BRIEFLY : JONES MAY GIVE UP WBC TITLE.

Roy Jones Jr. will relinquish his WBC light heavyweight title rather than defend it against Michael Nunn in a bout not televised by HBO-TVKO, according to release Wednesday night by Square Ring Inc., his promotional company.

In a statement signed by Stan Levin, who with brother Fred Levin set up Pensacola, Fla.-based Square Ring in 1989 to promote Jones, the fighter said he'd surrender the title rather than violate his contract with HBO-TVKO.

``In the event the Jones-Nunn fight does not take place, the Square Ring Team feels there are a number of formidable opponents for Jones,'' the statement said.

TENNIS: Monica Seles recovered from a slow start to get past her opening round opponent at the Ameritech Cup in Chicago.

The second-seeded Seles, saying she felt rusty against Magdalena Grzybowska, defeated the 18-year-old from Poland 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

``I haven't played a match in six weeks,'' Seles said. ``I was just lucky to pull it out in the end.''

In the early session, sixth-seeded Mary Joe Fernandez was upset by Sabine Appelmans of Belgium 6-2, 6-1.

Appelmans, 25, actually apologized after getting all the breaks in the 63-minute match.

``Everything I tried went my way,'' said Appelmans, ranked 19th in the world. ``It's not normal. I don't do this every match.''

Appelmans found the lines and corners when she needed to, winning all six games that went to deuce. Fernandez could not convert on several game points.

In other matches, Yayuk Basuki advanced past Lilia Osterloh 6-0, 6-3 and Ai Sugiyama defeated Tara Snyder 6-4, 6-3.

Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic upset fourth-seeded Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil 6-2, 6-4, leaving only the two top seeds in the $1,125,000 Kremlin Cup in Moscow.

The loss cost Kuerten, the French Open champion who is ranked 14th in the world, a chance to play in the ATP Tour Championships next week in Germany.

AUTO RACING: The Indy Racing League will offer provisional starting spots at each of its events except the Indianapolis 500.

The IRL announced a new point system, race-weekend format and minimum starting fields for its 11-race series in 1998.

The winner of each race will get 50 points toward the series championship, decreasing to one point for 29th place and below. In addition, the pole starter will receive three bonus points, the second-place starter will get two points, the No. 3 starter will get one point, and the top lap leader will get two points.

At Indianapolis, the only IRL 2-1/2-mile track, the field will be limited to the fastest 33 qualifiers, with no provisional starting spots or IRL guarantees. There were 35 starters at Indy this year after a since-abandoned qualifying procedure.