Serena Defeats Capriati in Tuneup for U.S. Open

Serena Williams served notice that she’s back in Grand Slam form with a 6-1, 6-7 (7), 6-3 victory Sunday over Jennifer Capriati in the Rogers AT&T; Cup final at Toronto.

Williams, who had to pull out of last year’s final in Montreal against Martina Hingis in the third set because of a a foot injury, recovered from a rain interruption of almost three hours and a tense tiebreaker loss to win her second WTA title this summer.

Williams broke a string of four consecutive losses to Capriati, who beat Williams in the Wimbledon quarterfinals in their last meeting.

Patrick Rafter of Australia, a two-time U.S. Open champion, earned his first tournament victory since June 2000 when No. 1-ranked Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil retired because of a rib-cage injury 22 minutes into the RCA Championships final at Indianapolis.

It was Kuerten’s second match of the day. He defeated Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, in a rain-delayed semifinal, then had about an hour to rest before the final.

The French Open champion said he didn’t know exactly what the injury was or how it might affect his status for the U.S. Open, which starts Aug. 27.

Andy Roddick, 18, won the first hardcourt championship of his career by defeating Sjeng Schalken, 6-2, 6-3, in the final of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic at Washington.

Schalken never got into the rhythm that he displayed in his three-set semifinal upset of top-seeded Andre Agassi on Saturday.

Amelie Mauresmo of France defeated Magdalena Maleeva, 6-3, 6-4, in the first round of the Pilot Pen tournament at New Haven, Conn. Henrieta Nagyova also advanced, defeating Silvia Farina, 6-1, 6-2.

Horse racing

Jockey Isiah Sala died Sunday night, hours after he and his mount went down during a race at Marquis Downs and he was trampled by another horse, authorities in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, said.

Sala, a 23-year-old native of New Jersey and the leading rider at the track, was thrown from his mount during the next-to-last race of Heritage Day, one of Marquis Downs’ highlight events of the season.

Miscellany

World 100-meter champion Zhanna Pintusevich-Block of Ukraine was defeated for the second time in three days at the Gateshead Grand Prix in England--this time by Ekaterini Thanou of Greece.

Tim Montgomery came from behind to win the men’s 100 in 10.27, Bernard Williams won the 200 in 20.23, and world 400 hurdles champion Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic and USC switched to the flat 400 and won in 44.90, defeating Olympic 400 hurdles champion Angelo Taylor.

In the women’s 400 hurdles, Tonja Buford Bailey defeated U.S. teammate Sandra Glover in 54.77. Olga Kuzenkova of Russia won the hammer throw at 226-1 and her compatriot, Tatyana Lebedeva, took the triple jump at 49-0 1/4. In the rarely run 300, Ana Guevara of Mexico won in 35.92.

Clint Dolezel passed for seven touchdowns and the Grand Rapids Rampage set a league championship game scoring record, defeating the Nashville Kats, 64-42, in the ArenaBowl before 11,217 at Grand Rapids, Mich. The Rampage (14-3) won its first AFL title. Nashville (12-5) lost in the final for the second year in a row.

Brazilian striker Ronaldo, 24, made a much-applauded comeback from a 21-month absence because of a knee injury, scoring one goal and setting up another for Inter in a 2-0 victory over Nigerian champion Enyimba Lagos in a charity match at Milan, Italy. . . . Brian Maisonneuve scored early and Tom Presthus stopped a penalty kick as the Columbus Crew defeated the New York-New Jersey MetroStars, 1-0, at East Rutherford, N.J., to extend its unbeaten streak to nine games. . . . Chris Klein, Roy Lassiter and Gary Glasgow scored for the Kansas City Wizards in a 3-0 victory over the Colorado Rapids at Kansas City, Mo.

Cory Spinks, the son of former heavyweight champion Leon Spinks, won the USBA welterweight title and earned a shot at International Boxing Federation champion Vernon Forrest.

The younger Spinks won a 12-round unanimous decision over Larry Marks on Friday in Chicago.

Matt Carpenter won the Pikes Peak Marathon at Manitou Springs, Colo., in 3:53.54.

Herman Goffberg, a member of the 1948 U.S. Olympic team as a 10,000-meter runner, died Friday in State College, Pa. He was 80.