Coughlin Sets World Record in 100-Meter Backstroke

Natalie Coughlin shattered the 100-meter backstroke world record Tuesday at Fort Lauderdale, Fla., finishing in 59.58 seconds at the U.S. National Swimming Championships.

Coughlin, of Concord, Calif., trimmed more than a half-second off the previous record of 1:00.16 set by Chihong He of China in 1994.

Coughlin is the first American to hold the world record since Catherine Ferguson in 1966.

“I was glad I finally did it,” Coughlin said. “Breaking the world record has been in the back of my mind, and I knew I could do it.”

In other finals, Aaron Peirsol, of Irvine won the men’s 100-meter backstroke in 54.01 seconds, beating world record-holder Lenny Krayzelburg, of Los Angeles, who touched in 54.48.

Nate Dusing, of Villa Hills, Ky., was the surprise winner in the men’s 200-meter freestyle in 1:47.08, only 0.43 seconds off the American record. Dusing beat favorites Michael Phelps, of Baltimore, and Klete Keller, of Phoenix.

Tennis

Top-ranked Serena Williams withdrew from the Rogers AT&T; Cup Tuesday, the same day former No. 1 player Martina Hingis was victorious in her return from ankle surgery. Hingis defeated Spain’s Magui Serna, 6-4, 6-3 in the second round at Montreal.

Williams cited acute tendinitis in her left knee as the reason for her withdrawal. Williams first injured her knee during practice Monday and aggravated the injury during practice Tuesday afternoon.

The sixth-seeded Hingis, who had an operation to repair ligament damage in her left ankle May 20, made several unforced errors but still got past No. 53-ranked Serna.

Andre Agassi broke Noam Okun’s serve twice in the first three games and never looked back as he advanced to the third round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic with a 6-2, 6-2 victory at Washington. Third-seeded Sjeng Schalken won a second-round match, beating Cedric Pioline, 7-6 (5), 6-1.... Arnaud Clement, the No. 15 seed, beat Jonas Bjorkman, 6-4, 7-5, to reach the second round of the RCA Championships at Indianapolis.

Golf

Courtney Swaim of Sugar Hill, Ga., shot a three-under-par 68 at Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Scarborough, N.Y., and was stroke-play medalist in the U.S. Women’s Amateur championship.

Swaim, 22, finished with a two-day total of seven-under 135, three shots ahead of Danielle Downey of Spencerport, N.Y., and will enter match play today as the top-seeded player.

UCLA sophomore Yvonne Choe and Walailak Satarak of UC Irvine tied for ninth at 143. Pepperdine seniors Lindsey Wright (72-73) and Katherine Hull (71-75) also advanced to match play, as did Hana Kim of Los Angeles (70-77) and Sunny Oh of Torrance (77-70).

Miscellany

A French judge in Paris rejected a request to release the wife of Lithuanian cyclist Raimondas Rumsas from jail. Edita Rumsas was jailed last month for allegedly transporting illegal doping products.

French police said Edita Rumsas was carrying performance-enhancing drugs, including EPO and testosterone. Raimondas Rumsas, who finished third in the Tour de France, was tested for doping four times during the race with all the tests coming up negative. Rumsas said the drugs found by police were intended for his mother-in-law.

Alexander Daigle, a former No. 1 draft pick who walked away from hockey two years ago, signed a tryout contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Daigle appeared ready to go to camp with the San Jose Sharks. He apparently changed his mind when given the chance to possibly play alongside Mario Lemieux, who, like Daigle, is French-Canadian. Daigle hasn’t played since the 1999-2000 season.

Jay Williams of the Chicago Bulls, an alternate on the U.S. men’s national basketball team, is expected to be added to the main roster as a replacement for the injured Ray Allen. Allen said that a sore knee would keep him from playing in the World Championships, Aug. 29-Sept. 8 at Indianapolis.... The NBA’s No. 1 draft pick Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets, along with Menk Bateer of the Denver Nuggets and Wang Zhizhi of the Dallas Mavericks, have been named to the Chinese team.

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T.J. Simers is on vacation.