Davenport Is a Winner in First Match at No. 1

In her first match since taking over the top ranking, Lindsay Davenport battled to defeat Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, on Saturday to reach the final of the Porsche Grand Prix at Filderstadt, Germany.

“I never thought I’d be No. 1 and I was very nervous,” said Davenport, whose opponent in today’s final will be Sandrine Testud of France, a 6-2, 6-0 winner over Dominique Van Roost of Belgium. “It was difficult today. Arantxa was very difficult to play.”

Davenport dethroned Martina Hingis on Friday and will be officially No. 1 when the new rankings come out Monday.

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Fourth-seeded Andre Agassi defeated home favorite Marc Rosset in straight sets to move into the title match at the $975,000 Swiss Indoors at Basel.

Agassi received little resistance from his Swiss opponent, cruising through his 6-4, 6-2 semifinal victory in only 54 minutes.

In today’s final, Agassi will face sixth-seeded Tim Henman of Britain, who beat Thomas Johansson of Sweden, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5).

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Top-seeded Goran Ivanisevic and second-seeded Michael Chang advanced to the title match of the Shanghai Open in China.

Ivanisevic defeated sixth-seeded Ramon Delgado of Paraguay, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5. Chang trailed in the first set, 4-5, before defeating fifth-seeded Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands, 7-5, 6-3.

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Top-seeded Alex Corretja of Spain held a 7-5, 3-0 lead over Mariano Puerta of Argentina when rain forced suspension of their semifinal match at Palermo, Sicily. The match will continue today, followed by the second semifinal, pitting Spain’s Galo Blanco against Argentina’s Franco Squillari. . . . Milan will be the site of the Dec. 4-6 Davis Cup final between Italy and Sweden.

Motor Sports

Heading into Winston 500 today at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Jeff Gordon owns a 174-point lead over Mark Martin, the only driver with a legitimate chance to keep him from winning his second consecutive series crown and third in four years.

Tim Steele drove from third to first with one momentous pass en route to victory in the ARCA Winn Dixie 300 at Talladega.

Frank Kimmel finished seventh, clinching his first ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series championship. His closest rival in the points race, Mark Gibson, crashed hard on lap 27. Gibson, who suffered a broken left hand, a bruised chest and a broken or sprained left ankle, was taken to a Birmingham hospital for further examination.

Mike Dunn (top fuel), Cruz Pedregon (funny car) and Warren Johnson (pro stock) are the leaders in their categories at the Pennzoil Nationals at Memphis, Tenn.

Wayne Taylor made it a sweep of North American endurance races for Ferrari by winning the inaugural Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Ferraris had won the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring earlier this year.

Butch Gilliland, who won the last two NASCAR Winston West Series races, grabbed the Bud Pole Award for the Iomega/Fry’s 100 at Sonoma, Calif. Gilliland established a track record at Sears Point Raceway in qualifying with a lap of 96.814 mph.

Tom Hubert outraced Boris Said to win the pole for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Kragen/Exide 150 at Sears Point Raceway.

Miscellany

An independent drug-testing agency for America’s Olympic athletes is an essential part of future anti-doping efforts, a top U.S. Olympic Committee official said Saturday.

Executive Director Dick Schultz told the committee’s board of directors that the USOC was prepared to move toward an outside testing program, pending a task force report at its next meeting in the spring of 1999.

The USOC is one of the few national Olympic groups that conducts its own drug tests.

A breach-of-contract suit filed against the Milwaukee Bucks by former coach and general manager Mike Dunleavy has been settled, the two sides announced. Neither side would reveal the amount of the settlement.

Sharmba Mitchell of Washington won the World Boxing Assn. super-lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Khalid Rahilou of France, knocking down the defending champion four times in the process.

On the same card in Paris, James Page won the vacant WBA welterweight crown with a second-round knockout of former European champion Andrey Pestrayev.

Diana Ziliute, a 22-year-old Lithuanian, surprised the veterans to capture the women’s elite road race in the world cycling championships at Valkenburg, Netherlands.