Venus Williams, Hingis to Meet in Italian Final

Venus Williams will meet Martina Hingis in the Italian Open final today after defeating Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, in the semifinals at Rome.

Williams’ victory on the clay courts at Foro Italico took 2 1/2 hours.

“I wanted to end it quickly, but we all know she likes to hit a lot of balls, a lot of lobs,” Williams said.

Today’s final features two 17-year-olds who are the two hottest players on the tour.

Hingis advanced by routing Mirjana Lucic, 6-2, 6-1.

After Williams took a 2-0 lead over Sanchez Vicario in the second set, Sanchez Vicario won seven straight games to win the set and take a 1-0 lead in the third.

But the momentum turned after Williams took a three-minute injury timeout so a trainer could apply tape just above her left knee.

Williams won the next game to even the set 1-1 and, after trading four straight breaks, the players held serve through the 10th game. But in the 11th, Williams earned a key break to go ahead 6-5 with the help of three unforced errors by Sanchez Vicario.

Four more mistakes allowed Williams to serve out the match and beat Sanchez Vicario for the first time.

Alex Corretja, fighting through his fourth three-set match in three days, outlasted Felix Mantilla, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, to set up an all-Spanish final against Albert Costa at the German Open at Hamburg.

Costa hardly had to work up a sweat to advance. His opponent, Karol Kucera, retired because of foot blisters with Costa leading 3-0.

Motor Sports

Scotsman Dario Franchitti edged Italian Alex Zanardi for the pole for today’s CART Rio 400 at Rio de Janeiro with a speed of 172.039 mph, getting around the 1.846-mile Nelson Piquet Raceway in 39.005 seconds.

Zanardi had a lap 171.341 mph and Brazilian Tony Kanaan, the rookie points leader in the CART FedEx championship series, was third-fastest at 171.289.

Gear-box problems allowed Kanaan only 40 laps of practice Friday and Saturday.

Mika Hakkinen won the pole for the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona, covering the 2.937-mile Circuit of Catalunya road course in 1:20.262 at 131.8 mph.

In the first two races this season, Hakkinen qualified his McLaren-Mercedes for the pole and both times won the race. He failed to the take pole for the other two races, and lost both--to teammate David Coulthard and two-time series champion Michael Schumacher.

Belgian motorcyclist Michael Paquay died of injuries at a Monza, Italy, hospital after he fell off his motorcycle during trials at the Monza track in northern Italy and was struck by another cycle. Hospital officials refused to give details of Paquay’s injuries.

Soccer

Lens won its first French first division soccer title, tying Auxerre, 1-1, at Auxerre and host Metz beat Lyon, 1-0, to finish second. Lens (21-8-5) and Metz (20-6-8) each finished with 68 points, but Lens won on better goal difference: plus 25 to plus 20.

Lens and Metz will play in the Champions’ Cup next season.

College Basketball

Jesus J. Rodriguez, 20, of Puerto Rico, a Virginia Tech player who already had asked to be released from his scholarship because of an unproductive season, has been charged with six counts of theft.

Police say Rodriguez stole at least $3,000 in jewelry and other items from six students April 22, and stole a watch and compact discs from a campus dormitory.

Diving

China’s Cai Yu Yan, 15, performed a magnificent final dive to edge Mission Viejo’s Erica Sorgi, 15, and win the FINA-USA Diving Grand Prix at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Both Cai and Sorgi did a forward 3 1/2 somersault pike with 3.0 degree of difficulty on their last dive. Sorgi, considered the United States’ best up-and-coming women’s diver, finished with a total of 509.64 points, 3.99 behind Cai.

Bowling

Parker Bohn III became the 12th bowler in PBA history to roll a televised 300 game during the American Bowling Congress Masters at Reno, then lost to Mike Aulby, 224-192, in the final.

Aulby, a 26-time PBA champion and Hall of Famer from Indianapolis who also won the Masters in 1989 and 1995, entered the title match undefeated. He earned $50,600 for finishing first among a record field of 625.

Bohn, of Jackson, N.J., earned a $10,000 bonus for his televised 300 game to go along with the $26,600 for second place.