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Sports briefs

By Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 27, 2000

Venus keeps Seles at bay

Wimbledon champ Venus Williams extended her winning streak to four tournaments and 19 matches with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Monica Seles in the Pilot Pen final at New Haven, Conn., Saturday.

Williams broke Seles three times in the first set and kept running down deep groundstrokes that looked like winners.

Seles has not beaten Williams in four tries. She said Williams, seeded No. 3 for the U.S. Open, is definitely playing like the world's best player since Wimbledon.

"Venus is probably playing the best tennis on tour right now," Seles said. "You can't make as many unforced errors and you have to hold your serves because to break her on a consistent basis is very difficult."

Williams beat Seles in their last tournament in San Diego and has two wins over Lindsay Davenport, including the Wimbledon final. Williams' last loss was in the quarterfinals of the French Open in early June.

MORE TENNIS: Thomas Enqvist reached the final of the Hamlet Cup for the first time by beating Arnaud Clement 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 in Commack, N.Y. The third-seeded Enqvist rallied from 0-3 and 1-4 in the opening set to reach today's title match. Jan-Michael Gambill and Scott Humphries defeated Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes in the doubles semifinal 6-3, 6-2. ... Elena Likhovtseva replaced Brie Rippner in mixed doubles and led the Sacramento Capitals to their fourth straight World TeamTennis title, beating the Delaware Smash 21-20 in New York. Likhovtseva teamed with Rippner to beat Mariaan de Swardt and Lori McNeil 5-2 before defeating de Swardt 5-4 in singles. Delaware pulled even when Geoff Grant and Mike Sell won the men's doubles, downing Brian MacPhie and Richey Reneberg 5-4 (5-4) before Sell stopped MacPhie 5-2 in singles.

HORSES: Unshaded chased Albert the Great through the stretch, caught him in the final strides and won the $1-million Travers by a head at Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Belmont Stakes winner Commendable finished third, another 61/2 lengths back, and 23/4 lengths ahead of favored Dixie Union. The winner's share of $600,000 from the $1-million purse boosted Unshaded's career earnings to $1,058,648. Also at Sarasota, favored More Than Ready snapped a five-race losing streak with a 11/2-length victory in the King's Bishop over Valiant Hallory, who finished 33/4 lengths ahead of Millencolin. ... Sir Bear, who heads a field of seven entries in today's $350,000 Iselin Handicap at Monmouth Park, N.J., dumped his rider, Gus Duarte, after a jog Saturday. Neither was injured. Sir Bear is coming off a victory in the Cornhusker Breeders' Cup Handicap at Prairie Meadows and will go over the $2-million mark in career earnings with a top-four finish today. ... Express Tour breezed to victory in the Affirmed Division of the $125,000 Florida Stallion Stakes at Calder in Miami. Silk Concorde won the Susan's Girl Division for fillies. ... Tyberwood and Astreos won divisions of the $331,350 Cane Pace eliminations at Freehold (N.J.) Raceway. The Cane final is Sept. 4. ... Skimming led the entire way for a 2-length victory in the $1-million Pacific Classic at Del Mar, Calif. Tiznow finished 11/4 lengths ahead of Ecton Park. The favorite, General Challenge, came from the back of the field to finish a half-length behind Ecton Park. Jockey Corey Nakatani broke his left collarbone in a fall while riding Candance in Paris in the sixth race. The tumble came on the final turn when Candance in Paris clipped heals with Elderberry. Candance in Paris, which broke a shoulder, was destroyed. ... Trainer D. Wayne Lukas was fined $500 for what stewards called "a display of temper" after the Ballerina for fillies and mares Sunday at Saratoga Springs. Lukas claimed foul after Cash Run finished sixth, contending she was interfered with by winner Dream Supreme. After the claim was disallowed, Lukas publicly criticized the stewards' decision.

COLLEGES: Nova Southeastern went 3-0 while Presbyterian and Clarion went 2-0 in pool play in the Saint Leo Showdown volleyball tournament. Host Saint Leo lost to Nova Southeastern and beat Shaw, which was 1-2 along with North Carolina-Pembroke. Pfeiffer went 0-2 and Florida Memorial was 0-3. Saint Leo faces Pfeiffer and Presbyterian plays Clarion today, after which teams play in championship and consolation brackets.

CYCLING: Alex Zulle won the first leg of the Tour of Spain, an 8-mile time trial staged in Malaga. Defending champion Jan Ullrich finished 20th. Zulle completed the course in 17 minutes, 8 seconds, two seconds ahead of Abraham Olano. Third place went to Vitalicio rider Jan Hruska. A total of 179 riders from 20 teams are taking part in the 21-stage race. Missing is two-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who is preparing for the Sydney Olympics. Today's second stage is a 100-mile ride from Malaga to Cordoba.

ENDURANCE TEST: Jim Dreyer touched the shore at Toronto and began swimming back across Lake Ontario with a goal of reaching Niagara-on-the-Lake, N.Y., today. Dreyer, 37, began swimming Friday night after completing the first and second parts of his ultra-triathlon by running 26.2 miles and 112 miles, according to his Web site at swimjimswim.org. Dreyer's athletic tests have been to raise money for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.

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