Rios and Corretja in Finals

Get used to these names: Marcelo Rios and Alex Corretja. One of them could be the next Grand Slam champion.

For the second time in three weeks, they have reached a major clay-court final and established themselves as top contenders for the French Open starting May 26.

Spain’s Corretja, who is seeded 10th and has emerged as the most consistent clay-court player of the season, outplayed No. 6 Goran Ivanisevic, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4), at the Italian Open in Rome on Saturday to reach his fourth final of the year.

Rios, the No. 7 seed from Chile, recovered from a breakdown in the third set and won six consecutive games to beat Spain’s Alberto Berasategui, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, and confirm his status as one of the sport’s rising stars.

Today’s final will be a rematch of last month’s championship match at the Monte Carlo Open, which Rios won in three sets.

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Mary Pierce, who won the Italian Open last week, beat Amanda Coetzer to advance into today’s final of the $927,000 German Open in Berlin. Pierce will meet Mary Joe Fernandez, who beat second-seeded Jana Novotna.

Motor Racing

Elliott Sadler set a track record in taking the pole position for today’s CoreStates Advantage 200 at Nazareth, Pa. . . . Tony Raines used an outside pass with 39 laps remaining to hold off Mike Miller and Harold Fair to win the AC Delco Challenge Series Jennerstown (Pa.) 300.

Pro Football

The Oakland Raiders, who have spent much of the spring stockpiling offensive linemen, signed free-agent guard Lester Holmes, who started 14 games for Philadelphia last season.

Brett Favre’s agent says he expects the quarterback to attend Green Bay’s mini-camp next month and training camp in July even if he doesn’t have a new contract, despite two recent news reports that suggested that he may sit out in protest.

Miscellany

Oklahoma City won its fourth consecutive NAIA championship with a 12-0 victory over Athens State at Decatur, Ala.

Norm Duke ended a two-year drought on the Pro Bowlers Assn. tour by defeating Bob Learn Jr., 279-203, to win the Foresters Open at Mississauga, Ontario.

Luisito Espinosa of the Philippines retained his World Boxing Council featherweight title when his fight with Manuel Medina was stopped in the eighth round because the champion was bleeding from a head butt at Manila. Espinosa was ruled the winner because he was ahead on the judges’ cards.

Names in the News

King General Manager Dave Taylor, who was drafted in 1975 by the Kings after an All-American career at Clarkson University, will receive an honorary doctorate degree in science today from his alma mater in Potsdam, N.Y.

Daniel Santiago, a 7-foot-1 center, is leaving the University of New Mexico, where he has played sparingly over two seasons, to transfer to Fort Hays State. . . Mario Cipollini won the opening stage of the Tour of Italy cycling race.