Argentina’s Canas Beats Roddick

Guillermo Canas defeated Andy Roddick, 6-4, 7-5, Sunday in the final of the $2.95-million Tennis Masters Canada at Toronto.

Canas became the first player from Argentina to win the Canadian ATP Tour event since Guillermo Vilas in 1976.

The unseeded Canas, ranked 20th, defeated five seeded players and earned $392,000 for the title. He won his second title of the season and the third of his career.

“Day by day, I felt more confidence in my game,” the 24-year-old Canas said. “It’s nice to feel you can beat anybody on the tour. Maybe I surprised myself. I knew before that I could do it, but I never did it. It feels great to beat five of the top 10 players in the world in one tournament.”

The 19-year-old Roddick, ranked No. 12, made 26 unforced errors. Canas made only six.

“He doesn’t give you anything,” Roddick said.

Canas dropped onto his back after the final point. He then threw two balls into the stands toward groups of celebrating Argentine fans in the capacity crowd of 11,000.

Canas’ road to the finals included victories over No. 2 Marat Safin, No. 3 Tommy Haas, No. 5 Yevgeny Kafelnikov and No. 10 Roger Federer.

Canas broke Roddick in the ninth game of the first set to go up 5-4, and finished off the set when Roddick hit a service return into the net.

Roddick double-faulted twice in the first game of the second set, allowing Canas to break.

“I really wasn’t picking my spots too well,” Roddick said.

Swimming

Ian Thorpe anchored Australia’s 400-meter medley relay team to victory, earning his sixth gold medal in the Commonwealth Games at Manchester, England.

Thorpe, who finished second to countryman Matt Walsh in the 100 backstroke Saturday, also won gold in the 800 freestyle relay, 200 freestyle, 400 freestyle, and the 400 freestyle relay.

Otylia Jedrejczak of Poland broke the world record in the women’s 200-meter butterfly, finishing in 2 minutes 5.78 seconds in the European Swimming Championships at Berlin.

She bettered the mark of 2:05.81 set by Susan O’Neill in May 2000 at Australia’s Olympic trials for the Sydney Games.

Football

Chris Horn caught a 32-yard touchdown pass off the net with no time left to send the Arizona Rattlers into the semifinals of the Arena League playoffs with a 61-59 victory over the Carolina Cobras at Phoenix.

The catch was Sherdrick Bonner’s ninth touchdown pass of the day. He had 324 yards passing, and Horn caught 12 passes for 169 yards.

Two-time Canadian Football League MVP Mike Pringle will likely miss the rest of the season with a knee injury, leaving Lawrence Phillips as the Montreal Alouettes’ primary running back.

Pringle, a former Cal State Fullerton standout, torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee Friday in a victory over the Edmonton Eskimos.

Soccer

Pu Wei headed in a corner kick from Mia Hamm with only seconds left in injury time to send the Washington Freedom to the playoffs with a 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Beat in front of 10,357 at Washington in a Women’s United Soccer Assn. game.

Washington (10-5-5) won a corner in the second minute of stoppage time and Pu Wei squeezed her way into open space to head the pass into the back of the net for the game-winner, giving Hamm her second assist of the game. Atlanta (10-8-1) outshot the Freedom 14-4 in the first half.

Bettina Wiegmann and Angela Hucles each scored and had an assist as the Boston Breakers defeated the New York Power, 4-1, in front of 6,462 at Boston.

The Breakers (5-8-7) took the lead on Dagny Mellgren’s goal in the fifth minute. Mellgren, third in the WUSA with 11 goals, has scored five against New York (3-15-1) this season.

Miscellany

Lisa Fernandez pitched a three-hitter as the United States won its fifth consecutive women’s world softball championship with a 1-0 victory over Japan at Saskatoon, Canada.

The Americans--who haven’t lost a round-robin game in the world championships since 1970--finished 10-0. They also beat Japan, 1-0, on Saturday.

Dallas Star forward Jason Arnott was awarded a two-year, $7.5-million contract by an arbitrator. Arnott, 27, will receive $3.65 million for next season and $3.85 million for 2003-2004. Last season, Arnott had 25 goals and 20 assists in 73 games with the New Jersey Devils and three goals and one assist in 10 games with the Stars.

Lance Armstrong, the four-time Tour de France winner, raced in the inaugural New York City Cycling Championship in lower Manhattan as a way to honor a city that has gone through so many difficulties the last year.

Armstrong, competing in his first race in the United States since winning his fourth consecutive Tour title two Sundays ago in Paris, finished 28th overall, in 2 hours 6 minutes 54 seconds. He was 16 seconds behind winner Ivan Dominguez, of the Saturn team, in the 62.5-mile road race, which attracted more than 100,000 fans.

“This race was special in light of what happened a few blocks from here. You can’t forget that,” Armstrong said. “After 9-11, I wanted to come here to do something, a tribute, somehow, some way.”

Anti-terrorist police found a small quantity of explosives buried near a landmark 19th-century marble stadium in Athens scheduled to be used in the 2004 Olympics.

The discovery is part of efforts to topple the once elusive November 17 terrorist group in Greece. But it was not immediately clear whether the cache belonged to November 17 or other smaller Greek urban guerrilla cells, police said.

Teams from Japan, Guam, Netherlands Antilles, and Venezuela won regional tournaments to reach the Little League World Series. All teams open play Aug. 17 in the tournament at Williamsport, Pa.