Els Ousts Van de Velde in an Overtime Match

Top-seeded Ernie Els made a par on the 19th hole today to eliminate Jan Van de Velde and reach the quarterfinals of the $5-million World Match Play Championship at Melbourne, Australia.

After both players made clutch birdie putts on the 18th hole, both hit poor drives on No. 1, but Els eventually got up and down out of the bunker for the victory.

Els will face Craig Stadler, who also won on the 19th hole, hitting his approach shot within two feet for a birdie to defeat Andrew Coltart.

There were also a couple of blowouts.

Steve Stricker, gaining confidence every day, was 9 under through 12 holes, including two eagles in his 6-and-5 victory over Justin Leonard.

Nick O’Hern of Australia continued his unlikely journey. Ranked No. 103 in the world, playing only because Jim Furyk was a late withdrawal, the left-hander defeated Dudley Hart, 5 and 4, to advance to the quarterfinals for a match with Stricker.

Tennis

Monica Seles beat Belgium’s Kim Clijsters, 7-6 (4), 6-0, at Perth, Australia, giving the United States a place in the Hopman Cup final.

Ranked fourth in the world, Seles rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the tiebreaker, then saved a break point at 2-0 in the second set in overpowering the 17-year-old Clijsters.

The U.S. will play South Africa or Switzerland in the final.

The Swiss combination of women’s No. 1 Martina Hingis and Roger Federer meet defending champion South Africa today in mixed doubles.

The South African pair of Wayne Ferreira and Amanda Coetzer completed a 2-1 victory over Thailand--last year’s losing finalist--with a 6-4, 6-1 win.

Top-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia reached the quarterfinals of the $1-million Qatar Open, beating Fredrik Jonsson of Sweden, 6-3, 7-6 (3), at Doha, Qatar.

No. 2 Nicolas Kiefer of Germany also advanced to the quarterfinals, defeating Alex Calatrava of Spain, 6-0, 7-6 (2).

Defending champion Jerome Golmard of France withdrew because of injury during his match in the Gold Flake Open tournament at Madras, India. Golmard conceded his match to Romanian Adrian Voinea after leading, 2-1, in the first set. Wild-card entry Taylor Dent of Newport Beach, who beat top-seeded Magnus Norman of Sweden in the first round, lost to qualifier Kristian Pless of Denmark, 7-6 (9), 6-4. . . . Defending champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia lost a first-set tiebreaker before rallying to beat Germany’s Bjorn Phau in the AAPT Australian men’s hard-court championship at Adelaide. The top-seeded Hewitt won the second-round match, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-0.

In a break with more than 80 years of tradition, play on Centre Court at Wimbledon will begin an hour earlier next summer--weather permitting, of course.

In a move to counter the tournament’s frequent rain delays, matches on Centre and Court 1 will be scheduled to start at 1 p.m., rather than the traditional 2 p.m., the All England Club said.

Exempt from the change are the two finals, which will retain their 2 p.m. start times.

Anke Huber has pulled out of the Australian Open because of a sprained right wrist. The Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, begins Jan. 15.

Jurisprudence

A jailer who bolstered Rae Carruth’s claim that his girlfriend was shot over a botched drug deal made an unusual visit to Carruth’s cell, another jail employee testified at Charlotte, N.C.

Kimberly Young, a detention officer in the Mecklenburg County Jail, was the first rebuttal witness for prosecutors, who say Carruth arranged the shooting of Cherica Adams, his pregnant girlfriend.

Young said she worked on the second floor of the jail, where Carruth was being held in solitary confinement, in December 1999.

Sgt. Shirley Riddle came to the floor one day and told Young to take a break because “she needed to talk to Rae,” Young testified. The two spent about 15-20 minutes together, Young said.

Young’s testimony was meant to impeach Riddle, who testified that the admitted triggerman, Van Brett Watkins, told her he shot Adams in a rage, not as part of a contract killing.

The woman whose car struck and killed former Detroit Tiger third baseman Aurelio Rodriguez was ordered to stand trial on felony manslaughter charges at Detroit.

Judge Nancy Blount ordered Carol Escobedo to stand trial on three felony counts, among them manslaughter and operating a vehicle with a suspended license causing death. Each is punishable by 15 years in prison.

French courts have moved ahead with plans to test urine samples taken from Lance Armstrong and his teammates during last year’s Tour de France, a judicial source said.

Three experts have been designated to perform the tests, and judicial officials are waiting for the results.

In December, French Sports Minister Marie-George Buffet refused to comply with a request from cycling’s governing body to destroy the frozen urine samples because judicial authorities wanted them for an investigation of Armstrong’s team.

Miscellany

The Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer traded veteran defender Lubos Kubik to Dallas for midfielder Sergi Daniv. . . . Former Quaker Oats executive Barbara Allen was hired as chief executive officer of the new Women’s United Soccer Assn.

A.R. Merino, long involved in Los Angeles-area youth sports and officiating, died Thursday at 88. . . Claude Osteen, pitching coach for the Dodgers last season, will be a major league scout next season, General Manager Kevin Malone announced.

David Booth scored 26 points as the Chicago Skyliners defeated the Los Angeles Stars, 131-115, the first loss for the Stars (3-1) in the ABA season. Mark Sanford had 26 points for the Stars.

Olympic medalists Tommie Smith, Bob Seagren, Charles Dumas, Don Quarrie and Quincy Watts are scheduled to attend a news conference today unveiling a new “Legends Lane” on the Sports Arena’s board track. The names of 105 Olympic gold medalists who have competed in the Los Angeles Invitational indoor meet over the last 40 years have been painted on the lane.