France Leads Sweden in Davis Cup

France combined the old and the new to win the doubles match in the Davis Cup final Saturday and take a 2-1 lead over Sweden in Malmo, Sweden.

Guy Forget teamed with newcomer Guillaume Raoux to beat Jonas Bjorkman and Nicklas Kulti, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.

“Guy and Guillaume are two very different players and they complement each other very well,” French captain Yannick Noah said. “Guy has the experience in the Davis Cup. Guillaume is a new, enthusiastic player with a lot of energy.”

Thomas Enqvist will play Cedric Pioline in a match between both countries’ No. 1 players in the first singles today.

Stefan Edberg, who lost the first match to Pioline after twisting his right ankle, is a doubtful starter in the final match. Edberg is retiring after the Davis Cup.

Baseball

Former Dodger pitcher Don Sutton, pitcher Phil Niekro and slugger Tony Perez head the Hall of Fame ballot mailed to more than 450 members of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Niekro was last year’s top vote-getter when the writers failed to elect any players to the Hall of Fame for the first time in 25 years.

Eight players are eligible for the first time: outfielders Dave Parker, Dwight Evans, Ken Griffey and Terry Puhl, pitchers Mike Scott and Rick Reuschel, catcher Terry Kennedy and shortstop Garry Templeton.

The Hall of Fame announcement will be made Jan. 6.

Golf

Nick Price, winless this year, now has a shot at winning the biggest prize in golf.

Price fired eight birdies en route to a six-under 66 and a first-place tie with Ian Woosnam of Wales after three rounds of the Million Dollar Challenge in Sun City, South Africa.

Australian Peter Senior shot a three-under 69 to join Jerry Kelly and Michael Long of New Zealand for a share of the third-round lead in the Greg Norman Holden Classic in Melbourne, Australia.

Winter Sports

Ekaterina Gordeeva returned to skate in Lake Placid, N.Y., for the first time since her husband and figure skating partner, Sergei Grinkov, died there one year ago.

Gordeeva performed in a Stars on Ice preview show that also featured Kristi Yamaguchi, Scott Hamilton and Paul Wylie.

Grinkov was practicing at the Olympic facilities at Lake Placid when he collapsed and later died from heart failure. He was 28.

A gold medal by luge doubles racers Chris Thorpe and Gordy Sheer capped the best performance ever by the United States in World Cup history. American racers, for the first time, recorded medals in all three disciplines at the same competition. Thorpe and Sheer were joined on the podium by singles races Duncan Kennedy and Cammy Myler, both of whom won bronze medals at Sigulda, Latvia.

Fredrik Nyberg of Sweden overtook first-run leader Urs Kaelin of Switzerland in a giant slalom at Breckenridge, Colo. Nyberg had the third-fastest second run to finish with a combined time of 2 minutes, 11.83 seconds. . . . Katja Seizinger of Germany earned her fourth victory of the World Cup season, winning the women’s downhill in 1:41.91 at Lake Louise, Canada. American Picabo Street finished fourth . . . Dieter Thoma of Germany won the ski jumping World Cup season opener in Lillehammer, Norway. Thoma had two 128.5-meter jumps for 263.6 points. . . . Pierre Lueders of Canada earned his second consecutive World Cup victory in the two-man bobsled with a time of 2:00.50 seconds for the two runs in La Plagne, France. . . . Chinese speedskater Yang Yang broke the women’s world 500-meter record by seven one-hundredths of a second, clocking 45.18 seconds at an international short-track competition in Beijing. . . . Dutchman Ids Postma skated a new track record of 1:52.08 to win the 1,500 meters in World Cup speedskating at Heerenveen, Netherlands.

Miscellany

Johnny Tapia stalked Nicaragua’s Adonis Cruz for 12 rounds, delivering enough jabs and combinations to retain his World Boxing Organization junior bantamweight title with a unanimous decision at Albuquerque. . . . John Williamson, a flashy guard who played on two New Jersey Nets’ ABA championship teams during the 1970s, died at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He was 44. . . . The academic record of Stephen Gaines is being scrutinized because the former Texas Tech defensive lineman received credit for four recreation courses in one semester that normally take several semesters to complete. . . . USC plays Stanford today at 3 p.m. in the championship match of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation water polo tournament at Cal.