Seles Sharp in Tuneup on Grass

It has been four years since Monica Seles played at Wimbledon, and Saturday she finished her preparation for grass-court tennis’ most important fortnight by defeating Mary Joe Fernandez, 6-0, 6-2, in 45 minutes in the final of the Eastbourne tournament in England.

Seles won the first 11 points and 20 of the first 22. Though she has an ailing shoulder and is not in the best of shape, Seles swept through this tournament without losing a set.

“I played some of my best tennis today, because I wasn’t making too many unforced errors,” said Seles, who won her 36th singles title. “I was going for my shots.”

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Fifth-seeded Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands defeated unseeded Australian Sandon Stolle, 6-3, 7-6 (7-0), in a windy final of the Nottingham Open grass-court tournament in England.

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Second-seeded Anke Huber of Germany won the first grass-court title of her career, beating Helene Sukova of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), in the finals of the Wilkinson Lady Championships in Rosmalen, Netherlands.

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Niklas Kulti of Sweden defeated American Richey Reneberg, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (12-10), in a nearly two-hour semifinal at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany. Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the French Open winner, limped through three sets and twice needed treatment, but beat Daniel Vacek of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, in the other match.

Basketball

Reports published in the Arizona Republic and Fort Worth Star-Telegram say the Phoenix Suns have offered Charles Barkley, 33, to the Dallas Mavericks for guard Jimmy Jackson, 26, and Dallas’ first-round choice in Wednesday’s NBA draft.

Suns’ officials labeled the stories as “speculation,” and Keith Grant, Maverick player personnel director, refused to confirm or deny the reports.

Another Phoenix player, guard Kevin Johnson, has told the Suns he’s willing to be traded for the last year of his contract if it would help the team.

Johnson, who has been limited to an average of 55 games over the last four seasons because of injuries, reportedly will earn $7 million on the last year of his contract, which has a no-trade clause.

Former Massachusetts Coach John Calipari gave three tickets to the Final Four to an alleged ticket scalper who was linked to organized crime and banned from working in Las Vegas casinos, the Boston Globe reported.

Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show that Calipari, the new coach of the New Jersey Nets, gave the tickets to Michael Toney, a former host at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas and longtime friend of former Nevada Las Vegas Coach Jerry Tarkanian.

UNLV Coach Bill Bayno has received a four-year contract extension, with a 10% raise to $110,000. . . . Iowa State Coach Tim Floyd has suspended leading scorer Dedric Willoughby and starting forward Shawn Bankhead one game each for missing classes this summer.

Auto Racing

Alex Zanardi, a former Formula One driver from Italy, used a fast late lap of 117.209 mph in a Reynard-Honda to take the pole position for today’s Budweiser-G.I. Joe’s 200, a CART Indy car race at Portland, Ore.

Busch Grand National series points-leader David Green took advantage of brother Jeff’s misfortune to win the Carolina Pride-Advance Auto 250 race at Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Jeff Green had been leading, but had to pit during a caution period, and David took over the lead and won by 0.95 seconds over second-place Jeff Purvis, earning $22,375 and averaging 71.049 mph on the 0.538-mile track.

Blaine Johnson (top fuel), John Force (funny car) and Rickie Smith (pro stock) are No. 1 in their respective divisions for today’s eliminations in the NHRA Pennzoil Nationals at Millington, Tenn.

Driver Alessandro Zampedri was released from an Indianapolis hospital, 28 days after a crash on the final lap of the Indianapolis 500 nearly severed his left foot.

Miscellany

Patrick Muturi, a Washington State student from Kenya, passed up virtually every water station and pulled away in the final six miles to win the Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn., in 2 hours 13 minutes 43 seconds. The women’s race was won by Mary Alico of Orlando, Fla., in 2:32:42.

Five players on the Rwandan national soccer team deserted in France on the way home from a World Cup qualifying match, state-run radio reported in Kigali, Rwanda. The players’ identities and whereabouts were not released.

Southland Report

The 11th annual Cedars-Sinai Sports Spectacular will salute Olympic golf-medalist Rafer Johnson, Dodger pitcher Hideo Nomo, No. 1 NFL draft choice Keyshawn Johnson and the Galaxy soccer team tonight at the Century Plaza Hotel. Ticket information: (310) 855-3664.

The Los Angeles Athletic Club will play host to the FIN International Squash Grand Prix, beginning Tuesday.