Williams Defeats Kruger to Win First WTA Title

Venus Williams won her first WTA title by defeating Joannette Kruger in consecutive sets Sunday in the final of the IGA Tennis Classic at Oklahoma City.

Williams had three service breaks in each set as she won, 6-3, 6-2. The biggest hitter on the women’s tour, Williams had only one ace in the finals.

“This is one I will probably always remember,” Williams said. “I can say it all started back in Oklahoma City.”

Williams took a 30-minute break after the match and joined her sister, Serena Williams, in the doubles finals. There, the two defeated Catalina Cristea of Romania and Kristine Kunce of Australia, 7-5, 6-2.

The doctor assigned to Austria’s Davis Cup team apologized and retracted a statement he made Friday that Thomas Muster should quit tennis, and praised him as a “physical and psychological phenomena,” the media reported at Vienna, Austria.

Rudolf Schabus, a surgeon who has served the country’s Davis Cup team for years, said Friday that it was no longer recommended that Muster continue playing tennis because of severe arthritis in his left knee.

Jana Novotna won a tournament for the first time since November, defeating Dominique van Roost of Belgium, 6-1, 7-6 (7-2), to capture the $450,000 Austrian Open at Linz, Austria. . . . Yevgeny Kafelnikov defeated Cedric Pioline, 7-5, 6-4, controlling a baseline match for the Guardian Direct Cup indoor title at London. . . . Pete Sampras dominated with his serve and beat Thomas Enqvist, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3), to win the Advanta Championships at Philadelphia for the fourth time. . . . Fourth-seeded Andres Gomez defeated Guillermo Vilas, 6-4, 6-4, in the Citibank senior tournament at the Delray Beach Tennis Center at Florida.

Football

Quarterback Ty Detmer, a sometime starter in two seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles, has reached contract terms with San Francisco, giving the 49ers a veteran backup for Steve Young. Terms were not available.

The Kansas City Chiefs apparently reached agreement with receiver Derrick Alexander, an unrestricted free agent of the Baltimore Ravens, scheduling a news conference for today. The Kansas City Star reported Sunday that Alexander’s agent, Lamont Smith, had told the Ravens that his client agreed to a five-year, $17 million contract.

New York Jet defensive lineman Matt Finkes was charged with drunken driving after an accident early Sunday near Campe Verde, the Arizona Department of Public Safety said.

Miscellany

Ukraine’s Anzhela Balakhonova broke the women’s pole vault world indoor record jumping 14 feet, 7 1/4 inches in the European Indoors Championships at Valencia, Spain to surpass the mark of 14-6 3/4 set by Iceland’s Vala Flosadottir last month. . . . Germany’s Martina Ertl skied all out on a hard, fast course, edging Norway’s Trine Bakke by seven-tenths of a second, to win the women’s World Cup night slalom at Saalbach, Austria with a time of 1 minute, 36 seconds. . . . Garret Atkins hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to help UCLA beat USC, 12-7, at Dedeaux Field. . . . Gunfire broke out in a crowd leaving the Palestra after Philadelphia’s high school basketball finals, killing one man and injuring three others. An argument that started in the arena spilled out into the street and about a dozen shots were fired, police Sgt. Irma Labrice said. Police refused to immediately release names of the dead and injured.