Pierce Upsets Davenport for Another Shot at Title

One thing is missing from Mary Pierce’s impressive three-year run through the Bausch & Lomb Championships.

A first-place finish.

Pierce, runner-up in the $450,000 clay-court tennis event at Amelia Island, Fla., the last two springs, will get another shot at the elusive title after upsetting defending champion Lindsay Davenport, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, in Saturday’s semifinals.

After losing to Irina Spirlea in 1996 and dropping last year’s final to Davenport, who’s ranked second in the world, the sixth-ranked Pierce vowed to return to Amelia Island and finally win the title.

She’ll play ninth-ranked Conchita Martinez, a 6-4, 6-0, winner over fourth-ranked Amanda Coetzer, with today’s winner earning $79,000.

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Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark upset third-seeded Thomas Johansson of Sweden, 6-2, 6-2, to advance to the final of the Salem Open at Hong Kong against Zimbabwe’s Byron Black.

Black saved a match point in the second set and rallied to beat Canadian Sebastien Lareau, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 7-6 (7-4).

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Top-seeded Patrick Rafter of Australia and defending champion Mikael Tillstrom of Sweden scored straight-set victories to advance to the final of the Gold Flake Open at Madras, India.

Rafter, the U.S. Open champion, defeated India’s Leander Paes, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), and the fifth-seeded Tillstrom upset No. 2 Todd Woodbridge of Australia, 6-2, 6-2.

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Thomas Muster of Austria struggled to defeat Karim Alami of Morocco, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals of the Estoril Open at Oeiras, Portugal.

Track and Field

Heavy rains forced the postponement of the evening portion of the Arcadia Invitational track and field meet at Arcadia High on Saturday. The meet has been rescheduled for April 25. The field events will start at 4 p.m., the running events at 6:15.

The UCLA men’s and women’s track teams were victorious in meets at Drake Stadium. The No. 8-ranked Bruins (8-0) scored 72 points to defeat Houston (33 points) and Cal State Northridge (32) in the men’s event.

The No. 2-ranked women (9-0) won a quadrangular by scoring 87 points and outdistancing Houston (38), Northridge (28 1/2) and Minnesota (23 1/2).

Olympian Carlette Guidry outran defending indoor sprint champions Tameka Roberts and Christy Opara-Thompson to win the women’s 100 meters at the Sun Angel Track Classic at Tempe, Ariz. Guidry’s time was 11.56 seconds.

Auto Racing

McLaren’s David Coulthard and Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher filled the front row for the Argentine Grand Prix at Buenos Aires. Coulthard seized the pole position for today’s race with his lap of 1 minute, 25.852 seconds. Schumacher went around in 1:26.251.

Ed Berrier led 185 of 300 laps and won the Busch Grand National Galaxy Foods 300 at Hickory Motor Speedway in Hickory, N.C.

Jurisprudence

NFL free agent running back Bam Morris was released from the Rockwall County jail in Dallas after serving 89 days of a 120-day sentence for marijuana possession.

Eight Illinois State football players are accused of battery, mob action and felony home invasion in an attack on a fraternity at Normal, Ill., police said.

In what police believe was a retaliatory attack, a group of about 20 men rushed into the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house on March 22 swinging bats and clubs. Six fraternity members were hospitalized as a result and later released, police said.

Miscellany

Tennessee’s Pat Summitt and Utah’s Rick Majerus were given the 1998 John and Nellie Wooden Award. The award, named after the former UCLA Coach Wooden and his wife, is presented each year to the top men’s and women’s college basketball coaches.

Former Philadelphia Eagles and UCLA player John Sciarra, Olympic volleyball player Sinjin Smith and longtime football and track coach Edward McElroy will be inducted into the Catholic Youth Organization Hall of Fame at a dinner at the Quiet Canyon Country Club in Montebello on Thursday.

The third “Johnnie Johnson Pro-Celebrity Tennis Tournament” will be held at the Sunny Hills Racquet Club in Fullerton on Saturday with the proceeds going to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Orange County.