Sanchez-Vicario Tunes Up With Spanish Open Title

Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario won the Spanish Open tennis tournament for the sixth time with a 7-5, 6-0 victory over Angeles Montolio on Saturday at Madrid.

Sanchez-Vicario surged through the second set in 20 minutes against her Spanish compatriot.

The $170,000, clay-court tournament is a tuneup for the French Open, which starts Monday.

The victory gives Sanchez-Vicario a lift for Paris, where she has won three titles at Roland Garros.

“In Paris, I always play my best tennis and I feel good and confident that I can do well there,” she said.

“The favorites are [Martina] Hingis, [Amelie] Mauresmo, the Williamses and [Jennifer] Capriati, but I think I can play a good tournament.”

Australia won the World Team Cup at Duesseldorf, Germany, overcoming the withdrawal of an ailing Pat Rafter and getting a big victory by Lleyton Hewitt over Marat Safin of Russia.

Australia won its third title in the $2.1-million event when it won the deciding doubles in the best-of-three series.

Hewitt defeated Safin, 6-3, 6-4. Yevgeny Kafelnikov evened the final for Russia with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Scott Draper, who replaced Rafter at the last minute.

Wayne Arthurs and Draper then upset Safin and Kafelnikov, 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-4.

Rafter pulled out to rest his inflamed elbow for the French Open.

Silvia Farina Elia of Italy won her first singles title, defeating Anke Huber of Germany 7-5, 0-6, 6-4, in the final of the Strasbourg Open in France. . . . Andrea Gaudenzi of Italy won the Raiffeisen Grand Prix, at St. Poelten, Austria, defeating Markus Hipfl of Austria, 6-0, 7-5, in a final between wild-card players.

Laura Granville of Stanford defended her NCAA women’s singles title, defeating teammate Lauren Kalvaria, 6-3, 7-6 (1) at Stone Mountain, Ga.

In the doubles final, Florida’s Whitney Laiho and Jessica Lehnhoff defeated Granville and Gabriela Lastra, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3

Brian Vahaly of Virginia and Al Garland of Pepperdine, both unseeded, advanced to today’s semifinals of the NCAA men’s tournament at Athens, Ga.

The winner of their match will play either Matias Boeker of Georgia or Guilaume Legat of South Carolina for the championship.

Soccer

Ecuador’s national soccer coach, shot during an argument over the exclusion of a former president’s son from a youth squad, returned to Quito to resume leadership of his team.

Hernan Dario Gomez decided to withdraw a letter of resignation that he sent after he was shot in the right leg May 8, allegedly by a bodyguard of Joselo Rodriguez, president of a second division soccer club.

Witnesses said Rodriguez blamed Gomez for excluding his player, Dalo Bucaram, from the team that will compete in the Under-20 World Championship in Argentina in July.

Rodriguez, who was arrested, is a member of the Roldosista political party led by Bucaram’s father, former President Abdala Bucaram, who was removed from office by Ecuador’s Congress in 1997 for “mental incapacity.”

Real Madrid won the Spanish title, defeating Alaves, 5-0. Some 250,000 fans converged upon Madrid to celebrate the club’s 28th title.

Thailand defeated Sri Lanka, 3-0, in an Asian World Cup qualifying match at Bangkok, Thailand, to remain atop the Group 5 standings. In other Asian qualifying, Lebanon defeated Pakistan, 8-1, and the Philippines and Laos played to a 1-1 draw in Group 1.

The top team in each of the 10 Asian groups advances to the final qualifying round.

At least 35 people were injured at Jerusalem when soccer fans poured onto the field to celebrate their team’s victory in the Israeli League championship.

Miscellany

Jesse Aust won the javelin throw and Jeff Schneider was second in the pole vault as Azusa Pacific won the men’s NAIA track and field championship at Abbotsford, Canada. The Azusa Pacific women finished fourth. . . . Nicole Duncan of Cal State Los Angeles finished fourth in the 100 meters at the Division II championships at Edwardsville, Ill.

UCLA’s Beth Goodwin powered past California’s Natalie Coughlin in the final 15 meters to win the the women’s 100-meter butterfly at the Speedo Grand Challenge in Irvine.

Coughlin, the NCAA swimmer of the year, had set a meet record in the previous event, the 100 backstroke, and didn’t have enough to hold off Goodwin. Goodwin touched a fingertip ahead of Coughlin in 1:00.69. Coughlin finished in 1:00.77.

Chad Carvin of the Mission Viejo Nadadores made it four titles in two days, winning the 200 freestyle in 1:52.12, and the 400 individual medley in 4:30.28.

Katarina Witt, a two-time Olympic figure skating gold medalist, has applied to a Berlin court to prevent the release of the file East Germany’s secret police--the Stasi--held on her.

“The files are as intimate as a diary, and I don’t want people reading into my life,” Der Spiegel, a news magazine, quoted Witt as saying.

Michael Springer scored a career-high six goals and defending champion Syracuse advanced to the title game of the NCAA lacrosse tournament at Piscataway, N.J., by defeating Notre Dame 12-5.

Syracuse (13-2) will play Princeton on Monday in a rematch of last year’s final. Princeton (13-1) defeated Towson, 12-11.

Stefano Zanini of Italy won the seventh and longest cycling stage of the Giro d’Italia at Montevarchi, Italy.

Zanini completed the mostly flat 148.1 miles in 6 hours, 48 minutes, 2 seconds.

Dario Frigo maintained his 12-second lead over former world champion Abraham Olano in the overall standings. Today’s eighth stage covers 111 miles.

Konstadinos Gatsioudis of Greece had the longest javelin throw of the year, winning the European Clubs Cup at Madrid with a mark of 299 feet, 5 inches.