Seles Proves That She Still Can Win

Only two weeks after the worst loss of her career, Monica Seles eased any doubts about her health and desire Sunday, winning a repeat title in the Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island, Fla., with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Conchita Martinez of Spain.

After match point, the third-seeded Seles acknowledged the crowd’s cheers, putting her racquet and hand together to applaud. It was a quite different interaction than two weeks ago in the Ericsson Open at Key Biscayne, Fla., when she was booed after a 6-0, 6-0 semifinal loss to Martina Hingis.

“Different experiences make you as a person,” Seles said. “That was one of the harder experiences of my life. But I don’t think everyone understood the whole story.”

Seles’ ankle was bothering her that day and many people were wondering if the ninth-ranked player in the world still had what it took to compete against the world’s top players.

Earlier Sunday, Seles defeated Paola Suarez of Argentina, 6-3, 6-2, to advance to the final. Fourth-seeded Martinez beat 12th-seeded Elena Likhovtseva of Russia by the same score to set up another meeting in one of the most lopsided series on the tour.

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Andrew Ilie won the title and the crowd at Duluth, Ga., in the Galleryfurniture.com Challenge, defeating Australian countryman Jason Stoltenberg, 6-3, 7-5.

As promised, Ilie ripped off his shirt and tossed it to courtside fans who supported him en route to his second career title and a $49,500 winner’s check, his biggest ever.

“Whenever I play well, I’m really into the match. I have to vent some of that emotional energy, got to let it out, and the crowd finds it entertaining,” said Ilie, who yelled “c’mon!” and pumped his fist to celebrate winning key points.

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Carlos Moya defeated fellow Spaniard Francisco Clavet, 6-3, 6-2, to win the Estoril Open at Oeiras, Portugal.

Moya, ranked 46th in the world but troubled by recurring back problems, broke Clavet’s serve twice in the first set and won the European tour’s first clay-court event of the year.

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Chile and Argentina have been kicked out of this year’s Davis Cup following crowd trouble that disrupted their match last weekend in Santiago, Chile.

“In order that neither nation is seen to benefit from their failure to abide by Davis Cup regulations, neither nation will be allowed to advance in the 2000 competition,” the International Tennis Federation’s board of directors said.

The board overturned a ruling Thursday by the ITF’s Davis Cup Committee, which had allowed Chile to advance to the World Group qualifying round against Morocco in July. The decision means Morocco advances to the World Group by default.

Boxing

Mike Tyson’s European tour is on hold once again. His planned May 20 fight against Lou Savarese in Milan, Italy, will be postponed until at least June, Shelly Finkel, Tyson’s manager, said.

Finkel said the fight might not be held in Milan at all, depending on when it is rescheduled. “They may not have the date available,” Finkel said.

Finkel met with the former heavyweight champion to try and find a new date amid reports Tyson had not been training and wanted more time to prepare for Savarese.

Miscellany

The University of Minnesota had abundant evidence linking former basketball coach Clem Haskins to academic fraud in his program before buying out his contract for $1.5 million last June, the Star Tribune reported.

At the time, President Mark Yudof said there was no evidence linking Haskins with academic misconduct. But information provided this month by the university showed that before the buyout, Yudof and his attorneys knew that Haskins was aware of it.

One person was killed and at least two others injured during the Pacific Offshore Power Boat Racing Association’s Golden Gate Challenge on San Francisco Bay.

Three people were on board the boat involved in the fatal accident, San Francisco Police Inspector Narda Ziegler said. The boat hit a swell, tossing two of the three overboard. One of the two died at the scene. The San Francisco medical examiner’s office identified him as Clark Donley, 40, of Alamo.

Mark Reynolds of San Diego won his fourth consecutive trip to the Olympics by winning eight of the last 10 stages with Star crewman Magus Liljedahl in the U.S. Olympic sailing trials on San Francisco Bay.

Midfielder/defender Eric Denton and midfielder Brian Winters have been added to the 18-man U.S. roster for Olympic soccer qualifying because of injuries to Joey DiGiamarino and Sasha Victorine.

Trinidad and Tobago advanced to the third round of Caribbean qualifying for the 2002 World Cup along with Haiti and Cuba.

Trinidad and Tobago won 1-0 at the Dominican Republic to advance on 4-0 aggregate in the home-and-home series. Trinidad and Tobago faces Haiti, which advanced following a 4-0 win at the Bahamas for a 13-0 aggregate. Cuba advanced on 1-0 aggregate following a scoreless tie at Suriname.

In Central America’s first round, El Salvador (3-0) won 3-1 at Belize (0-3) in Group A and Honduras (2-1) won 1-0 at Nicaragua (0-3). Belize and Nicaragua were eliminated with the losses.

Savannah State’s NCAA record 46-game baseball winning streak came to an end when it lost to crosstown rival Savannah College of Art & Design, 3-1.