Philippoussis Serves Up an Easy Title at San Jose

Third-seeded Mark Philippoussis of Australia was his steady self, using his 120 mph-plus serve to overpower 5-foot-8 Cecil Mamiit, 6-3, 6-2, Sunday in the final of the $325,000 Sybase Open at San Jose.

Philippoussis finished with seven aces in the 1-hour 18-minute victory, including a 134-mph serve that was a tournament best. About the only thing marring Philippoussis’ victory over Mamiit, a former NCAA singles champion currently ranked No. 120, was the Australian’s 26 unforced errors.

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Frenchman Jerome Golmard won his first ATP Tour championship, beating Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer, 6-4, 6-2, in the $1-million Dubai Open on Sunday at the United Arab Emirates.

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Switzerland’s Marc Rosset won his 14th career title, defeating David Prinosil of Germany, 6-3, 6-4, in the final of the St. Petersburg Open in Russia.

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Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia beat Silvia Farina of Italy, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, in the final of the Nokia Cup women’s indoor tournament at Prostejov, Czech Republic, for her fifth WTA title.

Golf

David Howell of England earned the biggest paycheck of his golfing career with a four-stroke victory in the Dubai Desert Classic in the United Arab Emirates.

Howell began the final round tied for first with Australian Wayne Riley, but pulled away with a five-under 67 at the Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club. He finished at 13-under 275.

Compatriot Lee Westwood was second at 279 after a closing 67.

Winter Sports

Norwegian Lasse Kjus captured an unprecedented fifth medal in the World Alpine Championships, finishing runner-up in the slalom to surprise winner Kalle Palander of Finland at Vail, Colo.

Kjus, who became the fourth skier in history to win four medals in a world championship when he won the giant slalom on Friday, set the record with his fifth medal in the concluding event of the championships.

Toni Sailer, Jean-Claude Killy and Pirmin Zurbriggen all won four medals in a championship.

France’s Bruno Mingeon had the two fastest runs Sunday and won the four-man title at the World Bobsled Championships at Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy.

Mingeon and teammates Max Robert, Emmanuel Hostache and Eric Le Chanony finished the four runs on the Olympic track in 3 minutes, 30.68 seconds. They had the top times in all four runs during the weekend.

Four-time Olympic champion Georg Hackl of Germany won the final men’s singles luge World Cup race of the season at Nagano, Japan.

With his runner-up finish, eight-time overall World Cup winner Markus Prock of Austria won the season’s overall title with 575 points, followed by Hackl with 511.

Miscellany

The St. Louis Rams signed guard Adam Timmerman, an unrestricted free agent who left the Green Bay Packers, to a five-year contract.

The Cleveland Browns signed free-agent center Dave Wohlabaugh and free-agent punter Chris Gardocki.

Seven years and three months after his football career, and his life, were shattered by a paralyzing spine injury, Mike Utley plans to take a few steps in public today in Phoenix. The 6-foot-6, 315-pound offensive lineman for the Detroit Lions was carried off the field during a game in 1991.

Shortstop Rey Ordonez got a fivefold salary increase, agreeing with the New York Mets on a $1.65 million, one-year contract.

In track, Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia claimed his 15th world record, cutting 1.10 seconds off the indoor 5,000-meter mark owned by his major rival Daniel Komen, finishing in 12:50.38 at Birmingham, England. Gail Devers raced away from the women’s 60-meter field to win in 7.04 seconds, the fastest time of the year.

Gert Thys of South Africa ran the second-fastest marathon in history, winning the Tokyo International Marathon in 2:06.33.

His time was 28 seconds off the world record of 2:06:05, set by Brazil’s Ronaldo da Costa at Berlin in September.

Princess Anne, one of Britain’s two IOC members, has refused to testify before a Parliamentary committee looking into the Olympic bribery scandal, a British newspaper reported.

Former Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona is considering an offer to coach Kuwait.