BRIEFLY : GEORGIA TECH LOSES STAR GUARD.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

Georgia Tech guard Dion Glover, the nation's third-best freshman scorer last year with an 18.5 point-per-game average, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the team's first practice and is out for the season.

``Everybody is stunned,'' coach Bobby Cremins said. ``It's a tremendous blow to us.''

Glover suffered the injury taking part in a seemingly harmless one-on-one drill during the morning workout, held just hours after the Yellow Jackets kicked off the season with Midnight Madness. An MRI will be performed Monday to confirm the extent of the damage, then Glover is expected to undergo surgery.

Glover ranked fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring, as well as second in steals (2.1), fifth in minutes per game (35.2) and 10th in shooting percentage (.441) last season. Glover tied the school scoring record for a freshman with a 33-point effort against Seton Hall in the first round of the NIT.

TENNIS: New world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport and Venus Williams each won their semifinal match to set up an all-American, power-hitting final at the $1 million European Championships in Zurich, Switzerland.

Davenport, the defending champion, beat Romania's Irina Spirlea 6-2, 6-3. Then, Williams spoiled Nathalie Tauziat's 31st birthday, winning 6-3, 6-4.

In beating Spirlea, Davenport extended her winning streak to 16 matches in Switzerland.

Regardless of today's outcome, Davenport will retain the No. 1 ranking, since Martina Hingis is out with a strained ankle.

Seeking his first title since Wimbledon, top-ranked Pete Sampras defeated Todd Martin 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) and advanced to the final of the $800,000 CA Trophy tournament in Vienna, Austria.

Today, Sampras goes for his fourth title of the year against seventh-ranked Karol Kucera of Slovakia, who defeated Britain's Greg Rusedski 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.

Sampras, in a close race with Patrick Rafter and Marcelo Rios for the top ranking as the season reaches its final weeks, entered the indoor tournament at the last moment as a wild card. Sampras is trying to be the first player to finish the year as No. 1 for six straight years.

BASEBALL: ``Vinegar Bend'' Mizell, who went from pitching in the National League to three terms in Congress, was upgraded to serious condition after an apparent heart attack while watching his son coach high school football in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The 68-year-old collapsed just before the kickoff of Friday night's game in Welcome, about 60 miles southwest of Charlotte.

From 1952-62, Mizell pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Mets. Mizell helped the Pirates win the World Series in 1960, posting a 13-5 record with a 3.12 ERA that season with St. Louis and Pittsburgh.