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Henin-Hardenne advances easily

By wire services
Published April 12, 2006

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Top seed Justine Henin-Hardenne took the first step toward defending her Family Circle Cup title Tuesday by beating Sybille Bammer 6-2, 6-3 in the second round.

Henin-Hardenne also won the title in 2003 and has never lost at the tournament.

Third seed Patty Schnyder advanced with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Meilen Tu.

Catalina Castano came from 5-1 down to beat No. 5 seed Nicole Vaidisova 7-5 6-2. Castano lost five straight games but then won 10 in a row to go up 7-5, 4-0 before the 16-year-old finally held serve.

In first-round matches, No. 9 Anabel Medina Garrigues needed nine breaks to prevail against Mariana Diaz-Oliva 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 and qualifier Julia Vakulenko upset 10th-seeded Jelena Jankovic 7-6 (7-5), 7-5. Jankovic has lost eight in a row, including three to qualifiers, since the Serb won her season-opening match at the Australian Open in January.

Other first-round winners included No. 11 Katarina Srebotnik and No. 12 Marion Bartoli, but No. 15 Kveta Peschke lost to Jamea Jackson 6-4, 6-3.

VALENCIA OPEN: Top seed Nikolay Davydenko and defending champion Igor Andreev lost in the first round in Spain. Davydenko was broken six times by Jan Hernych and lost 7-5, 7-5; Andreev, the No. 5 seed, lost 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 to Marat Safin. Safin, a former U.S. and Australian Open champion, is rebounding from knee surgery.

Tony Meola's 100th international appearance didn't go quite as he hoped - but at least he didn't lose. Ben Olsen tied it in the 25th minute off a record-setting assist from Landon Donovan as the United States drew 1-1 against Jamaica in Cary, N.C., in the final exhibition before coach Bruce Arena chooses his 23-man World Cup roster. Donovan's 23rd career assist moved him ahead of Cobi Jones for the most in national team history.

BOMB REPAIR: World governing body FIFA will pay to repair a field in the Palestinian-run Gaza Strip that was damaged during a bombing. No casualties were reported in the April 1 airstrike, which reportedly left a large crater. The Israeli military said the strike was aimed to deter possible attacks after an increase in rocket launches from Gaza.

The PGA Tour event in Hartford landed a new title sponsor and a spot on the FedEx Cup portion of the schedule starting in 2007. The Hartford tournament, which began in 1952, was not included in the main segment of the PGA Tour's new schedule and was either going to be made a secondary "Fall Series" event or transform into a Champions Tour event. But it got a reprieve when 84 Lumber stopped sponsoring an event in Pennsylvania, allowing Hartford and sponsor St. Paul Travelers to fill the summer vacancy.

Chad Norris, crew chief for Matt Kenseth's Busch Series car, was fined $10,000 and suspended for three races on because Kenseth's car failed its postrace inspection at Texas Motor Speedway because the quarter panels were too high. Kenseth, who finished fifth in Saturday's race, was penalized 25 points and Jack Roush lost 25 car owner points. ... NASCAR fined Domenick Turse, crew chief for part-time Nextel Cup driver Derrike Cope, $50,000 for an unapproved intake manifold on the No. 74 Dodge at Texas. Cope and car owner Ray McGlynn were each docked 25 points.

Champion Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo will fight for the WBC lightweight title June 3 in Las Vegas. The fighters have split two previous meetings. Corrales won their first bout on a 10th-round TKO that gave him the WBC title in May 2005 in Las Vegas. Castillo won the rematch five months later with a fourth-round knockout. But Corrales earned the WBC title when Castillo failed to make the 135-pound limit and one of his camp members was caught trying to tamper with the scale at the weigh-in.

BASKETBALL: Tina Thompson led all scorers with 28 points to lead the United States past Taiwan 91-66 at a four-nation tournament in Canberra, Australia. The Americans face Australia today.

OLYMPICS: U.S. Olympic Committee chief operating officer Wallace Gregson resigned to pursue other professional interests.

[Last modified April 12, 2006, 01:07:16]