, 6-3, and Ava Ivanovic of Serbia-Montenegro eliminated 12th-seeded Tatiana Golovin of France 6-3, 6-4.