Norman Moves Past Schalken Into Semifinals

Top-seeded Magnus Norman overcame cramps late in the match and survived a strong challenge from Sjeng Schalken to reach the semifinals of the Stockholm Open in Sweden on Friday.

The Swede won, 6-7 (2), 7-5, 7-6 (4), ending the match with an ace before a boisterous sellout crowd at Royal Tennis Hall.

Norman cramped up after hitting an ace in the 12th game of the final set, forcing the tiebreak. After a three-minute visit with a trainer, Norman came back and won the tiebreaker.

Norman, who overcame flu early in the week, will play Thomas Johansson in an all-Swedish match today.

Johansson made a great comeback in the quarterfinals, saving five match points before defeating compatriot Jonas Bjorkman, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (7), 7-5.

In other quarterfinals, second-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia defeated Swede Andreas Vinciguerra, 6-3, 6-4, and No. 6 Sebastien Grosjean defeated Rainer Schuettler, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (5).

But Grosjean withdrew from the semifinals a few hours later because of the death of his grandmother, which means Kafelnikov will advance to Sunday’s final in a walkover.

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Top-seeded Tim Henman reached the semifinals of the Samsung Open at Brighton, England, without hitting a ball after his opponent withdrew because of an injury.

Henman advanced when Chris Woodruff aggravated an arm injury in practice and was forced to pull out of the tournament. Woodruff had defeated Henman at this year’s Australian Open.

Also advancing to the semifinals were South Korean wild card Lee Hung-Taik, second-seeded Dominik Hrbaty and No. 5 Vladimir Voltchkov.

Winter Sports

In the first World Cup super-G of the season, Michaela Dorfmeister gave the powerful Austrian women’s team its first victory of the year.

After wins by German, Swiss and Croatian women in the first three races this season--two giant slaloms and a slalom--Dorfmeister put her country in the victory column with a margin of .29 seconds over Regine Cavagnoud of France at Aspen, Colo.

The top American was Jonna Mendes of Heavenly, Calif., who tied for 13th.

American Picabo Street, who has missed the last two ski seasons because of injuries, said she plans to return to the World Cup circuit on Dec. 6, when the women race a super-G in Val d’Isere, France.

Defending champion Martin Schmitt of Germany jumped 128 meters in the first round, then held off compatriot Sven Hannawald to win the World Cup ski jumping opener at Kuopio, Finland.

Austrian star Hermann Maier completed preparations for today’s first World Cup downhill of the season with the fastest training run at Lake Louise, Canada, a time of 1 minute 41.63 seconds.

Russians Maria Butyrskaya and Alexei Yagudin easily led their singles events after the short programs at the Lalique Trophy figure skating meet in Paris, while a Canadian couple led in pairs.

In the ice dance, Russia’s Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh took advantage of a stumble by world champions Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France in the original portion to gain the lead there.

Butyrskaya earned almost all marks from 5.7 to 5.9 despite skating third. Yagudin earned scores of nearly all 5.8s and 5.9s for his program. He opened with a quad-triple combination that he held with an extra turn on the ice.

The pairs event was led by Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, scoring marks mostly between 5.7 and 5.9.

Miscellany

Free-agent reliever John Franco, 40, has decided to stay with the New York Mets and will sign a three-year contract worth nearly $11 million.

The Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs also bid for Franco, who will remain as a setup man.

The Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves are both raising ticket prices next season, the Braves from $1 to $5 and the Red Sox from $4 to $15, depending on the section.

UCLA defeated Pacific, 13-6, in the first round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s water polo championship at Los Alamitos. Also, Pepperdine defeated USC, 5-4, UC Irvine defeated Stanford, 10-6, and California defeated Long Beach State, 10-6.

Jerry Romans, one of Churchill Downs’ winningest trainers, died Thursday after a long illness. He was 58. He had not been active as a trainer since suffering a cerebral hemorrhage and stroke in July 1998. Romans’ 199 victories rank 15th in Churchill history.

Cam Knows Best, a world-record holder and the runner-up in the 1998 Little Brown Jug, was among 20 standardbred horses killed in a barn fire at Manalapan, N.J.

One horse escaped the Thursday night blaze at Gaitway Farm, officials said. The horses competed at Freehold Raceway and the Meadowlands. The cause of the fire was believed to be a portable, submersible electric water heater.

Defending champion Aaron Baddeley shot a three-under-par 69 to pull into a share of the second-round lead with New Zealander Greg Turner in the Australian Open golf tournament at Melbourne. Last year, Baddeley became the first amateur in 39 years to win the tournament, and the youngest at 18.

Calgary Stampeder quarterback Dave Dickenson was selected the Canadian Football League’s outstanding player. Dickenson, a four-year veteran, completed 317 of 493 passes for 4,636 yards and a league-leading 36 touchdowns.

British shotputter Carl Myerscough, a sophomore at Nebraska, was suspended for two years by Britain’s track and field federation for a drug offense. UK Athletics said its disciplinary committee found Myerscough guilty of a doping violation after he admitted that metabolites of banned steroids were contained in his urine samples in a drug test in May 1999.

Rene Chapdelaine and Tomas Kapusta scored in the first period as the Ice Dogs defeated the Fresno Falcons, 4-1, at Long Beach.