BRIEFLY.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

Federer ousts Agassi in Dubai semis

Roger Federer routed Andre Agassi 6-3, 6-1 in the Dubai Open semifinals Saturday in the United Arab Emirates and will play Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic in a title match for the third time this year.

``I have shown I can raise my game when it is important,'' Federer said. ``I didn't expect anything like this because the way I was playing. I was really struggling with my rhythm, and I thought it would be really hard against Agassi. But I pulled off a magnificent match.''

The eighth-seeded Ljubicic fired 13 aces to oust fifth-seeded Tommy Robredo 6-4, 6-3 in the other semifinal.

--Maria Sharapova won her second WTA Tour title this month, rallying past Alicia Molik of Australia 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the Qatar Open final in Doha.

--Lindsay Davenport and Serena Williams will take the court for the U.S. Fed Cup team when it faces Belgium in a quarterfinal April 23-24 in White Plains, N.Y.

HORSE RACING: Hasty Kris beat Harvard Avenue by a half-length in the $150,000 San Carlos Handicap at Santa Anita Park.

SOCCER: Chivas USA acquired Costa Rican defender Douglas Sequeira from Real Salt Lake in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2007 draft. Chivas also released defender Antonio de la Torre and forward Jamil Walker.

GYMNASTICS: The second-ranked UCLA women's gymnastics team (9-2) plays host to a high-powered triangular meet today against No. 8 Georgia and No. 17 Arizona at Pauley Pavilion. The teams have won a combined 10 NCAA championships.

WINTER SPORTS: Jeremy Bloom's six-race winning streak ended when Finland's Mikko Ronkainen captured the World Cup moguls finale in Voss, Norway.

--Benjamin Raich led a 1-2 Austrian finish, along with Herman Maier, in a giant slalom and drew closer to overall World Cup leader Bode Miller, who lost a ski during the second run and slid off the course in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.

--The debate over the new women's course for the Olympics grew when several top skiers threatened to sign a petition urging another site for the super giant slalom at next year's Turin Games in Italy.

German star Hilde Gerg and fellow speed specialists Michaela Dorfmeister and Renate Goetschl maintain the course is too straight and easy for an Olympic super-G and should be moved to nearby Sestriere.

BASKETBALL: Plymouth State's Nick Pelotte set a school record with 62 points, but Western Connecticut won the Division III's Little East Conference tournament in Danbury, Conn. with a 135-130 double-overtime victory that likely set a conference record for points in a game.

No one knew for sure if the teams had a record-setting day because the Little East basketball records were destroyed in a fire a few years back, said Scott Ames, sports information director at Western Connecticut.

TRACK AND FIELD: Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia broke her indoor pole vault record, clearing 16 feet, 1/2 inch at the Lievin meet in France.

HOCKEY: Former Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings player Leo Labine, 73, died Friday in North Bay, Ontario, a North Bay Hospital spokesman confirmed.