Sports briefs 7/8/05

Basketball

• The Milwaukee Bucks are putting together a talented lineup even without a head coach.

Coveted free agent Michael Redd agreed Thursday to re-sign with the Bucks and play alongside No. 1 draft pick Andrew Bogut and T.J. Ford rather than return to his home state of Ohio to serve as LeBron James' sidekick.

Redd accepted Milwaukee's six-year offer for between $90 million and $96 million, his agent, Kevin Poston, told The Associated Press. The Cleveland Cavaliers offered $70 million over five years, the most they could offer.

The 6-foot-6 shooting guard from Ohio State averaged a career-high 23 points last season and has averaged 17.7 points since Milwaukee drafted him in the second round in 2000.

Hockey

* Trent Yawney was hired Thursday to be the new coach of the Chicago Blackhawks, replacing Brian Sutter who was let go last month.

Yawney, 39, coached the Blackhawks' AHL affiliate in Norfolk, Va., the past five years and led the Admirals to five straight playoff appearances.

The Blackhawks were 91-118-37 in three seasons under Sutter and made the playoffs only once, in 2002. Chicago missed the playoffs in six of seven years before the lockout that wiped out the entire 2004-05 NHL season.

Yawney played 12 years in the NHL, including six seasons as a defenseman for the Blackhawks. He also was an assistant coach in Chicago for the 1999-2000 season.

Tennis

* Top-seeded Rafael Nadal and Juan Carlos Ferrero won second-round matches in straight sets at the Swedish Open on Thursday, setting up a quarterfinal between the Spaniards.

Nadal, the French Open champion, ousted Spain's Alberto Martin 6-2, 6-4. Ferrero, the 2003 champion at Roland Garros, beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-4 in another all-Spanish match on center court.

Spain's Oscar Hernandez also reached the round of eight. He defeated seventh-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 in a match delayed by thunderstorms, marking the first time since 1977 that a Swede hasn't reached the quarterfinals.

Hernandez will meet Jiri Vanek after the Czech outlasted French qualifier Florent Serra 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

* Frantisek Cermak upset third-seeded Radek Stepanek 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4, in cold, wet conditions Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Swiss Open.

Cermak won his first singles match of the year against Philipp Kohlschreiber in the opening round.

It's only the second time in his career that the Czech has qualified for a singles tournament. He is seeded second in the doubles draw with Friedl Leos.

Cermak will face Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, who saved three match points to defeat Fernando Verdasco 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8) and atone for a loss to the Spaniard in May at Rome.

Earlier, seventh-seeded Nicolas Massu of Chile rallied from a second-set scare to defeat Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 and reach his first quarterfinal of the season.