BRIEFLY : VENUS TO FACE GRAF IN SEMIFINALS.

Byline: Daily News Wire Services

Venus Williams put her power game on full display Friday, routing German qualifier Barbara Rittner 6-2, 6-1 to set up a semifinal showdown with Steffi Graf at the $500,000 Hanover WTA tournament at Hanover, Germany.

``I played very aggressively and went to the net,'' said Williams, the second seed. ``You have to do that if you want to be successful against Steffi.''

Top seed Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic also advanced with a 6-1, 6-4 win over France's Sandrine Testud. In the semifinals, she will play Elena Lichovtseva, who defeated Miriam Oremans 6-2, 6-2.

Graf, who won a tough match the last time she played the older of the Williams sisters, was comfortable about her chances in today's semifinal.``When I'm fit and can train well, then I can still beat the top players,'' Graf said. ``I have these circumstances here.''

Jim Courier is having fun playing tennis again, and sixth-seeded Mariano Puerta paid the price at the $700,000 St. Jude Indoor tournament in Memphis, Tenn.

Courier needed only 49 minutes to beat Puerta 6-0, 6-2 and advance to today's semifinals against John van Lottum, a 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 winner over unseeded Daniel Nestor, who had reached the quarterfinals by upsetting No. 2 seed Mark Philippoussis.

Success in the tiebreakers gave Britain's Greg Rusedski a hard-fought 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) victory over Frenchman Cedric Pioline at the AMRO tournament in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Rusedski earned a semifinal matchup today with Russian Vevgeny Kafelnikov, the second seed who beat Roger Federer of Switzerland 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.

Tim Henman of Great Britain downed sixth-seeded Karol Kucera of Slovakia 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) to get the other semifinal berth against Russian Marat Safin, who beat Wayne Ferreira 6-2, 6-7 (7-4), 6-1.

BASKETBALL: The Golden State Warriors placed veteran guard Muggsy Bogues on the injured list because he has chicken pox.

The Sacramento Kings placed center Oliver Miller on the injured list with lower back spasms.

The New Jersey Nets waived rookie guard Earl Boykins and placed guard Lucious Harris on the injured list.

TRACK AND FIELD: Gail Devers ran the fastest 60-meter race of the indoor season at the Flanders meet in Ghent, Belguim, finishing in 7.01 seconds.

MOTOR SPORTS: Rain washed away top-25 qualifying for Sunday's Dura-Lube/Big Kmart 400 at North Carolina Speedway. The entire field will be determined today in a single round of time trials.

VOLLEYBALL: All-CIF players Lauren Killian of Marlborough High in Los Angeles and Tracy Lindquist of Ocean View High in Huntington Beach have signed letters of intent to play for USC. Killian's uncle, Doug, played volleyball for the Trojans in 1982 and '83, and Lindquist's father, Dave, played basketball at USC from 1970-72.

BOXING: Donovan ``Razor'' Ruddock, slowly working himself back into form after a three-year layoff, knocked out Anthony Willis late in the sixth round of their scheduled 10-round fight at Turning Stone Casino in Verona, N.Y. It was the fifth straight win for Ruddock, 34, since he resumed his career in April.

OLYMPICS:The U.S. Olympic Committee might take a second look at Atlanta's bid for the 1996 Games because IOC members received gifts that possibly were too expensive.