In brief

Top seeds all set for U.S. Open

By GREG AUMAN, Times wires
Published August 24, 2005

NEW YORK - Defending champion Roger Federer and new women's No. 1 Maria Sharapova are the top seeds for the U.S. Open, which starts Monday.

Federer is 64-3 this year with nine ATP titles and has won 28 straight matches on hardcourts. Sharapova became the first Russian woman to be No. 1 when she passed Lindsay Davenport Monday.

French Open champion Rafael Nadal, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick and Australian Open champ Marat Safin round out the men's top five. Sharapova is followed by Davenport, Amelie Mauresmo, Kim Clijsters and defending champ Svetlana Kuznetsova. The draw is today.

PILOT PEN TOURNAMENT: Davenport easily won her first full match since losing to Venus Williams in the Wimbledon final, beating Kveta Peschke 6-4, 6-1 Tuesday in New Haven, Conn.

Free-agent swingman Michael Finley met Monday in his hometown of Chicago with Heat president Pat Riley and coach Stan Van Gundy about a possible deal. Tuesday, the Suns sent a six-person delegation to Chicago to meet Finley, waived by the Mavericks last week.

WNBA: Tamika Catchings scored 18 for visiting Indiana, which beat Connecticut 69-63 to clinch homecourt in the first round of the playoffs. ... Sheri Sam and Teana Miller scored 12 apiece as host Charlotte beat Detroit 56-49. ... Chasity Melvin scored 30 to help host Washington defeat New York 82-69 in overtime. ... Yolanda Griffith had 24 points and 10 rebounds to help host Sacramento defeat Phoenix 76-70. ... Betty Lennox and Tanisha Wright scored 12 each for visiting Seattle, which clinched a playoff spot by beating San Antonio 78-51. ... Chamique Holdsclaw scored 20 to lead host Los Angeles past Minnesota 74-63.

USF sophomore Kristina Fabris, last year's Conference USA top freshman, won a gold medal Saturday as part of the Team Ontario squad in the Canada Summer Games in Saskatchewan. In the final, Fabris, of Sudbury, Ontario, had 13 kills and led Ontario with 10 digs. Also, USF will retire the No. 10 jersey of former standout Michelle Collier Saturday at the Corral in the Sun Dome. The Bulls play a USF alumni team in an exhibition at 6 that night.

Ken Schrader's Nextel Cup team and the Busch series operation owned by Rusty Wallace were punished by NASCAR for infractions at Michigan International Speedway. Schrader and car owner Beth Ann Morgenthau lost 25 points apiece and crew chief David Hyder was fined $25,000 and placed on probation until Dec. 31 for a low roof on the No. 49 Chevrolet. Wallace and driver Jeremy Mayfield lost 25 points each, and crew chief Blake Bainbridge was fined $10,000 for unapproved jacking bolts.

SOCCER: Latvia captain Vitalijs Astafjevs said players and team officials were offered large amounts of money to throw last week's World Cup qualifier against Russia, which ended in a 1-1 tie. Latvian and Russian team officials denied the allegations.

BOXING: Lingering questions about the death of Martin Sanchez after a July 1 bout in Las Vegas prompted the WBC to launch an investigation, the governing body's president said. "That life could have been saved," Jose Sulaiman said from Mexico City.

HORSES: Bellamy Road, owned by George Steinbrenner, probably will make his first start since the Kentucky Derby in Saturday's 1-million Travers Stakes, trainer Nick Zito said.

CYCLING: American Levi Leipheimer won the Tour of Germany, beating 1997 Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich by 31 seconds. Leipheimer finished the nine-stage, 945.5-mile race in 37 hours, 24 minutes and 35 seconds.

GOLF: Canadian James Lepp led stroke-play qualifying for the U.S. Amateur, following an opening 70 in Ardmore, Pa., with 5-under 65. The top 64 made the match-play portion, which starts today.

[Last modified August 24, 2005, 01:16:13]