‘Phenomenal’ Kuerten Makes Most of Long Day

Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, playing on 20 minutes rest after finishing his rain-delayed semifinal match, defeated Patrick Rafter of Australia, 6-1, 6-3, Sunday to win the Tennis Masters Series-Cincinnati at Mason, Ohio.

Kuerten looked invigorated rather than fatigued by an extra 50 minutes of tennis before the title match. He defeated seventh-seeded Tim Henman of Britain, 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (4).

“I could go out and play so much more relaxed,” Kuerten said. “I had myself 100% ready for the second match.

“The first set [against Rafter] was maybe the best set I played all week long.”

While Rafter had trouble finding his most effective serve, Kuerten was sharp with his placement, as he had been all week.

“I’ve never seen him serve that well before,” Rafter said. “Everything he did was just phenomenal.”

Rafter failed to hold serve three times in the first set. Kuerten beat him the first time with a passing shot, Rafter double-faulted on break point in the second and was out of rhythm throughout the third.

There was only one break in the second set, when Rafter tried to drop a shot just over the net. But Kuerten was able to reach it and flick it out of Rafter’s reach.

“Guga shut the gate on me early on and never let me in,” Rafter said, using Kuerten’s nickname. “I couldn’t get myself into a situation where I could put him under pressure. The whole rhythm of the match I had no control over.”

Rafter has appeared in the finals of his past three tournaments but has lost all three, including Wimbledon in July and last week at Montreal.

However, he has always played well in Cincinnati. He defeated Pete Sampras for the championship in 1998 and was runner-up to Sampras in 1999. He did not play last year because of a shoulder injury.

Kuerten, who overtook Andre Agassi for the lead in the ATP Champions Race this week, has won 16 career titles, 13 of them on clay. However, he has won 23 of 25 matches since beginning his campaign for his third French Open title.

The Kuerten-Henman match included two rain delays and spanned nearly six hours over Saturday night and Sunday morning.

With Henman serving, Kuerten won the first two points of the match before play was suspended because of rain. Following a 2-hour 21-minute delay, play resumed and Kuerten went on to win the set.

Then Henman began to assert himself, and by the time it started to rain again, Henman was leading the second set, 5-1.

Officials waited more than 1 1/2 hours before deciding shortly after midnight to finish the match Sunday morning.

Soccer

Rosbin Yuman, 16, and Lester Marrioquin, 24, were killed instantly and 10 other players severely burned when a bolt of lightning struck a soccer stadium during a professional match at Chiquimulilla, Guatemala, 75 miles east of the capital, Guatemala City.

Shortly after officials elected to continue the game, a bolt of lightning crashed into a metal guard rail surrounding the field, knocking everyone on the field off their feet.

The bolt spread through the rail, creating a ring of electric charge on the field and burning dozens of players, coaches and referees for several seconds. No one in the stands was injured.

Emilio Najera, a spokesman for Chiquimulilla’s volunteer fire fighters, said 10 other players were rushed to area hospitals with severe burns.

Among them was Marvel Jimenez, the younger brother of Alvaro Jimenez, a standout on the first-division Comunicaciones team and a member of Guatemala’s national soccer squad.

Liverpool defeated Manchester United, 2-1, in a Premier League warmup match at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.

Gary McAllister and Michael Owen scored for Liverpool in the Charity Shield--the first club match in Britain to be played under a closed roof.

Greek champion Olympiakos Piraeus held Italy’s Lazio to a 1-1 draw in a friendly at Athens.

Lazio came to Athens missing several of its stars, including Argentine strikers Hernan Crespo and Claudio Lopez.

Jamaica’s national team has dropped forward Walter Boyd as the 23-man squad prepares for its World Cup qualifier against Mexico Sept. 2.

Miscellany

Lauryn McCalley defended her women’s three-meter springboard title, and Justin Dumais won the men’s platform at the National Outdoor Diving Championships at Miami.

McCalley also teamed with Lane Bassham to defend their women’s three-meter synchronized springboard title. Dumais, of Ventura, teamed with his brother Troy to defend their men’s synchronized platform title.

Justin Dumais’ titles were the eighth and ninth of his career. Troy now has 11 career national titles.

Chris Duhon of Duke and Troy Bell of Boston College led the U.S. to an 89-80 win over Croatia in the final of the World Under-21 Basketball Championship at Saitama, Japan.

Bell scored 24 points, including six three-pointers, and Duhon scored 19 points, including five three-pointers, and had 14 assists as the U.S. finished the 12-nation tournament with an 8-0 record.