Mauresmo, Pierce Reach Final

Top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo saved a match point to reach the final of the Gaz de France, defeating Tatiana Golovin, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-2, Saturday at Paris.

The Australian Open champion will play French compatriot Mary Pierce, who beat fourth-seeded Patty Schnyder, 6-4, 6-2.

Mauresmo appeared to be on her way to easily claiming the first set, leading, 5-0.

But Golovin played around her backhand to hit forehand winners and leveled it, 6-6, after Mauresmo squandered five set points.

Mauresmo dropped the tiebreaker on a series of forehand and backhand errors.

Schnyder used heavy topspin to break Pierce in the second game of the opening set of their semifinal.

But Pierce rallied from 3-1 down to break twice and lead, 5-4, as her powerful forehands hit the corners of the court.

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Teenager Shahar Peer stayed on track for her first WTA title, defeating Sybille Bammer, 7-5, 6-3, in the semifinals of the Pattaya Women’s Open at Pattaya, Thailand.

In the final, the 18-year-old Peer will play Jelena Kostanic, who beat fifth-seeded Nuria Llagostera Vives, 6-3, 6-3.

BASEBALL

Zambrano, Cubs Agree on One-Year Contract

Right-hander Carlos Zambrano and the Chicago Cubs agreed to terms on a one-year, $6.5-million contract and avoided an arbitration hearing.

The Cubs have signed all of their arbitration-eligible players. Pitchers and catchers report to Mesa, Ariz., for spring training Wednesday.

Zambrano made 33 starts last season and was 14-6 with a 3.26 earned-run average. He had 202 strikeouts in 223 innings.

Zambrano made $3.76 million and had asked for a raise to $7.2 million in arbitration. The Cubs offered $6 million.

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The Washington Nationals sold the contract of infielder Jamey Carroll to the Colorado Rockies for $300,000.

Carroll batted .251 in 113 games last season. The Nationals have signed infielders Royce Clayton, Marlon Anderson and Damian Jackson during the off-season.

PRO FOOTBALL

Shell Is Introduced as Raider Coach

Art Shell was officially introduced as the Oakland Raiders’ coach, returning to the franchise more than 11 years after he was fired after his first stint.

Shell, a longshot when the 5 1/2 -week search began after Norv Turner was fired Jan. 3, first talked to owner Al Davis about taking the job last week.

“It’s coming home,” Shell said. “It’s coming home to finish what I started.”

Shell, 59, who had been working as the senior vice president of football operations and development for the NFL, hasn’t been a head coach since the Raiders fired him after the 1994 season in a move Davis has said he still regrets.

Davis had nothing but praise for Shell on Saturday.

“It’s tradition, history, excellence, leadership. It’s wrapped up all in one when you mention the name Art Shell,” he said.

Davis has gone through five coaches in 11 seasons since firing Shell, possibly scaring some candidates away from the job.

“As I said at the end of the season, changing the coach staff won’t do anything if the players don’t want to go out there and play,” safety Jarrod Cooper said in a phone interview. “It’s on us to get this done.”

Shell did have success while working with Davis. He had a 54-38 regular-season record with the Raiders, leading them to the AFC championship game after the 1990 season.

However, he didn’t get a second chance as a head coach until now.

The first black head coach in modern NFL history when the Raiders hired him in 1989, Shell becomes the seventh one currently in the league.

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The NFL season officially comes to an end today when the American Conference plays the National Conference in the Pro Bowl at Honolulu.

The AFC has won four of the last five Pro Bowls to take an 18-17 lead in the series that began in its present format in 1971, and was moved permanently to Aloha Stadium in 1980.

Each of the 26 previous games at Aloha Stadium has been played in front of a capacity crowd of around 50,000, and today’s game will make it 27 in a row.

Carolina’s John Fox and Denver’s Mike Shanahan, losing coaches in the conference championship games, head up the Pro Bowl teams.

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In Arena League games:

Aaron Garcia threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Mike Horacek with 22 seconds left to give the New York Dragons an 84-81 victory over the expansion Utah Blaze at Salt Lake City.

Joe Hamilton threw four touchdown passes and also ran for a score in the Orlando Predators’ 47-33 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Soul.

Clint Dolezel threw six touchdown passes to help the Dallas Desperados improve to 3-0 with a 52-38 victory over the Columbus Destroyers at Columbus, Ohio.

BOXING

Taylor Will Defend Title Against Wright

Jermain Taylor and Winky Wright will fight in a middleweight championship bout June 17, agreeing to a deal after more than a month of on-again, off-again negotiations.

Three sites are being considered for the fight -- Las Vegas, Memphis, Tenn., and Atlanta.

Gary Shaw, promoter for Wright, said Las Vegas was the most probable venue. The bout will be carried by HBO.

The World Boxing Council ordered Taylor (25-0) to make his next defense against Wright (50-3).

If Taylor and Wright failed to reach an agreement, a purse offer was to be held in which other promoters would have the chance to bid for the fight.

Negotiations for the fight appeared to break down in January after Wright’s team asked for a 50-50 split of the purse. Taylor’s team apparently began considering other options, such as a fight against Sam Soliman.

But Taylor promoter Lou DiBella said Shaw resumed talks this week. DiBella had said Taylor’s team would risk losing the WBC belt rather than accepting an unfair deal.

Shaw said the terms of the deal were “the same as they were before,” but declined to specify.

It is believed the offer to Wright was about $3 million, and Taylor would receive about $4 million.

SOCCER

Middlesbrough Upsets First-Place Chelsea

Fabio Rochemback, Steward Downing and Aiyegbeni Yakabu scored goals to lead Middlesbrough to a 3-0 upset of first-place Chelsea in an English Premier League game at London.

It was the Blues’ biggest defeat since Jose Mourinho, who led them to their first league title in 50 years last season, became coach in June 2004.

Manchester United trimmed Chelsea’s lead to 12 points by winning, 3-1, at Portsmouth.

Ruud van Nistelrooy put the Red Devils ahead in the 18th minute and Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice before halftime.

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Alvaro Saborio scored on a penalty kick 40 minutes into the first half, leading Costa Rica to a 1-0 victory over South Korea in an exhibition at Oakland.

Goalies Jose Francisco Porras and Wardy Alfaro combined on the shutout for Costa Rica, which was playing for only the second time since the World Cup qualifying tournament last October.

Costa Rica will play host Germany, Poland and Ecuador in the first round of the World Cup beginning in June.