U.S. Falls to Netherlands in Fed Cup

This is not what Martina Navratilova had in mind for her debut as coach of the U.S. Fed Cup team.

The United States, the champion of this event in 1996, was bounced out in the first round by the Netherlands after the loss of both singles matches Sunday at Haarlem, Netherlands.

Miriam Oremans routed Chanda Rubin, 6-3, 6-0, for the clinching victory after Mary Joe Fernandez was beaten by Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, 1-6, 6-4, 9-7.

After splitting Saturday’s singles in the best-of-five, two-day format, the Dutch team clinched the victory before the U.S. won the meaningless doubles match.

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Top-ranked Pete Sampras again fell behind early to a low-ranked but very game opponent, then pulled out a 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 victory over Patrick Rafter to win the Advanta Championships at Philadelphia.

It was Sampras’ 11th title in his last 18 tournaments--including the Australian Open in January.

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Goran Ivanisevic won the quickest final in ATP Tour history, making short work of Spain’s Sergi Bruguera, 6-2, 6-2, in the Italian Indoors tournament at Milan. Ivanisevic needed only 47 minutes to win his second ATP Tour title of 1997.

Motor Sports

Michael Andretti won the IndyCar series-opening CART Grand Prix of Miami driving a Swift Ford--the first victory for a U.S.-manufactured chassis since April 1983.

Andretti, driving for the Newman/Haas team, defeated Canadian Paul Tracy, who was in a Penske Mercedes-Benz, and 1996 series champion Jimmy Vasser, who drove a Reynard Honda.

Colin McRae of Britain fought stiff competition from compatriot Richard Burns to win the second leg of the 44th Safari Rally at Nairobi, Kenya. . . . Defending champion David Empringham won the season-opening event on the Indy Lights circuit, passing Mark Hotchkis on the final restart at Homestead, Fla. with only two laps remaining.

Golf

Karrie Webb’s bid to finally win a pro tournament in her homeland crumbled in the final round, enabling Gail Graham to win the $650,000 Australian Ladies Masters by one stroke at Gold Coast.

Webb went into the final round ahead by four strokes, then increased her lead to five shots by the sixth hole before her game unraveled.

The Canadian pressured Webb with birdies at the eighth, ninth and 11th holes and won for the second time in eight years on the LPGA Tour. Graham closed with a four-under-par 68 for a total of 15-under 273.

Webb bogeyed three of the last nine holes and finished with a 73.

Australian Richard Green sank a 12-foot putt to birdie the first playoff hole and win the $1.1 million Dubai Classic, defeating Greg Norman and Ian Woosnam in a three-way playoff.

Norman, Woosnam and Green, playing in only his second year on the European PGA Tour, were all 16 under after four rounds.

Winter Sports

Warwara Zelenskaja of Russia took the lead in the downhill standings and Sweden’s Pernilla Wiberg all but clinched the World Cup overall title when they finished 1-2 in a women’s downhill at Hakuba, Japan.

Rintje Ritsma of the Netherlands raced to victory in the men’s 1,500 meters at the World Cup speedskating finals and clinched the title in the event at Inzell, Germany.

Ritsma covered the distance in 1 minute 51.87 seconds to defeat fellow Dutchman Martin Hersman, who was second in 1:52.36. . . . Luc Alphand brought home his third consecutive World Cup downhill title while Norway’s Lasse Kjus posted his second victory of the season at Kvitfjell, Norway. Kjus stormed down the 2,888-yard Olympiabakken course, winning in 1:27.12 seconds, ahead of Italy’s Pietro Vitalini, second in 1:27.26. . . . Ramy Brooks of Fairbanks was the first musher to reach the Skwentna checkpoint on the first leg of the 25th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, traveling the 76 miles from Willow, Alaska, in six hours.

Miscellany

Kansas City Chief owner Lamar Hunt has taken another step toward continuity in the organization by transferring 80% of the ownership of the team to his four children. The move allows the Hunt family to avoid heavy estate taxes upon his death.

Dylan Baker of Round Rock, Texas, was pronounced dead at 10 p.m. Saturday, one day after he was hurt during the San Antonio Golden Gloves regional boxing tournament. A preliminary cause of death was a closed head injury, medical officials said. . . . With freshman Catherine Fox winning the 100-yard freestyle in a meet record 48.90 seconds, Stanford has wrapped up its 11th consecutive Pacific 10 Conference women’s swimming and diving championship at Federal Way, Wash. The Cardinal won with 1,573 points, followed by USC with 1,205 and Arizona. . . . Second-ranked UCLA beat host Minnesota, 13-5, to win the Hormel Foods Baseball Classic and give Coach Gary Adams victory No. 747, the most in Bruins’ history. . . . Shannon Miller, competing for the first time since the Olympics, was a bit rusty at the International three-on-three Gymnastics championship at Fort Worth. Miller scored a 9.175 on the balance beam, the lowest of the three women performing the event in the finals. Her team finished third to a team from China.