Davenport Powers Past Williams

The contest between the top two American players in the world proved to be no match Saturday.

Second-seeded Lindsay Davenport used a booming serve to throw third-seeded Venus Williams off-balance early, then watched her opponent’s service game self-destruct to win, 6-1, 6-2, in 50 minutes and advance to the Advanta Championships final at Villanova, Pa.

Davenport will face top-seeded Martina Hingis of Switzerland, a 6-4, 6-2, semifinal winner over fourth-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France in the final today.

Davenport, the second-ranked player in the world, reeled off nine aces and broke serve four times.

“Wow, it’s one of the best matches I’ve served, probably ever,” Davenport said. “I don’t think I was ever in trouble with my serve. Maybe the first time I served I got to 30-30, but when you’re able to serve so well, you put more pressure on the other person’s serve.”

Williams committed eight double faults.

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Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia defeated Nicolas Escude of France, 6-7 (7-4), 6-7 (7-2), 6-3, and Byron Black of Zimbabwe defeated Jeff Tarango, 6-3, 6-2, to advance to today’s final of the $1-million Kremlin Cup at Moscow. . . . Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden edged American Jan-Michael Gambill, 6-0, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), to reach the Stockholm Open final for the second time in his career. He will face top-seeded and fellow Swede Thomas Enqvist, who defeated another Swede, Magnus Norman, 6-3, 6-4.

Soccer

Freshman Jessica Winton took a pass from forward Tracey Milburn and scored from 10 yards out to give the UCLA women’s team a 2-1 overtime victory over the University of San Diego at the North Athletic Field in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Venus James also scored for the No. 14 Bruins (15-4-1), who will play at top-ranked Santa Clara (21-0) on Saturday.

Lothar Matthaeus said he might delay leaving Bayern Munich and join the New York-New Jersey MetroStars of Major League Soccer later than expected. The 38-year-old German player was originally scheduled to depart Munich in December and join his American team on Feb. 20.

Matthaeus told the Bild daily that because Munich lost two key players last week he would like to join the MetroStars after March 8. That’s when the German club plays Real Madrid in a key Champions Cup match.

Paul Scholes scored twice as England defeated Scotland, 2-0, at Glasgow in the first leg of their playoff for a berth in next summer’s European Championship. . . . Landon Donovan scored on a penalty kick in the 88th minute, giving the United States a 1-1 tie against Poland in the FIFA Under-17 Championship at Auckland, New Zealand.

Miscellany

The drama and high winds of the past week gave way to calm conditions today off New Zealand as the America’s Cup challenger fleet crawled through racing in the second round-robin. Prada extended its lead in the series after the Italians defeated America True by 3 minutes, 28 seconds after taking advantage of a shift in the wind. Team Dennis Conner’s Stars and Stripes continued its climb up the leaderboard by beating the Swiss entry Fast 2000. None of the other boats finished.

Ryan Blackwell had 23 points and 12 rebounds, leading No. 17 Syracuse to a 68-49 victory over Wisconsin in the championship game of the National Association of Basketball Coaches Classic at Syracuse, N.Y. . . . A Tucson judge ruled that former University of Arizona basketball star Miles Simon can’t sue the school over the leak of his academic records to a newspaper, which Simon claimed caused him humiliation.

Joe Nemechek took advantage of Ward Burton’s mistake for an emotional victory in the season-ending Hotwheels.Com 300 Busch Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the track Nemechek’s brother, John, died on more than two years ago. Burton was black-flagged for jumping a restart with only three laps remaining, giving the top spot to Nemechek.

A Jamaica Amateur Athletic Assn. panel cleared veteran runner Merlene Ottey of charges of intentionally using performance-enhancing drugs, avoiding an automatic two-year suspension. Ottey had tested positive for the steroid nandrolone at a meet in Lucerne, Switzerland in July.