Dokic Makes Some Noise on the Court for First Title

With only her tennis commanding attention, Jelena Dokic won her first title by defeating Amelie Mauresmo on Sunday at the Italian Open in Rome.

Dokic, 18, kept her composure and delivered punishing shots in winning, 7-6 (3), 6-1, and establishing herself as a threat to win the French Open.

“It’s really nice to win that first title,” said Dokic, a Wimbledon semifinalist last year. “This isn’t a small one, either. And, hopefully, it won’t be the last.”

Dokic’s tennis has been overshadowed for much of her young career by her father’s conduct.

Damir Dokic recently returned to coach his daughter after being banned from the tour after confrontations at last year’s Wimbledon and U.S. Open.

In accepting the winner’s silver trophy, Dokic thanked her family.

Pete Sampras won on clay for the first time this year, defeating Franco Squillari, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1), and helping the U.S. defeat Argentina, 2-1, at the ATP World Team Championship at Dusseldorf, Germany.

The $2.1-million tournament features eight nations and is a warmup for the French Open, which begins May 28.

Argentina evened the best-of-three series at 1-1 when Mariano Puerta stopped Jan-Michael Gambill, 7-6 (2), 6-4.

But Gambill and Andy Roddick, winner of two titles this year, defeated Lucas Arnold and Martin Garcia in doubles, 6-3, 6-4, to give the U.S. the victory.

In another series, France beat Russia, 3-0, led by Sebastien Grosjean’s sweep of Marat Safin, 7-6 (6), 6-3; and Arnaud Clement’s sweep of Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 6-0, 6-3.

Sampras had lost in the opening rounds in Rome and Hamburg in consecutive weeks. This time, he rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the third set and beat one of last year’s semifinalists at the French Open. “This win was very important, I’ve regained my confidence,” Sampras said. “It’s a great feeling to have won again.”

Qualifier Albert Portas defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero, 4-6, 6-2, 0-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5, to win the German Open at Hamburg.

Ferrero had won 16 consecutive matches, the best on the tour this year, and was trying to win his third consecutive title.

A tiring Ferrero lost in 3 hours 36 minutes.

Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden overcame a tough first set and defeated Andrei Stoliarov of Russia, 7-6 (1), 6-3, to advance to the second round of the $425,000 Raiffeisen Grand Prix at St. Poelten, Austria. Xavier Malisse of Belgium used a strong serve to defeat wild-card entry Werner Eschauer of Austria, 7-6 (4), 6-0, and Christophe Rochus of Belgium eliminated Sargis Sargsian of Armenia, 6-4, 7-5.

Soccer

Xu Yunlong scored the game-winning goal in the 22nd minute as China defeated Cambodia, 3-1, in an Asian World Cup qualifying match at Guangzhou, China.

China’s victory sets up a match against Indonesia next week for the Group 9 title.

In another Asian qualifier, India routed Brunei, 5-0, in Group 8.

In African qualifying, Tunisia and Ivory Coast played to a 1-1 tie in Group D.

Even with the game moved to a neutral stadium because of their racist behavior, groups of Lazio fans repeatedly booed a black player on Udinese during an Italian League game at Florence. The fans’ conduct might result in a fine for the Rome club. The league already had stripped Lazio of a home game because of racist banners during the game against AS Roma. Mohammed Gargo, a midfielder from Ghana, was targeted by Lazio fans. . . . Tammy Pearman scored a late first-half goal to lift the New York Power over the San Diego Spirit, 1-0, in a Women’s United Soccer Assn. game at San Diego.

Miscellany

A 45-year-old Ohio man competing in the Ironman California triathlon at Camp Pendleton was killed when he crashed his bicycle. Perry Rendina of Shalersville, Ohio, struck a guardrail during the race Saturday on the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base. A Navy doctor pronounced Rendina dead at the scene. The cause of death was severe head trauma, a spokesman for Ironman North America said. Rendina had been wearing a helmet, the spokesman said.

James Koskei and Jane Ngotho of Kenya, respectively, won the men’s and women’s divisions of the 7 1/2-mile Bay to Breakers in San Francisco. Koskei finished in 34 minutes 19 seconds, Ngotho in 40:35. . . . Andrew Sambu of Tanzania defeated a group of Kenyans in winning the Prague International Marathon in 2:10:14. . . . Masamori Tokuyama, a third-generation Korean who lives in Japan, retained his WBC super-flyweight title with a fifth-round knockout of Cho In-joo of South Korea at Seoul.