Sports: Sports briefs

Sports briefs

By STEVE LEE, Times wires

Rubin, Raymond round out U.S. Fed Cup team

Chanda Rubin and Lisa Raymond will join Lindsay Davenport and Monica Seles on the United States Fed Cup tennis team for the semifinals against Belgium on Nov. 22.

Rubin, No. 11 in the WTA singles rankings, has a 4-2 record in Fed Cup singles matches and a 1-0 mark in doubles play. She won her third career title last weekend at the Bell Challenge in Quebec City.

Raymond, the fifth-ranked women's doubles player and a former Florida standout, has an 0-2 singles record and a 2-1 doubles record in Fed Cup matches. She won her first Grand Slam doubles title with Rennae Stubbs at the Australian Open this year.

The winner of the U.S., Belgium matches plays the winner of the other semifinal between Spain and the Czech Republic in the final on Nov. 24-25.

The Fed Cup is an annual international team competition similar to the men's Davis Cup.

MORE TENNIS: Top-ranked Martina Hingis beat Anna Kournikova 6-4, 6-0 to advance to the semifinals of the Advanta Championship in Villanova, Pa. In the semifinals, Hingis faces No. 4-seed Nathalie Tauziat, who beat Julie Halard-Decugis 6-4, 6-4. In the other quarterfinals, Davenport, the defending champion, beat seventh-seeded Amanda Coetzer 6-1, 1-6, 6-1, and third-seeded Conchita Martinez defeated Holly Parkinson 6-2, 6-0. ... Top-seeded Marat Safin and No. 2 seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov advanced to the semifinals of the $800,000 St. Petersburg Open in Russia. While Kafelnikov won easily, 6-3, 6-3 against Alex Calatrava, Safin struggled to beat Rainer Schuettler 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. In the semifinals, Kafelnikov faces Dominik Hrbaty, who beat Vladimir Voltchkov 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Safin plays Jonas Bjorkman, who defeated Jared Palmer 6-1, 6-3. ... No. 8 seed Patrick Rafter made short work of top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten, ousting him 6-3, 6-4 in 96 minutes from the quarterfinals of the $800,000 Lyon Grand Prix in France. Earlier, second-seeded Andre Agassi beat Karol Kucera 6-1, 7-5. ... Amelie Mauresmo became the fifth player to withdraw from the season-ending Chase Championships, which begin Monday at Madison Square Garden in New York. Mauresmo cited a leg injury. Earlier, sisters Venus and Serena Williams, Mary Pierce and Anke Huber pulled out with injuries.

COLLEGE BASEBALL: Land O'Lakes High School players Brian and Jeff Baisley signed letters of intent with South Florida. The twins, who helped Land O'Lakes win consecutive district championships, are among five former Gators to sign with the Bulls, but might be the first to play for the Division I school. Three others -- brother Brad Baisley, Kurt Shafer and Derek Thompson -- signed with major-league teams. Brian, a catcher-first baseman, led Land O'Lakes in hitting (.446) and RBI (27) and had seven home runs last season. Jeff, a shortstop-pitcher, batted .356 with four homers and 16 RBI. ... Hawaii pitching coach Carl Furutani was appointed interim coach while Les Murakami recovers from a stroke.

COLLEGES: Outside hitter Michelle Collier broke her school record with 41 kills as South Florida's volleyball team topped Louisville 8-15, 16-14, 15-11, 15-6 in Tampa to clinch the National Division title in Conference USA. ... Florida State soccer player Emma Breland was named one of nine finalists for Soccer Buzz freshman of the year. ... Florida's Nathan Overholser and Olivier Levant were named the national doubles team of the month by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. ... Tampa hosts the NCAA Division II South Region volleyball tournament. The Spartans are the top seed; the other five schools will be announced Monday. ... Whitney Code of Tampa signed a letter of intent with the Florida women's golf team.

OLYMPICS: Two Romanian weightlifters who passed independent drug tests after testing positive before the Sydney Games have no chance of overturning their bans, weightlifting officials said. Adrian Mateas and Traian Ciharean tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone in pre-Olympic drug tests and face lifetime suspensions. The two were expelled from the Olympic Village before the Sept. 15 Opening Ceremony and did not compete. ... Scott Blackmun, acting chief executive officer of the U.S. Olympic Committee, was given full authority in personnel and financial matters, but a decision on his permanent status is on hold. The USOC elects a new Executive Committee next month, and it will be up to that group to decide whether to keep Blackmun or search for a new CEO.

HORSES: The trifecta in the fifth race at Churchill Downs paid a track-record $55,902.40. Selassie, 24-1 shot ridden by Calvin Borel, romped to a 71/4-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile race on a muddy track. Quick Tip, with odds of 16-1, finished second, and Tijuana Brass, at 70-1, was third. Six dollars in winning tickets were sold on the combination of 10-6-3, with a $2-dollar ticket sold at Churchill, and $1-tickets sold in Nevada, New Jersey, Sam Houston Park and Keeneland. The payoff surpassed the record of $52,612.60 set May 14. ... A chestnut filly by Tale of the Cat brought a top price of $975,000 during Keeneland's November Breeding Stock Sale.

FIGURE SKATING: Former world champion Maria Butyrskaya held off a challenge by teenager Sarah Hughes to win the women's short program at the Nations Cup competition in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Yevgeny Plushchenko hit a quadruple jump to beat Tom Goebel in the men's short program. Butyrskaya, who defeated Michelle Kwan for the world title in 1999, held a narrow lead with first-place votes spread among the top five women. Hughes, 15, and Sasha Cohen, 16, who finished behind Kwan at the U.S. Championships, were second and fourth, respectively, behind Butyrskaya, with Vanessa Gusmeroli third. Butyrskaya made two mistakes on jumps, but her presentation scores were up to 5.9, enabling her to beat Hughes, who did each of her required elements cleanly.

CRICKET: Bowler Kerry Jeremy will remain with the West Indies squad on its Australia tour after surgery on his broken jaw, manager Ricky Skerritt said. A replacement won't be called. Jeremy, 20, was hit under his left cheekbone by a bouncer from Western Australia paceman Matthew Nicholson on Thursday's opening day of their four-day match in Perth. After having two plates inserted in his jaw, he could play again in two weeks, Skerritt said. ... West Indies batsman Brian Lara asked anti-corruption officials for an early hearing into allegations against him so he can prove his innocence. Lara was accused by an Indian bookmaker of taking $40,000 for playing badly in two one-day internationals in 1994.

MEMORABLILIA: Two brothers who led a ring that distributed forged sports and celebrity memorabilia around the United States are facing more than three years in prison each. Gregory and John Marino were sentenced this week in a San Diego federal court. In April, they and three other family members pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and tax evasion. They were among 25 people charged after an investigation into the sports and celebrity memorabilia business dubbed Operation Bullpen. Fake items seized by authorities bore the names of figures such as Mark McGwire, Michael Jordan, Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln and Jerry Garcia. Even a baseball supposedly signed by Mother Teresa was found.