Place an Ad Calendars Classified Forums Sports Weather

sptimes.com Text-only News sections Arts & Entertainment AP The Wire Business Citrus County Columnists Floridian Hernando County Hillsborough Letters Movies Neighborhood Times News Update North Pinellas North of Tampa Obituaries Opinion Pasco County South Pinellas Sports State Tampa Bay TV Times World & Nation  Find your local news section Weekly sections Brandon Times City Times Homes Outdoors Perspective Personal Tech Taste Travel Weekend Xpress Special Sections Arena football Buccaneers College football Devil Rays Lightning Police reports Schools Seniority Subscriber Services Subscribe Renew Help Advertise Place an ad In print Online Market Info Join Us Internships Scholarships Times Jobs Contact us

Sports briefs

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 27, 2000

Safin, youth served in Kremlin Cup victory

U.S. Open champion Marat Safin got a scare from Gianluca Pozzi -- a pro almost as long as Safin has been out of diapers -- before beating him 6-1, 7-5 Thursday in the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.

The top-seeded Russian closed the first set against the Italian in just 28 minutes, cruising on serves clocking faster than 120 mph, but Pozzi fought back in the second set. In the end, Safin won their second-round match 6-1, 7-5.

"He turned pro in 1984 and is playing old-fashioned tennis; it was difficult for me to get used to him," the 20-year-old Safin said of his opponent, 35. "I scared myself."

On the women's side, top-ranked Martina Hingis breezed past Olympic silver medalist Elena Dementieva in 14 minutes in the first set, but labored in the next two before advancing to the semifinals.

Hingis won 6-0, 6-7 (7-5), 7-5.

"At 4-4 in the decisive set, I was waiting for Hingis' faults, and it was my worst mistake in the match," Dementieva said.

Also advancing in the $2.5-million tournament was fourth-seeded Anna Kournikova, who beat wild-card Vera Zvonareva 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, to reach the tournament's quarterfinals for the first time since 1995.

Unseeded Magdalena Maleeva scored a second-round upset of third-seeded Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario 6-3, 6-2, and Amelie Mauresmo beat ex-Gator Lisa Raymond 6-2, 6-4.

MORE TENNIS: Thomas Enqvist and Lleyton Hewitt -- the top remaining seeds -- advanced to the quarterfinal of the $1-million Swiss Indoors tournament in Basel. Enqvist, seeded second and making his first appearance since injuring his foot two weeks ago, needed 70 minutes to beat Jerome Golmard 6-4, 6-2. The No. 3 seed Hewitt eliminated Andreas Vinciguerra 6-3, 7-5 in 79 minutes. ... Pete Sampras has withdrawn from the next two Tennis Masters Series events in Stuttgart and Paris. Sampras also will skip the ATP tournament beginning Nov. 6 in Lyon, France. Sampras was married earlier this month to Brigette Wilson. ... Hometown favorite Karina Habsudova upset No. 2 seed Anne Kremer 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the second round of the Eurotel Slovak Indoor tournament in Bratislava. ... John McEnroe edged Bjorn Borg 7-6 (7-0), 7-6 (7-5) on the 20th anniversary of their 1980 Wimbledon final -- a match noted for a fourth-set tiebreak. Playing in the M1 Motorola 2000 Champions Tour event at Singapore Indoor Stadium, McEnroe advanced to the final against Mats Wilander.

SOCCER: Landon Donovan had a goal and an assist in his international debut and Olympic hero Josh Wolff also scored as the United States beat Mexico 2-0 late Wednesday in an exhibition in Los Angeles. Donovan, 18, put the United States ahead in the 49th minute off a pass from Clint Mathis, who split a pair of defenders. Both teams fielded rosters of young players who had minimal international experience. ... FIFA has set the dates for its international club and country competitions in 2001, even though Japan has not agreed to host one of the events. The Confederations Cup will be held May 30-June 10.

FIGURE SKATING: China's Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao, second in the past two World Championships, led the Skate America pairs competition after the short program in Colorado Springs. Canada's Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, the 1999 Skate America winners, were second. Americans Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn were fourth. "Our goal is to keep improving," Dulebohn said. "We don't always have control of placements and results." Added Scott: "Yeah, numbers schmumbers." U.S. champions Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman were fifth. Ina slipped after the throw triple salchow. Italy's Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio led the dance event after the compulsory competition, which accountsfor 20 percent of the overall score.

CYCLING: The 2001 Tour de France is set to be the third-shortest in history at 3,462 kilometers (2,191 miles), race director Jean-Marie Leblanc announced. The 88th Tour will start July 7 in Dunkirk and finishes July 29 on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. ... Olympic gold medalist Germany held off a strong challenge from Britain to win the 4,000-meter team pursuit in the world track championship in Manchester, England. Jens Lehmann, Sebastian Siedler, Daniel Becke and Guido Fulst had a winning time of 4 minutes, 1.322 seconds. France's Marion Clignet retained the women's world points race championship with a late attack that relegated early leader Judith Arndt of Germany to second. ... A report from a prosecutor in Ferrara, Italy, includes Marco Pantani among leading Italian athletes suspected of having received the banned hormone EPO in the 1990s through a clinic run by one of Italy's leading sports doctors.

SAILING: St. Petersburg's Ed Baird meets Australia's Peter Gilmour today in the quarterfinals of the Colorcraft Gold Cup off Hamilton, Bermuda.

HOCKEY: An Illinois high school player who slammed an opponent into the boards seconds after a game ended, leaving him paralyzed, will spend two years on probation. The 16-year-old, unnamed because of his age, did not admit guilt but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict him of inflicting the injury on Neal Goss in November. He will perform 120 hours of community service, most of it at hospitals that care for paralyzed patients. A civil lawsuit between the families is pending.

COLLEGES: Gambling regulators outlined wide-ranging proposals to increase oversight of Nevada's legal bookies and ward off federal legislation to stop betting on college sports. Gaming commission chairman Brian Sandoval said the proposals will be aired at a series of meetings starting Nov. 16 in Las Vegas, and he hopes the NCAA will participate. ... The Division I Management Council passed on to the membership for discussion a proposal that would shorten the basketball schedule. The proposal, one of more than 100 acted on Wednesday and Thursday, was sent on without endorsement, meaning the expected end to exempt tournaments such as the Preseason NIT, the Maui Invitational and the Great Alaska Shootout may not happen. The Council gives final consideration at its April 2001 meeting. ... The Miami women's team was picked to finish ninth among the 14 teams in the Big East in the coaches' preseason poll.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

Gary Shelton