BRIEFLY AGASSI: IT MIGHT NOT BE A MODEL TO FOLLOW.

Byline: - Daily News Staff and Wire Services

Andre Agassi is a bit skeptical about fashion models in skimpy outfits replacing ball boys at the Madrid Masters in Spain.

``I suppose I need some time to let it absorb,'' Agassi said Tuesday after beating Max Mirnyi 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 at the indoor tournament. ``I think it's important for our sport to understand its product clearly. And I'm not quite convinced it's part of our product.''

Women in black tank tops and white, knee-length skirts chased errant shots and handed towels to the players. Reportedly paid $1,100 for the week, the women are appearing in one televised match each day.

``It was difficult, to say the least, to concentrate on the ball,'' Agassi said. ``But I suppose I had an advantage. I'm used to playing with my wife'' - Steffi Graf.

--In Zurich, Swizterland, Venus Williams reached the second round of the Swisscom Challenge with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Karolina Sprem, who upset her in the second round at Wimbledon in a match that was marred by the chair umpire's awarding of an extra point to Sprem.

--Jelena Dokic, 21, is trying to revive her tennis career - with the help of her father.

Dokic, once ranked No. 4 in the world in 2002, is now ranked 105th, but says she has reunited with her father, Damir, whom she recently accused of wrecking her career.

GYMNASTICS: U.S. gymnast Paul Hamm will find out Thursday whether he can keep his Olympic gold medal. Hamm won the all-around title in Athens, Greece, but South Korea's Yang Tae-young wants the Court of Arbitration for Sport to change the results and move him from third place to first because of a scoring error.

TRACK AND FIELD: Two-time Olympic gold medalist Alvin Harrison accepted a four-year suspension from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for drug violations uncovered in the BALCO case. The 30-year-old sprinter, who won gold medals as part of U.S. relay teams at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, was charged with violations of anti-doping rules based in part on evidence presented in the Senate in May, then turned over to USADA before the Athens Games.

Harrison's attorney, Robert Harris, said his client was going to retire soon so accepting the penalty made sense.

The evidence did not include a positive drug test, but did include information gathered during the federal probe of BALCO.

BASKETBALL: USC freshman point guard Jazlyn Davis broke a bone in her foot in practice Saturday and is expected to miss at least three weeks but should be back for the Nov. 19 season opener against Massachusetts in Chicago.

- Ramona Shelburne

--Connecticut freshman guard A.J. Price has been released from the hospital two weeks after being admitted with a brain hemorrhage. Price, a top national recruit, has slowly improved since being airlifted to Hartford (Conn.) Hospital on Oct. 4. He was initially taken to a hospital near the campus in Storrs after complaining of a headache and flulike symptoms.