Norman Wins in Sweden and Takes Over No. 1 Spot

Magnus Norman defeated Swedish countryman Andreas Vinciguerra, 6-1, 7-6 (6), Sunday to win the Swedish Open at Bastad and take the No. 1 spot in the ATP champions race. Norman overtook Brazil’s Gustavo Kuerten, who spent three weeks this year as No. 1.

This was Norman’s 10th ATP singles title and second in this event, one of the oldest tournaments on the tour.

The top-seeded Norman didn’t drop a set in the tournament, and Vinciguerra was the first player to force him to a tiebreaker. This was the first time the two had played each other.

In the second-set tiebreaker, Norman blew the first two match points before winning the third as Vinciguerra netted a drop shot.

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Top-seeded Alex Corretja defeated Argentina’s Gaston Gaudio in his second of two matches, securing a spot in today’s final of the $600,000 Swiss Open at Gstaad where he will meet eighth-seeded Mariano Puerta.

Corretja, who beat No. 7 Marcelo Rios in the quarterfinal in the morning, returned in the afternoon to stop Gaudio, 7-5, 7-5, in the rain-plagued tournament.

Taking advantage of a brief interval between downpours, Puerta gained a berth in the final by ousting defending champion Albert Costa, the fourth-seeded player, 6-4, 6-3.

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Peter Wessels of the Netherlands kept his serve all match and defeated Jens Knippschild of Germany, 7-6 (3), 6-3, to win the Hall of Fame Tennis Championship at Newport, R.I., the only grass-court pro tournament in North America. . . . Barbara Schett, slowed by injuries the first half of the year, defeated Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, to win a $170,000 WTA tournament before her home fans at Klagenfurt, Austria. . . . Slovakia’s Henrieta Nagyova won the $110,000 Palermo WTA Tour title in Sicily, defeating Bulgaria’s Pavlina Nola, 6-3, 7-5.

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Spearheaded by a rejuvenated Pat Rafter, defending champion Australia completed a 5-0 sweep of Brazil in the Davis Cup semifinal at Brisbane, Australia, to reach its second consecutive final.

The Wimbledon finalist capped Australia’s demolition with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Fernando Meligeni in the final match.

The Australians must wait until next week to find out where the final will be played and who they will meet, taking on the winner of this weekend’s U.S.-Spain match in Santander, Spain.

Earlier, Lleyton Hewitt needed only 69 minutes to dispose of Andre Sa, 6-4, 6-1.

Elsewhere, Ecuador, the Netherlands and Romania gained berths in the 2001 World Group, the top 16 nations that actually compete for the prestigious trophy.

Ecuador’s Giovanni Lapentti rallied from two sets down in the fifth and decisive match to defeat England’s Arvind Parmar, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3, and upset England, 3-2, at Wimbledon, England. At Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Paul Haarhuis of Holland easily defeated Vadim Kutsenko of Uzbekistan, 6-1, 6-2, for a 4-1 victory. At Harare, Zimbabwe, Andrei Pavel clinched the victory for Romania with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 win over Byron Black to give his country an unbeatable 3-1 lead.

Miscellany

Free-agent center John Amaechi told the Orlando Sentinel that he will re-sign with the Orlando Magic and not join the Lakers, an agonizing decision he said he made against the wishes of his agent, family and friends.

Amaechi will turn down the Lakers’ six-year, $17-million guaranteed contract offer to sign a short-term contract with the Magic. He will sign with Orlando for one year and test the free-agent market, or perhaps sign for one year with an option for a second season.

“Against the counsel of my agent, sisters and best friend, against everything that says I’m not making the best of the situation, against my own best financial sense . . . I’m re-signing because I think the Magic need me more than the Lakers,” Amaechi said from his Phoenix home.

A Boston arbitrator ruled that Toronto Raptor guard Vince Carter must pay sports apparel company Puma more than $13.5 million in damages for breach of contract. The arbitrator also issued an injunction ordering Carter not to endorse or wear the apparel or footwear of Puma’s competitors for three years, and ordered Carter to pay Puma’s lawyers’ fees and costs.

Already rejected once, federal prosecutors will meet again today with lawyers for two of the leaders of Salt Lake’s winning bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics to discuss another possible plea deal in the vote-buying scandal.

Tom Welch, who led the bid, and Dave Johnson, his chief deputy, turned down a government deal last week involving a plea to tax fraud and conspiracy.

Fiorentina of the Italian soccer league has agreed to pay Benfica more than $18.7 million for Portugal’s Nuno Gomes, who will sign a five-year contract with the club.

Sarah Garner and Christine Collins finished second in the women’s lightweight double sculls as the U.S. crew teams won four medals at the Rowing World Cup at Lucerne, Switzerland. The U.S. also won bronze medals in the men’s eight, and women’s quadruple and double sculls.

Meanwhile, Cuban sculler Giovany Solo, who already qualified for the Olympics, and two members of a women’s crew from Belarus, Natalia Lavrenenko and Natalia Stasiok, were banned for life after out-of-competition tests revealed steroid use.