San Diego’s Lesenarova Beats USC’s Huber to Reach Finals

Zuzana Lesenarova of the University of San Diego defeated Ditta Huber of USC, 6-1, 3-6, 6-0, on Thursday to move into the final of the NCAA women’s singles tennis championship at Gainesville, Fla.

Lesenarova, a Czech, will play Marissa Irvin of Stanford for the title today. Irvin beat Vanessa Castellano of Georgia, 6-2, 6-4, in the other semifinal.

Both are in their first individual final. For Lesenarova, it will easily be the highlight of a stay in the United States that began 2 1/2 years ago when she walked off the airplane in Los Angeles.

“I thought, I can’t make it,” she said. “There were so many people. It makes you feel like a nobody. It made me want to do it, to play well. At first, I was kind of worried and confused. But when you have something to hold onto, like tennis, it helps.”

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Still shaking off the demands of leading Georgia to the team title, eighth-seeded Hisham Hemeda defeated Shuon Madden of Texas A&M;, 6-4, 6-4, in the second round of the NCAA men’s singles tournament at Athens, Ga.

Top-seeded James Blake of Harvard advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) victory over Boug Bohaboy of Northwestern. Second-seeded Jeff Morrison of Florida eliminated Kelly Gullett of Pepperdine, 6-2, 7-5.

Soccer

Women’s World Cup organizers have passed 400,000 in ticket sales, well past their initial projections for the tournament that starts June 19 and runs through the July 10 final at the Rose Bowl.

More than 62,000 tickets have been sold for the tournament-opening doubleheader in East Rutherford, N.J., which matches the United States vs. Denmark and Brazil vs. Mexico.

Strikers Wolde Harris and Jorge Dely Valdes each had a goal and an assist to power the Colorado Rapids to a 4-2 Major League Soccer victory over the San Jose Clash before 4,746 at Denver.

Miscellany

Tickets go on sale in Australia on Sunday for the 2000 Summer Olympics and organizers should know quickly if the Olympic bribery scandal has dampened public interest.

Fans will have 48 days to return order forms for 5 million of 9.6 million tickets to be sold for the Games.

Full payments must accompany all orders.

Cal State Northridge is under internal investigation for possible NCAA football rules violations, the university confirmed Thursday, but Coach Ron Ponciano emphatically denied any wrongdoing and insisted the program will be vindicated.

Names in the News

The Mighty Ducks have fired play-by-play announcer Brian Hamilton, team officials confirmed. Analyst Darren Eliot, the other half of the Ducks’ radio team, will return next season. . . . Elton Brand of Duke, Richard Hamilton of Connecticut and Wally Szczerbiak of Miami of Ohio were added to the U.S. Olympic qualifying team that will play in the Americas Olympic qualifying tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico, July 14-25. . . . David Green ended a nearly three-year drought without a pole by winning the top starting spot for the Carquest Auto Parts 300 NASCAR Busch Grand National race at Concord, N.C. . . . Ron Hornaday, winner of two championships in three years on NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series, is moving to the Busch Grand National circuit in 2000 with his same team and same sponsor.

Joao Carlos de Oliveira of Brazil, who held the world record in the triple jump from 1975 to ’85 and won a bronze medal in the event in 1980, slipped into a coma and was in extremely serious condition at the Beneficiencia Portuguesa Hospital in Sao Paulo. . . . Richard Virenque of France beat Santiago Blanco of Spain in a two-way sprint to capture the 13th stage of the Tour of Italy bicycle race. Another Frenchman, national champion Laurent Jalabert, retained the pink jersey of overall leader as he finished in the main group 34 seconds behind the winner at Rapallo, Italy. . . . Seattle Seahawk defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur, a former L.A. Ram assistant coach, has taken a leave of absence because of cancer, several newspapers reported. . . . Horacio Tamborini, longtime director of the Whittier Narrows Tennis Center, will take over June 1 as director of tennis at the Flint Canyon Tennis Club in La Canada.