Graf Regains Focus, Wins Tournament

Steffi Graf won the $800,000 Advanta Championships in Philadelphia, defeating Lori McNeil, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, in the final on Sunday.

In tuning up for this week’s Women’s Tennis Assn. Tour Championships in New York, Graf won her eighth title this year and improved her match record to 43-2.

Struggling with a back injury and her father jailed in Germany on tax-evasion charges, Graf acknowledged it has been difficult to maintain her focus on tennis.

“It has been an incredible year,” Graf said. “There have just been so many difficult tournaments and difficult circumstances.”

McNeil, now ranked No. 63, had her opportunities. In her first service game, she led, 40-30, but lost on the first of five double faults. Graf broke in the third game and in the fourth, McNeil led, 40-15, but lost her serve again.

In the next set, McNeil broke three times and Graf lost only her eighth set of the year.

In the third set, McNeil was ahead, 40-30, but mis-hit an overhead and went on to lose the game and trail, 3-0. Then down, 4-3, she missed another overhead leading, 15-40, then lost the game. McNeil’s backhand volley hit the net cord at championship point and Graf had another title, and $148,500.

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Germany’s Carl Uwe-Steeb beat Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic, 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), to win the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. . . . Thomas Enqvist held off Arnaud Boetsch, 7-5, 6-4, to become the first native of Sweden to win the Stockholm Open.

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Keri Phebus of UCLA defeated Vicky Maes of Arizona, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, in the final of the Rolex-ITA Southern California Women’s Tennis Regionals at UC Irvine. In the doubles final, Isabela Petrov and Angela Lawrence of Pepperdine defeated Stephanie Landsdorp and Katy Propstra of Arizona State, 2-6, 7-5, 6-0.

Golf

Americans Davis Love III and Fred Couples won the World Cup of Golf in Shenzhen, China, for a record fourth consecutive year, winning by a 14-shot margin.

The race for individual honors was tighter. Love won in a playoff with Japan’s Hisayuki Sasaki when Sasaki bogeyed the fifth extra hole. Both finished the regulation 72 holes in 21-under-par 267.

Love shot six birdies Sunday in a round of five-under 67. Couples added a 69, giving the Americans a four-day aggregate of 33-under 543, easily outdistancing the Australian team of Brett Ogle and Robert Allenby.

Jim Colbert sank a 20-foot birdie putt on the next-to-last hole to defeat Ray Floyd by a stroke and win the Senior Tour Championship in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Colbert finished with a two-over 74 for a 282 total. He won for the fourth time and moved past Dave Stockton for the money title with a tour-record $1,444,386.

Liselotte Neumann of Sweden birdied the final three holes and won the Women’s Australian Open golf title in Melbourne, on the third playoff hole.

Neumann needed the three birdies to join countrywoman and defending champion Annika Sorenstam and American Jane Geddes in a tie at nine-under 283.

On the third playoff hole, Neumann hit a perfect drive and hit a fairway wood to within 20 feet. Her eagle opportunity missed by eight inches but she safely tapped in for a birdie and the title.

College Football

Lloyd Carr, the interim coach who has guided Michigan to an 8-2 record, will be hired as the Wolverines’ permanent coach today, the Associated Press reported.

Carr was given the job last spring after Gary Moeller was forced to resign, following a drunken incident in a suburban Detroit restaurant.

No. 2 Ohio State widened its lead over No. 3 Florida in the Associated Press poll, while Nebraska remained No. 1 for the third consecutive week.

While the first-place totals were the same, the gap between Ohio State and Florida increased from six to 18 points. The Buckeyes increased their lead over the Gators from five to 23 points in the USA Today-CNN coaches’ poll.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Tennessee (8-1), Northwestern (9-1), Florida State (8-1), Kansas State (9-1), Notre Dame (8-2), Colorado (8-2) and Texas (7-1-1). USC (8-1-1) is 11th.

Miscellany

Orel Hershiser, Joe Orsulak and Jody Reed became free agents, increasing the total to 138 on the final day of filing in baseball.

Three players eligible didn’t file: Detroit’s Alan Trammell, the New York Yankees’ Darryl Strawberry and St. Louis’ Ozzie Smith.

Terms of the deal outfielder Marquis Grissom signed with the Atlanta Braves were revealed. He will get a $19.2-million, four-year contract.

UCLA won its second Mountain Pacific Soccer Federation title and earned an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament by defeating Fresno State, 1-0, in the championship game. Bruin forward Ante Razov scored at 31:44. Chris Snitko was the goalkeeper for the Bruins.

The UC San Diego women’s soccer team won the NCAA Division III championship, defeating Methodist, N.C., 3-0, in Pomona, N.J.

Abderrazak Haki and Christine McNamara won the men’s and women’s divisions of the Columbus Marathon in Columbus, Ohio, in a race marred by the death of a competitor. Joseph Baschnagel, 54, of Canfield, Ohio, suffered a heart attack after crossing the finish line.

Boxer Peter McNeeley, who landed in the spotlight last August when he lost to Mike Tyson, was arrested on a felony assault charge in Boston. McNeeley has been accused of hitting Aldo Hernandez of Revere, Mass., in the forehead with a bottle during a dispute, police spokesman Brendan Flynn said.

Michael Von Gruenigen of Switzerland started the World Cup ski season with a victory in a men’s giant slalom in Tignes, France. Von Gruenigen won in 2 minutes 21.38 seconds. Norway’s Lasse Kjus was second at 2:21.42, with Switzerland’s Urs Kaelin third in 2:21.68.