Rafter Routs Tired Escude to Win Wimbledon Tuneup

Patrick Rafter won the Heineken Trophy on Sunday for the third consecutive year, beating Nicolas Escude, 6-1, 6-3, at Den Bosch, Netherlands, in a grass-court tuneup for Wimbledon.

Rafter and Escude completed semifinals earlier in the day after rain interrupted play Saturday with each match still in the first set.

When play resumed Sunday, Rafter overwhelmed Martin Damm of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-2. Escude, from France, had a tougher time, beating Michael Chang, 7-6 (4), 6-2, and going into the final with only 90 minutes of rest.

Rafter’s victory in the $375,000 tournament was a boost for the Australian, who has been recovering from a shoulder injury the last six months. He has a 15-0 record at Den Bosch the last three years.

“It’s been a hard road since my shoulder operation,” Rafter said. “I played great on the big points during the week. This is just what I needed before Wimbledon.”

He has a one-day rest before his first match at Wimbledon against Jamie Delgado of England. Rafter, a grass-court specialist, is ranked No. 23 in the world but seeded 12th at Wimbledon.

Pro Football

Pepe Pearson scored from one yard out with 1:12 to play and the Rhein Fire went on to a 13-10 victory over the Scottish Claymores in World Bowl 2000 at Frankfurt, Germany.

The Fire’s victory wasn’t assured until Roger Hart’s 40-yard field-goal attempt with four seconds to play went wide left.

The game featured the league’s two best passers in Kevin Daft of the Claymores and Danny Wuerffel of the Fire, but neither looked sharp.

Daft, who led NFL Europe with a league-record 107.3 quarterback rating, completed 16 of 29 passes for 177 yards and one interception.

Wuerffel, the 1996 Heisman Trophy winner from Florida who finished with a 107.2 quarterback rating, was 12 of 30 for only 90 yards with two interceptions. But he led the Fire on a game-winning 43-yard touchdown drive.

Olympics

The Justice Department and attorneys for Tom Welch, the former Salt Lake Olympic president, reportedly have waived a deadline for filing charges in the Olympic bribery investigation, thus extending the statute of limitations.

The agreement, reported by the Salt Lake Tribune, would allow investigators to prepare arguments and possibly file charges against Welch without rushing to beat a five-year statute of limitations, the standard in most federal cases.

William Taylor, Welch’s attorney, would not comment on the report.

Without the agreement, prosecutors may not have been able to file charges for illegal activities that took place before June 16, 1995, when the IOC awarded the 2002 Winter Olympics to Salt Lake City.

It is not known whether former bid committee vice president Dave Johnson, or any other bid official, has entered into a similar agreement.

Track and Field

Mike Marsh, 32, won the 100 meters at the Oregon Track Classic in Portland with a time of 10.18 seconds, beating John Capel and Bryan Howard.

Allen Johnson, one of several athletes who doubled up in Oregon by running in the meet a day after competing at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, won the 110-meter hurdles in 13.27. That was .01 faster than his winning time Saturday.

Cycling

Urine samples from cyclists in the Tour de France, which starts Saturday, will be saved for testing for the banned hormone EPO once a new exam has received expert approval, the International Cycling Union announced. Earlier, the union said two of three experts felt more analysis was needed for a proposed urine test for EPO developed by France’s doping lab.

EPO, or erythropoetin, enhances endurance by boosting the production of oxygen-rich red blood cells in the body. It was at the center of the Tour de France drug scandal two years ago and is believed to be widely used in several sports.

Rowing

Olympic champion Xeno Mueller of Switzerland won the single sculls at the Rowing World Cup in Vienna, Austria. Mueller beat two-time world champion Rob Waddell of New Zealand in the final 100 meters on the New Danube. It was Muller’s first international victory since 1998.

This will be his only regatta before he defends his Olympic title at the Sydney Games.

China’s Xiyun Zhang was an upset winner in the women’s single sculls, beating world silver medalist Katrin Rutschow-Stomporwski of Germany.

Names in the News

Dara Torres broke the U.S. record in the women’s 50-meter freestyle as she won her fourth race at the Santa Clara International Invitational swim meet. Torres’ time of 24.73 seconds erased the previous national mark of 24.87 set by Amy Van Dyken at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Van Dyken was second Sunday, clocking 25.41. . . . Former UCLA women’s basketball coach Billie Moore has been elected president of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Moore, inducted in the hall’s inaugural class last year, was elected by the board of directors. . . . Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball star Doron Sheffer, 28, who also played for Connecticut, has retired, saying in Tel Aviv that he no longer enjoys playing.