BRIEFLY : MAYWEATHER TAKES BELT FROM HERNANDEZ.

Byline: - Daily News Wire Services

Floyd Mayweather, the first 1996 Olympian to get a title shot, scored a technical knockout over Los Angeles' Genaro Hernandez to win the WBC super featherweight championship in Las Vegas.

Hernandez, defending his 130-pound title for the fifth time, didn't come out for the ninth round in the scheduled 12-round bout. Mayweather, 21, dominated after the first round, holding a substantial lead on all three judges' scorecards when the end came.

Mayweather raised his professional record to 18-0 with 14 knockouts, while the 32-year-old Hernandez fell to 38-2-1 with 17 knockouts.

Juan Carlos Gomez defended his WBC cruiserweight title in Hamburg, Germany, stopping Russia's Alexei Iliin early in the second round. Gomez, 25, improved to 25-0 with his 21st knockout. Iliin is 23-2.

Thomas Tate retained his North American Boxing Federation super middleweight title with a unanimous 12-round decision over Demetrius Davis on Friday night in Philadelphia. Tate improved his record to 35-5. Davis fell to 17-11.

TENNIS: Andre Agassi won the last 11 games of the match to beat a tiring Karol Kucera 7-6 (7-1), 6-7 (5-7), 2-6, 7-5, 6-0 to reach today's final of the Grand Slam Cup in Munich, Germany against Marcelo Rios.

Agassi outlasted Kucera in a match that lasted 3 hours, 40 minutes.

Agassi trailed 5-2 in the fourth set, and Kucera served for the match.

But the Slovak was unable to convert four match points, and his errors combined with some spectacular and risky shotmaking by Agassi.

Kucera sent a forehand into the net to drop the game, and Agassi gained the momentum. Then he won the last 11 games.

Agassi was a wild-card entry in the tournament that nominally brings together players with the best records in the four Grand Slam events of the year - the Australian, French and U.S. Open and Wimbledon. He was invited after top-ranked Pete Sampras and No. 2 Patrick Rafter dropped out.

Now, he could end up earning $1.3 million by winning the title.

Rios, at No. 3 the highest-ranked player in the $6.7 million tournament, came back from a break down in the third set to beat Mark Philippoussis 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-4.

Greg Rusedski and Jan Siemerink, the top two seeds, won semifinal matches in the Toulouse Open in France and will meet in today's final.

Carlos Moya of Spain and Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil advanced easily to today's final of the Mallorca Open in the Balearic Islands.

TRIATHLON:Canada's Peter Reid won the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, finishing in 8 hours, 24 minutes, 20 seconds.

Switzerland's Natascha Badmann took the women's division 9:24:16, about 30 minutes slower than the course record set in 1992 by eight-time winner Paula Newby-Fraser of Zimbabwe.

Reid, 29, who finished fourth the past two years, took the lead from Germany's Jurgen Zack about two miles into the marathon run, the last of the three segments of the competition.

SWIMMING: Jenny Thompson, the first American since Tracy Caulkins in 1978 to win four gold medals in the World Championships, was honored as the Swimmer of the Year at the USA Swimming convention in Cincinnati.

Thompson won the 100-meter freestyle and 100 butterfly and helped the United States to two relay victories.

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