Henman Finds Groove in Rainy Conditions

Top-seeded Tim Henman of England had to overcome a rain delay Tuesday, but came back stronger for a 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-0 victory over Australia’s Richard Fromberg in the Australian Men’s Hardcourt Championship at Adelaide.

Rain forced organizers to postpone until today first-round matches between Pete Sampras and Todd Martin, and Australia’s Andrew Ilie and France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Mark Philippoussis’ return from knee surgery also was affected by the rain, but the big-serving Australian led Julien Boutter of France, 6-3, 1-0, when play was suspended.

Fifth-seeded Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands beat Alex Kim, 6-3, 6-2.

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Wimbledon finalist Justine Henin of Belgium defeated Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, 1-6, 6-0, 6-3, in the Australian Women’s Hardcourt Championships at Gold Coast.

Henin is seeded second behind Venus Williams at this Australian Open warmup. Williams, who defeated Henin in last year’s Wimbledon final, opens against Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder today.

Nadia Petrova of Russia upset fourth-seeded Meghann Shaughnessy, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; seventh-seeded Daja Bedanova of the Czech Republic ousted Joannette Kruger of South Africa, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2; and eighth-seeded Ai Sugiyama of Japan defeated Anastasia Myskiana of Russia, 7-5, 6-3.

Fifth-seeded Silvia Farina-Elia of Italy beat Emilie Loit of France, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

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Wimbledon champion and second-seeded Goran Ivanisevic struggled past Austria’s Stefan Koubek, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, in the Qatar Open at Doha.

Third-seeded Albert Portas of Spain lost to Julian Knowle of Austria, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7-0).

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Top-seeded Angeles Montolio of Spain lost to Alina Jidkova of Russia, 6-3, 6-1, and defending champion Meilen Tu lost to Selima Sfar of Tunisia, 6-3, 6-2, in the ASB Bank Classic at Auckland, New Zealand.

Fourth-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain lost to Kristina Brandi, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

Anna Kournikova defeated Zimbabwe’s Cara Black, 7-6 (6), 6-2.

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Argentina’s Guillermo Canas eliminated Switzerland’s George Bastl, 6-4, 6-2, in the first round of the TATA Open at Madras, India.

Defending champion Michael Tabara of the Czech Republic twisted his ankle late in the first set and lost to Dennis van Scheppingen of the Netherlands, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

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Belgium’s Kim Clijsters, the tournament’s highest-ranked female, was sluggish and careless in a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Italy’s Francesca Schiavone in the Hopman Cup team finals at Perth, Australia.

But Belgium’s Xavier Malisse beat Davide Sanguinetti, 6-4, 7-5, and Clijsters and Malisse defeated Schiavone and Sanguinetti, 6-3, 6-4, in the deciding mixed doubles to give Belgium a 2-1 victory.

Spain won its second consecutive match, reaching an unassailable 2-0 lead against Switzerland.

Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario beat Miroslava Vavrinec, 6-2, 6-0, and Tommy Robredo ended any chance Switzerland had of successfully defending its title by defeating Roger Federer, 7-6 (7), 6-2.

The United States plays Italy today and Australia plays Argentina in the round-robin tournament.

Golf

Jose Coceres of Argentina, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour last year, broke his arm playing soccer with friends and will be out for at least six weeks.

Coceres and Phil Mickelson will be the only players to sit out the season-opening Mercedes Championships, a winners-only field that starts Thursday at Kapalua, Hawaii.

That leaves 32 players in the field, including Tiger Woods, David Duval and defending champion Jim Furyk.

Mickelson had told tournament officials he wanted to be home with his family during the holidays. The Mickelsons have a 2-month-old daughter.

Coceres, who learned to play golf using sticks and rocks for his equipment, won at Hilton Head in a playoff, then held off Davis Love III to win at Disney.

Miscellany

Brad Friedel had the big saves but Kasey Keller had the shutout as American goalies faced off in England’s top soccer league for the first time.

In a game pitting the two contenders to man the nets for the U.S. World Cup team this summer, Keller and Tottenham defeated Friedel and Blackburn, 1-0, in freezing temperatures.

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The United States lost to Russia, 6-1, in the quarterfinals of the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships at Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic.

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A Cuban men’s volleyball player returned home and criticized six teammates for leaving a tournament in Belgium and going to Italy in hopes of playing there.

“They have thrown away so many years of work,” Alain Roca said. “Now we have to begin practically from zero.”

Most of the Cubans insisted their motivation was to play professionally in Italy, the Italian sports newspaper Corriere dello Sport, reported.

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Shaun Creighton, a two-time Australian Olympian, won the New Year’s Eve midnight run at New York’s Central Park, covering the four-mile course in a record time of 19:22.

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A scuba diver drowned while helping his brother retrieve wayward balls from a golf course lake at Boynton Beach, Fla.

Police identified the man as Mark Feher, 21.

Passings

Jerry Botts, vice president and racing secretary at Churchill Downs, died following a brief illness. He was 54. See story, Page B9.