BRIEFLY : MUSTER MUSTERS VICTORY.

Thomas Muster ended Mark Philippoussis' winning streak at eight matches Friday.

The Austrian, who has won all but three of his 43 career singles titles on clay, downed the hard-serving Philippoussis 6-3, 7-6 (10-8) to advance to the Newsweek Champions Cup semifinals at Indian Wells.

Muster, seeded second, will play No. 3 Michael Chang today. Two-time tournament champion Chang, trying for a repeat, advanced with a workman-like 6-3, 6-2 victory over Cedric Pioline.

In the other men's quarterfinal, unseeded Bohdan Ulihrach beat former USC star Byron Black 6-4, 6-2, and Jonas Bjorkman defeated Alberto Berasategui 6-2, 6-3.

In the State Farm Evert Cup, running concurrently with the men's event at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort, Lindsay Davenport overwhelmed two-time champion Mary Joe Fernandez 6-1, 6-1 to move into today's final.

Davenport, who won the Olympic gold in singles last summer, faces Irina Spirlea of Romania for the Evert Cup title. Spirlea earlier ousted top-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

Roscoe Tanner, a former top-ranked player, was ordered held in the Somerset County Jail in Somerville, N.J., because he is wanted in Tennessee on charges that he bounced a check for more than $10,000.

NFL: The Arizona Cardinals re-signed free agent Larry Centers to a three-year contract, keeping the league's top pass-catching running back with the team. ESPN reported the agreement to be worth $7.5 million, including a $1.5 million signing bonus.

Free-agent quarterback Elvis Grbac, Steve Young's backup with San Francisco, has agreed in principle to a contract with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Place-kicker Chris Boniol, the offensive standout for the Dallas Cowboys last season, joined punter John Jett as an offseason, free-agent defection, taking a $2.45 million offer from the Philadelphia Eagles.

HOCKEY: Gordie Howe, hoping to play hockey in a sixth decade, will try out for the Syracuse Crunch, the American Hockey League team said. Howe, who retired from the NHL in 1980 at the age of 52, will spend the next two weeks training and hopes to play for the Crunch against the Carolina Monarchs on April 1, the day after his 69th birthday.

ALSO: The proposal to privatize the fishing, boating and camping operations at Castaic Lagoon is next scheduled to be heard by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors on April 1, two weeks later than planned. Officials said the continuation was requested by the county Department of Parks and Recreation in order to allow Outdoor Safaris International - the Corona-based concessionaire vying for management of the state-owned and county-run recreation area - to meet with community groups impacted by the decision. . . .