Graf Finishes Tuneup With Strasbourg Title

One week after suffering her worst defeat of her tennis career, Steffi Graf appears to have regained her forehand stroke in the final tuneup for the French Open.

Graf beat 15-year-old Mirjana Lucic of Croatia, 6-2, 7-5, Saturday in the final of the Strasbourg Open in France for her first victory of the year.

Lucic lost for the first time in her second pro tournament. Lucic won the Bol Open in Croatia last month in her first official pro tournament, and had won her first 15 matches on the WTA tour.

Graf struggled to earn her 103rd victory.

“I started to make a few mistakes on my forehand . . .,” Graf said. “When she led 4-2, I started playing well again.”

Graf is now 12-2 this year after being out of tournament play from February until last week. She suffered the worst loss of her career to Amanda Coetzer, 6-0, 6-1, in the German Open.

Graf is bidding for her sixth French Open championship, and third in a row, in the tournament beginning Monday.

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Bothered by an injured right foot, top-seeded Monica Seles was no match for No. 2 Jana Novotna, who successfully defended her Madrid Open clay court title with a 7-5, 6-1 victory in Spain.

Novotna has beaten Seles in four of their last seven meetings.

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Marcelo Filippini of Uruguay defeated Patrick Rafter of Australia, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, to win the Raifeissen Grand Prix clay court championship and earn his fifth ATP title at St. Poelten, Austria. . . . Spain defeated the Netherlands, 2-1, in the World Team Cup at Duesseldorf, Germany, setting up a championship match against Australia.

Auto Racing

Joe Nemechek, who has struggled with the death of his brother and lackluster performances by his Winston Cup team this season, cruised to an impressive victory in the Carquest Auto Parts 300 Busch Grand National race at Charlotte Motor Speedway at Concord, N.C.

Nemechek, who drove a Chevrolet, led for 134 of the 200 laps, including the final 69 to beat Kevin Lepage by 1.64 seconds, or about 150 yards on the 1 1/2-mile speedway. Nemechek, the former Grand National series champion and rookie of the year, ended a winless streak of 30 races. His Winston Cup team is struggling at 37th in the points standings.

“Losing my best friend, my brother, part of our family--to come back here to victory lane, I just wish he was here with me,” Nemechek said.

Nemechek’s younger brother John Nemechek died in March after suffering massive brain injuries in a NASCAR truck-racing crash in Florida.

World champion Tommi Makkinen of Finland won his second consecutive Tour of Argentina rally at Cordoba, Argentina, and is well on his way to winning his second championship in a row.

Makkinen, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV, was timed in 4 hours 25 minutes 38 seconds in the 261-mile third and final leg, with an average speed of 59.1 mph.

Rookie Tony Raines registered his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory at Odessa, Mo., winning the $316,384 Western Auto Parts America 200. It was Dodge’s first major NASCAR triumph in nearly 20 years.

Raines led 149 of the 200 laps around the I-70 Speedway, a 0.543-mile oval.

Rookie Lee Bentham of Toronto earned his first PPG-Firestone Indy Lights Championship victory at Madison, Ill., when he won a rain-shortened race at the new Gateway International Raceway. Bentham took the lead on lap 24 of the race that was cut to 56 laps. He went to the front when early leader Mark Hotchkis of Pasadena, slowed with a transmission problem. . . . Dean Hubbs died from a crash after his car was sideswiped during a IMCA modified feature race at Brewerton Speedway in New York. He was 59. . . . Williams-Renault teammates Jacques Villeneuve and Heinz-Harald Frentzen recovered from poor showings in their previous race to gain the front row in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona. Villeneuve was timed in 1:16.525 over the 2.937-mile Catalunya Circuit. Frentzen’s best was 1:16.791. . . . Derek Hill, the 22-year-old son of 1961 world champion Phil Hill, won the pole position for Monday’s Barber Dodge Pro Series race at Lime Rock, Conn. Hill averaged 102.288 mph on the 1.54-mile road course.

Miscellany

Lawsuits by disappointed Olympic vendors could cost the city of Atlanta more than the $2.5 million it made renting them space to sell their wares, according to Robb Pitts, Atlanta city councilman. “In the worst-case scenario, we are approaching $50 million in liability with respect to the various suits that have been filed,” Pitts said.

Princeton, striving to become the first unbeaten NCAA lacrosse champion since North Carolina in 1991, will play Maryland in Monday’s national championship. The Tigers (14-0) scored three times in a 98-second span of the fourth quarter for a 10-9 victory over Duke (12-4). Maryland (11-4) was an 18-17 winner over Syracuse (11-3) in the other semifinal game.