Venus Williams Still Streaking Into Open

Venus Williams’ confidence caught up to her game just in time for this week’s U.S. Open as she extended her career-high winning streak to four tournaments and 19 matches Saturday with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Monica Seles in the Pilot Pen finals at New Haven, Conn.

Williams defended her title, and added it to her Wimbledon, Stanford and Carlsbad victory string. She heads into the U.S. Open believing she can win there too.

“I definitely think so,” Williams said. “A lot of times it isn’t about playing well enough. It’s about which points you play well and it’s about how you feel in your mind, if you feel that you are better than that person, especially on a particular day.

“As long as I’m mentally there and ready to be tough, sure, I can win. Mentally I feel I’m really prepared to play everyone.”

Williams broke Seles’ serve in the first game and took a 3-0 lead.

Seles, rallied to take Williams’ serve in the next game, but a winning return gave Williams a 4-1 lead.

Seles said she felt she could turn the match around when Williams produced three double faults, allowing Seles to level at 2-2 in the second set, but Williams ended a long rally by forcing a backhand error to earn a break for 4-3.

The best point of the match came as Williams served at 5-4, when she chased a ball wide and hit a running forehand down the line to lead 30-0. Two aces then finished off the match.

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Thomas Enqvist of Sweden reached the final of the Hamlet Cup for the first time by beating Arnaud Clement of France, 7-6 (2), 6-1 at Commack, N.Y..

The third-seeded Enqvist rallied from 0-3 and 1-4 in the opening set to reach the title match against top-seeded countryman Magnus Norman, who defeated Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (0).

Auto Racing

There’s a reason Rusty Wallace considers Bristol Motor Speedway his favorite track. No one can beat him there.

Wallace became the first four-time winner of the season when he easily won the goracing.com 500. The victory gave him a season-sweep on the 0.533-mile bullring in Tennessee--the first driver to pull off the feat since Dale Earnhardt did it in 1987--and his ninth career win on the concrete.

Wallace came into the race in fifth place in the Winston Cup standings, 352 points behind leader Bobby Labonte. Wallace remained in fifth after the win, but closed the margin to 290 points.

Formula One leader Mika Hakkinen of Finland captured the pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix by easily posting the fastest lap in qualifying with a time of 1 minute, 50.646 seconds, on the 4.329-mile Francorchamps course.

Joe Ruttman won his eighth Craftsman Truck pole of the season, by turning a lap at 117.612 mph in qualifying for today’s Sears Craftsman 175 at Cicero, Ill..

Scott Goodyear narrowly won the pole for the inaugural Belterra Resorts Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta at 219.191 mph.

Olympics

The U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team made it through the first day of practice in Lahaina, Hawaii, with only one minor injury.

Vin Baker twisted his left ankle while landing awkwardly after taking a shot, but he said the injury would probably not keep him from practicing today.

The U.S. team spent much its time working on half-court drills and scrimmaging, under the direction of Coach Rudy Tomjanovich, who plans to increase the pace of practices over the next several days of training camp.

The American team will spend the next week in Hawaii, holding training camp on the island of Maui and playing two exhibitions, against Canada and the U.S. Select Team, in Honolulu.

Yolanda Griffith scored 23 points and had nine rebounds as the U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team beat Canada, 90-51, at Oakland.

Brazil’s men’s and women’s beach volleyball teams, both top-rated in the world, landed relatively weak opponents in the draw for the Sydney Olympics.

Emanuel Rego Scheffer and Jose Loiola, the gold-medal favorites, will play the 24th-ranked Australian team led by Matthew Grinlaubs and Joshua Slack.

Among the women, the top-ranked Brazilian team of Sandra Pires and Adriana Samuel will play the 19th-ranked Cuban team of Tamara Larrea Peraza and Dalixia Fernandez Grossat.

The top American men’s team of Kevin Wong and Rob Heidger will play world No. 18 Canadians Jody Holden and Conrad Leinemann, and the top U.S. women’s team of Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan take on Australians Annette Tholen and Sarah Straton.

Miscellany

Swiss rider Alex Zulle won the first leg of the Tour of Spain, an eight-mile time trial staged in Malaga.

Defending champion Jan Ullrich of Germany finished 20th, 42 seconds off the pace.

Zulle completed the course in 17 minutes, 8 seconds, two seconds ahead of Spaniard Abraham Olano.

Marathon swimmer Jim Dreyer conquered his fourth Great Lake at Grand Rapids, Mich., but he wasn’t finished with his ultra-triathlon.

Dreyer touched the shore of Toronto around 7 p.m. after running a marathon, biking 112 miles and swimming Lake Ontario over two days.

Dreyer started swimming south after the victory, with a goal of reaching Niagara-on-the-Lake, N.Y., by today.

He failed to complete his first endurance test last month due to dehydration and fatigue. This time, he planned a nonstop athletic feat that would cover 201.4 total miles if completed