Sporting Digest: Tennis

PAT CASH, the Wimbledon men's singles champion in 1987, may miss this summer's championships. But the London-based Australian, who has been dogged by knee injuries in recent years, is not thinking of retiring. Speaking at a news conference in support of Sydney's bid to stage the 2000 Olympics, Cash said: 'I'm not over the hill. I'm 27, not 35.'

GABRIELA SABATINI has been drafted in to replace Monica Seles as the top seed of the Virginia Slims of Houston women's tournament. Seles is still suffering from the flu which caused her to pull out of last week's Lipton Championships.

VIRGINIA SLIMS OF HOUSTON WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT (Houston, Texas) First round: J Halard (Fr) bt F Labat (Arg) 7-6 6-2; D Graham (US) bt A Minter (Aus) 6-3 6-1; S Hack (Ger) bt L Ferrando (It) 2-6 6-2 6-2; T Ignatieva (Rus) bt L Golarsa (It) 6-3 6-2; S Cecchini (It) bt L Harvey-Wild (US) 6-3 5-7 6-3; V Martinek (Ger) bt B Fulco-Villela (Arg) 6-0

2-6 6-3; V Ruano-Pascual (Sp) bt T Morton (Aus) 7-5 6-1.