BRIEFLY\Suns fire Westphal, pick Fitzsimmons.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

Hailed for guiding the Phoenix Suns to the NBA Finals three years ago but labeled a loser when his team of walking wounded fell below .500, coach Paul Westphal was fired Tuesday.

Westphal, dismissed by Suns president Jerry Colangelo, was replaced by his predecessor, Cotton Fitzsimmons.

Westphal had a 191-88 record in 3-1/2 seasons coaching the Suns.

Fitzsimmons, a 65-year-old senior executive vice president and television analyst for the Suns, will be coaching his fifth NBA club, including the third time at Phoenix.

He inherits a team that has lost seven of its past 10 games and has dropped to 14-19, with no relief in sight. The Suns are home against Orlando tonight, then play nine of their next 10 games on the road.

BASEBALL

Colorado Rockies pitcher Bret Saberhagen has begun a seven-day-a-week, dawn-to-dusk rehabilitation program aimed at averting surgery on his ailing right shoulder and getting him back on the mound early this season.

The San Francisco Giants won a bidding war for Cuban defector Osvaldo Fernandez, who had a 22-0 record in international play for the Cuban national team, by signing the pitcher to a three-year contract that could be worth $3.9 million.

FOOTBALL

Waving dog bones and chanting "no team, no peace," hundreds of Browns fans descended on an NFL meeting in Atlanta to demand that their beloved franchise remain in Cleveland. The owners, however, were not expected to vote on the move to Baltimore.

Doctors say Green Bay Packers assistant coach Gil Haskell has made significant improvement after fracturing his skull in a sideline mishap during Sunday's NFC Championship Game.

Offensive line coach Steve Marshall has left Tennessee to join Bob Toledo's staff at UCLA.

The New York Jets, who own the No. 1 pick in next April's NFL draft, met with USC wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson at the East-West Shrine Game last week.

BOXING

The promoter for British heavyweight Lennox Lewis said he plans to seek $50 million in damages from the World Boxing Council for sanctioning Mike Tyson's championship fight against Frank Bruno. Promoter Panos Eliades maintains the WBC reneged on an agreement making Lewis the mandatory challenger for the title.

WINTER SPORTS

Kirsteen McGibbon, a promising 20-year-old British downhill skier, was killed when she lost control on an icy section while training on an Alpine course in Austria.

ETC.

Defending champions Renee Roca and Gorsha Sur tied rivals Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow in the compulsory dance competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose. . . .

German tax authorities will drop their investigation of Steffi Graf if the tennis star pays a $3.4 million fine, according to the ZDF national television network. . . .

Colorado basketball coach Joe Harrington, in the middle of his sixth season with the Buffaloes, resigned before a game against Southern Utah. . . .

Herve Filion, harness racing's winningest driver, was arraigned in White Plains, N.Y., on upgraded criminal charges stemming from allegations he and three other drivers fixed races at Yonkers Raceway. . . .

European soccer's governing body refused to change its stance and said it would maintain the three-foreigner limit for this season.