Sports briefs 7/9/05

Basketball

• Free agent Larry Hughes informed the Washington Wizards that he's leaving them to join the Cleveland Cavaliers, the guard's agent said Friday.

"I can confirm that he is committed to coming to terms with the Cleveland Cavaliers," agent Jeff Wechsler said in a telephone interview.

"We're still negotiating, but we've told Washington that he's not coming back there," Wechsler added.

Hughes made the NBA's All-Defensive team after leading the league in steals with a 2.89 average and was second on the Wizards in scoring last season at 22 points. He also averaged 6.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists during his third season in Washington.

* The Milwaukee Bucks hired former assistant Terry Stotts as their new head coach Friday.

Stotts, an assistant with the Golden State Warriors last season, coached the Atlanta Hawks for 1 1/2 seasons. He went 52-85 in Atlanta after replacing Lon Kruger in 2002-03. He also served under George Karl as an assistant for four seasons in Milwaukee.

Stotts replaces Terry Porter, who was unexpectedly fired June 22

Hockey

* Dave Lewis will not return as the Red Wings' coach, paving the way for former Anaheim coach Mike Babcock to come to Detroit.

In Lewis' two seasons, the Red Wings were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by Babcock's Mighty Ducks in 2003 and in the second round the following year. Lewis signed a one-year contract in June of last year, only a few months before the NHL lockout began.

Motorsports

* Tony Stewart was taken to a local hospital for precautionary X-rays Friday after bouncing off the wall during practice for the USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagoland Speedway.

Stewart, the winner of the last two NASCAR Nextel Cup events and the defending race champion, was complaining of pain in one of his shoulders after hitting the wall with the right side of his No. 20 Chevrolet and sliding into the infield grass.

He was helped from the car by speedway safety personnel and walked to the waiting ambulance for the mandatory ride to the infield care center.

Tennis

* Top-seeded Rafael Nadal beat Juan Carlos Ferrero in straight sets Friday to reach the semifinals at the Swedish Open.

The French Open champion, a quarterfinal loser the past two years in this clay-court tournament, beat his fellow Spaniard 6-3, 6-3.

Nadal will play another Spaniard, Tommy Robredo, in today's semifinals. The third-seeded Robredo rallied from a set down to defeat sixth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Also reaching the final four was Jiri Vanek of the Czech Republic, who ousted Oscar Hernandez of Spain 6-4, 6-2.

The last quarterfinal between two-time defending champion Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina and Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic was halted because of rain.

-- From wire reports