Davenport Outlasts Williams in Final

Lindsay Davenport coped with sweltering heat. She dealt with two injury timeouts by Venus Williams that broke the match’s rhythm. And she overcame her own slipping concentration.

Davenport outlasted an erratic Williams to win, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, in Sunday’s final of the Bank of the West tournament at Palo Alto, played in temperatures of more than 90 degrees that prompted a 10-minute break before the third set.

“It was just such a relief when it was over,” top-seeded Davenport said after claiming the $79,000 first prize. “I’m just so happy to win the first tournament of the hardcourt season.”

Third-seeded Williams, who had 12 aces in her semifinal victory Saturday night over Monica Seles, had 14 against Davenport but also had eight double faults.

Williams took two injury timeouts during the second set, and spent the last half of the match with her left calf and thigh wrapped in bandages.

“They’re more or less new things. Definitely muscular, nothing more than that,” Williams said of the injuries. “They bothered me enough to require medical attention.”

Davenport said the injury timeouts broke up the rhythm of the match.

“It’s a little frustrating,” she said. “I know she’s done it a lot of times in the past and I was thinking, ‘OK, maybe she’s really injured. Don’t lose concentration.’ ”

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Albert Costa of Spain beat Andrea Gaudenzi of Italy to win the Generali Open at Kitzbuehel, Austria.

Costa, ranked 14th in the world, won his eighth title by defeating Gaudenzi, 6-2, 1-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.

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Seventh-seeded Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic defeated sixth-seeded Magnus Norman of Sweden, 6-3, 7-6 (7-0), to win the Croatia Open at Umag.

Motor Sports

Mika Hakkinen of Finland overcame late engine problems and won the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, moving closer to his first Formula One championship.

Hakkinen led virtually the entire race in a McLaren-Mercedes en route to his second consecutive victory and sixth of the season.

Joe Amato beat Cory McClenathan in the top-fuel final in the NHRA’s Northwest Nationals at Kent, Wash.

Meanwhile, Ron Capps won the funny car final and Warren Johnson prevailed in the pro stock division at Seattle International Raceway.

Amato, who won for the third time this year is getting married on Friday.

Miscellany

Pavel Bure told a Vancouver newspaper Sunday that he will never again play for the Vancouver Canucks, citing personal reasons.

“The reasons are my own and everyone has personal reasons for doing things and I don’t really want to discuss them,” Bure told the Vancouver Province.

Last week, Canuck General Manager Brian Burke said several teams already had contacted the Canucks about Bure’s availability. Possible destinations include the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks and Mighty Ducks.

Michael Finley of the Dallas Mavericks scored 26 points to lead a team of NBA veterans to a 142-140 victory over a team of rookie draft picks and free agents in the 13th annual Midsummer Night’s Magic game at the Great Western Forum.

The charity basketball game before a crowd of about 14,000 was staged by former Laker star Magic Johnson, who said at halftime that nearly $1 million had been raised for the United Negro College Fund.

Chris Webber of the Sacramento Kings added 21 points and Antoine Walker of the Boston Celtics scored 18 for the winning team, which led, 77-71, at halftime.

Nazr Mohammed, acquired on draft day by the Philadelphia 76ers, and Brian Skinner, drafted by the Clippers, led the rookie team with 18 points each.

Comunicaciones of Guatemala advanced to the Coliseum Cup soccer semifinals with a 2-0 victory over Luis Angel Firpo of El Salvador.

Rolando Fonseca scored in the 36th minute and added another goal at the 90-minute mark for Comunicaciones, which played in front of 9,171 at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

The Cuban national team won the World Baseball Championships at Rome, defeating South Korea, 7-1.

The starless United States team got 20 points from former Syracuse player Wendell Alexis and defeated Argentina, 87-74, in the World Basketball Championships at Athens, Greece.

Karch Kiraly and Adam Johnson picked up their fourth victory of the Pro Beach Volleyball season, defeating Brian Lewis and David Swatik, 13-9, at Milwaukee.