In brief

Federer one win away from 3-peat

By wire services
Published June 12, 2005

HALLE, Germany - Top-ranked Roger Federer beat Tommy Haas 6-4, 7-6 (9) in the semifinals Saturday to move within one victory of capturing his third straight Gerry Weber Open title.

His opponent in the final will be Marat Safin, one of only three men to beat Federer this year. The second-seeded Russian beat fourth-seeded Guillermo Canas of Argentina 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in the other semifinal.

By beating the seventh-seeded German, Federer extended his winning streak on grass to 28 matches, the second longest in the open era after Bjorn Borg's 41 in a row from 1976-81.

QUEEN'S TOURNAMENT: Defending champion Andy Roddick advanced to his third straight final at London's grass-court tournament, beating Radek Stepanek 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 Saturday. Roddick will play Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in Sunday's final.

Cornell Glen scored on a penalty kick in the 67th minute, ending Columbus' 300-minute scoreless drought and giving the Crew a 1-0 win over the Colorado Rapids on Saturday. The Crew (4-6-1) have just eight goals on the season, matching Real Salt Lake for the fewest in MLS.

WORLD YOUTH: Freddy Adu's missed penalty kick didn't stop the United States from upsetting tournament favorite Argentina 1-0 in Group D of the championship in Enschede, Netherlands. Chad Barrett scored the winning goal in the 39th minute. WORLD CUP: Jose Clayton and Adel Chedli both scored to lead African champion Tunisia over Guinea 2-0 in a qualifying match. EUROPEAN WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP: Sweden and Finland each won Saturday to earn semifinal spots. The Swedes got an early goal from Anna Sjostrom to beat host England 1-0 in Group A. Finland scored twice in the first 16 minutes and held on to edge Denmark 2-1. The top two teams in each group advance to the semifinals. The final is scheduled for June 19 in Blackburn.

Three Swedish NHL players accused of rape were cleared Friday by a prosecutor who said there was no evidence they forced the woman to have sex. The 22-year-old woman said she was raped Feb. 9 in a hotel room by Kristian Huselius of the Florida Panthers, Andreas Lilja of the Nashville Predators and Henrik Tallinder of the Buffalo Sabres.

BOXING: Heriberto Ruiz of Mexico took an unanimous 10-round decision over countryman Eduardo Garcia in their super bantamweight fight at the Gold Coast Tours Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

CREW: Harvard capped its third straight undefeated season with an easy victory over Yale in the 140th Harvard-Yale Regatta, held in Ledyard, Conn. The Crimson beat their Ivy League archrival by 39.6 seconds OBITUARY: Jose Beyaert, the 1948 Olympic gold medalist in road racing and a longtime coach of Colombia's national team, died in Paris. He was 79. At the 1948 Olympics in London, Beyaert won a bronze medal in the team time trial for France as well as his gold in road racing.

CYCLING: Lance Armstrong finished seventh during the sixth stage of the Dauphine Libere in Morzine-Avoriaz, France, almost three minutes behind winner Santiago Botero. Armstrong, fourth in the overall standings, crossed the line 2:52 behind Botero, and was beaten in a sprint to the finish by Alexandre Vinokourov - likely to be a top rival at this summer's Tour de France.

SWIMMING: Michael Phelps won two events in the Counsilman Classic swimming meet, the 200-meter freestyle in 1 minute, 47.38 seconds, and the 100 butterfly in 52.87 seconds. In a matchup of Olympians, Natalie Coughlin beat Rachel Komisarz in the 200 freestyle.

USA SOFTBALL: The United States beat China 7-0 in the International Sports Invitational, held in Chula Vista, Calif. The game was called after five innings because of the mercy rule. Jessica Mendoza went 3-for-3 with a solo homer, two RBIs and three runs, and the United States opened the scoring with five unearned runs in the first.

[Last modified June 12, 2005, 00:39:15]