Hingis Hangs On, Makes It to Indoor Final

Martina Hingis of Switzerland defeated third-seeded Anke Huber of Germany, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) Saturday to advance to the final of the European Indoors tennis tournament at Zurich, Switzerland.

Hingis, seeded fifth, will play fourth-seeded Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic in today’s final. Novotna upset second-seeded defending champion Iva Majoli, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, in the other semifinal.

Hingis, 16, won her first tournament title last Sunday and breezed through the early rounds of the Zurich tournament and spent less than an hour on court in her three previous matches. She needed one hour 50 minutes to defeat Huber.

After surging to a 6-1 lead in the tiebreaker, Hingis let five match points slip through her fingers as Huber tied the score, 6-6. Supported by the crowd, Hingis won the next two points to close the match.

“I was up 6-1 and thought there was no way I’d lose,” Hingis said. “Normally, you should be able to get one out of five shots.

“But at 6-6, I got really nervous. I thought if I lose this point I’ll crush my racket in a thousand pieces.”

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Vincent Spadea, a late replacement for ailing fellow American Richey Reneberg, defeated Sweden’s Jonas Bjorkman, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, to reach the final of the Marlboro Championships at Hong Kong. Spadea will play Patrick Rafter of Australia today. Spadea was put into the semifinals after fourth-seeded Reneberg pulled out an hour before the match because of a stomach virus.

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Unseeded David Prinosil of Germany upset Tim Henman of Britain, 6-4, 6-3, to advance to the final of the Czech Indoor tournament at Ostrava, Czec Republic. Petr Korda of the Czech Republic beat countryman Martin Damm, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, in the other semifinal.

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Magnus Larsson gained his first final in 18 months when he beat top-seeded Marcelo Rios of Chile, 6-4, 6-4, in the Toulouse Grand Prix at Toulouse, France. Larsson will meet Mark Philippoussis, who rallied past fellow Australian Mark Woodforde, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (9-7).

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South African Marcos Ondrussa, ranked 121st in the world, saved three match points to upset second-seeded Albert Costa of Spain, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6, (7-4), in the semifinals of the Israel Open at Ramat-Hasharon.

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Top-seeded Kathrin Keil defeated Kristi Noble, 6-1, 6-4, at San Antonio to defend her USTA Women’s 30 Hard Courts title.

Baseball

Cleveland Indian designated hitter Kevin Seitzer underwent successful surgery to his left knee, removing floating cartilage, the team said. He is expected to begin rehabilitation immediately and be ready for spring training.

The Cincinnati Reds hired Al Goldis as senior director of scouting and player development and Bob Zuk as senior advisor for baseball operations.

Motor Racing

Mark Martin earned his sixth Busch Grand National Series victory of the season and second in a row at the North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, N.C. He passed Dale Jarrett for the lead with 15 laps remaining in the AC-Delco 200.

It was Martin’s 13th Busch Series start of the 26-race season.

Seventy cars set off from Hong Kong on the first leg of the 2,356-mile Hong Kong-Beijing Rally, the last time the event will be held.

Leading the drivers as they roared off from Stonecutter’s island was defending champion Kenneth Eriksson of Sweden and his co-driver, Staffan Parmander.

Organizers said next year’s race will be shortened to a three-day competition under the World Rally Championship format.

Defending champion Matt Wait held off Dave Estook by less than a bike length to win the first round of the Harley-Davidson Twin Sports World Final for motorcycles at Daytona Beach, Fla.

Waitt averaged 96.748 mph for seven laps around Daytona International Speedway’s 3.56-mile road course on his Harley-Davidson 883 to edge Estook.

Following technical inspection, Wait and Black were penalized for having engine horsepower in excess of the allowable 65-horsepower limit.

The order of finish was not changed, but Wait and Black were penalized the points and money they earned in the chase, ending Wait’s chance of defending his crown in today’s final round.

Alex Criville of Spain failed to improve his time but held onto the pole position after the final qualifying session for today’s 500cc race at the Australian Grand Prix meet at Sydney.

Boxing

Canadian Shawn O’Sullivan, 34, announced he will return to the ring after a four-year absence.

O’Sullivan, an Olympic silver medal winner in 1984, plans to take on American Frank Newton on Nov. 2. O’Sullivan won his first 11 fights as a professional, but that streak ended June 8, 1986, against Simon Brown.

Former British champion Chris Eubank returned to the ring with a fifth-round knockout of Argentina’s Luis Barrera at Cairo, Egypt, after a year’s absence.

South Africa’s Phillip Holiday outpointed Mexico’s Joel Diaz to retain the International Boxing Federation lightweight title at Johannesburg, South Africa.

Samarn Sor Jaturong of Thailand knocked out Chilean challenger Ally Galvez in the second round to retain his WBC light flyweight title at Bangkok, Thailand. It was Samarn’s fifth defense of his title.

Jurisprudence

The Fort Wayne, Ind., Journal Gazette sued Purdue University, alleging it was improperly denied access to records internal and NCAA investigations.

The lawsuit asks that a judge order Purdue to turn over the records, which The Journal Gazette claims are public under Indiana law.