Navratilova Gets Singles Victory

Martina Navratilova was back doing what she loved--playing singles, serving and volleying on grass, and winning.

In her first tour singles match in eight years, Navratilova defeated Tatiana Panova of Russia, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2, Tuesday at Eastbourne, England, a Wimbledon warmup she won 11 times.

The victory made her the oldest woman to win a WTA match. Navratilova, a nine-time Wimbledon champion, is 45. Panova is 25.

Navratilova displayed the serve-and-volley game that made her one of the greatest grasscourt players in history.

“It was fun,” she said. “It’s always more fun when you win. That’s the whole point why I’m here, playing doubles and now playing singles.... I didn’t really expect anything. I expected to have a good time and to do the best I could and see what that’s good for.”

Navratilova said people shouldn’t consider her victory over the 22nd-ranked Panova as a sign of weakness in the women’s game.

“That would really make me mad, because when Michael Jordan comes back he still makes an All-Star team and plays well because he’s great,” she said. “And I can still play this game and certainly I can still play it on grass. So don’t look at the age, look at the ability.”

Navratilova won 167 singles and 166 doubles titles in her career, including three Australian, two French and four U.S. Opens.

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Lleyton Hewitt’s title chances at Wimbledon will be tested early.

The top-seeded Australian was drawn to face veteran Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden in a potentially tricky opening-round men’s match in the tournament, which starts Monday.

In the women’s draw, sisters Venus and Serena Williams are seeded 1-2 and could meet in a Grand Slam final for the third time in 10 months.

In the men’s draw, Marat Safin was seeded No. 2, followed by Andre Agassi, Tim Henman, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Pete Sampras.

Sampras and Agassi are in different brackets and could only meet in the semifinals.

In the women’s draw, Jennifer Capriati was seeded No. 3, followed by Monica Seles, Kim Clijsters and Justin Henin.

Venus Williams, the two-time defending women’s champion, plays 19-year-old British wild card Jane O’Donoghue in the first round and Serena Williams plays Australia’s Evie Dominikovic.

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The top-seeded Hewitt outlasted Michael Chang, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4), in the first round of the Ordina Open at Den Bosch, Netherlands.... Top-seeded Andy Roddick defeated Bjorkman, 7-5, 7-5, in the first round of the Samsung Open at Nottingham, England.

Golf

The national rating for the U.S. Open on Sunday was an 8.9 with a 22 share, which translates to 38 million viewers. The overnight rating, released Monday, was a 9.3.

The 8.9 national rating for Tiger Woods’ victory is the fourth-highest rating in U.S. Open history, according to Nielsen figures that date to 1960. Although ABC got the same rating in 1981, there hasn’t been a higher number since ABC got a 9.4/32 in 1973.

Last year, when Retief Goosen won, NBC got a 7.2/19 for the final round. When Woods won in 2000 at Pebble Beach, the final round drew an 8.1/21.

Saturday’s third round got a national rating of 6.0/17, the best Saturday performance since 1982.

Football

Former Denver Bronco quarterback John Elway will be part owner of an Arena Football League team in Denver that will be announced today at a news conference.... Miami Dolphin running back Ricky Williams received tickets for having an expired tag and driving without a driver’s license and proof of insurance, said police at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Hockey

The Carolina Hurricanes rewarded Coach Paul Maurice and General Manager Jim Rutherford for the team’s surprising run to the Stanley Cup finals.

Terms of Maurice’s contract weren’t disclosed, but it was expected to be a five-year deal worth about $750,000 a year.

Miscellany

Former USC men’s coach John Williams and current Occidental College Coach Dennis Fosdick will be inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame on June 30 in the Armed Forces Reserve Center at Los Alamitos.

Williams won 449 matches in 26 years, ending his career in 1998 by winning the NCAA championship. Fosdick has coached the men’s and women’s teams at Occidental the last 10 years and won the Division III women’s national title in 2000.

Alan Webb, who broke Jim Ryun’s 36-year-old record for the high school mile last summer, said he is transferring from Michigan to George Mason at Fairfax, Va.

Webb told the Ann Arbor News on Monday he will not run for George Mason, but would not confirm rumors he plans to turn professional.

Ice Castle International Training Center at Lake Arrowhead, the training base for Olympic figure skating bronze medalist Michelle Kwan and an array of other skaters, will be put up for sale later this month, owner Carol Probst said. She and her late husband, Walter, owned the site for 20 years.

Summer skating programs won’t be affected, but the facility’s future is unclear beyond that.

Passings

Former Olympic 110-meter champion Willie Davenport, who collapsed at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Monday, died of a heart attack, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. He was 59. Story, B section.