Seles Defeats Rubin at Madrid

Monica Seles defeated Chanda Rubin, 6-4, 6-2, Saturday to win the Madrid Open and claim her 53rd career singles title.

Seles, ranked sixth, defeated the 65th-ranked Rubin in 1 hour 7 minutes. The second set lasted only 29 minutes.

Seles denied she plans to retire after the French Open, which starts Monday.

“It’s been said that I was thinking about retiring this season,” she said. “It was said after the Australian Open and it will be said again after Roland Garros. But I will keep playing as long as I enjoy myself on the courts. Maybe I’ll stop this year, maybe not.”

Rubin, who recently recovered from a knee injury, won the Madrid Open two years ago, but hasn’t won a tournament since 2000.

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Martina Navratilova and Natasha Zvereva defeated Rossana Neffa-de los Rios and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, 6-2, 6-3, in the doubles final at Madrid, making Navratilova, at 45 years seven months seven days, the oldest woman to win a WTA Tour title. It was her 166th doubles title.

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Marat Safin’s back injury started Argentina on the way to a 3-0 sweep of Russia in the final of the World Team Cup at Duesseldorf, Germany.

A pinched nerve forced Safin to quit after Jose Acasuso recovered from dropping the first set to lead, 2-6, 6-3, 3-0. The injury puts Safin’s appearance in the French Open in doubt.

Guillermo Canas trounced Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 6-4, 6-2, in the second singles match to seal the victory.

Lucas Arnold and Gaston Etlis finished the sweep with a 6-4, 6-1 doubles victory over Andrei Cherkasov and Kafelnikov.

Safin said doctors believed the problem was an irritated nerve between his ribs.

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Second-seeded Nicolas Lapentti beat Fernando Vicente, 7-5, 6-4, in the final of the Raiffeisen Grand Prix at St. Poelten, Austria.... Second-seeded Silvia Farina-Elia defeated top-seeded Jelena Dokic, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, in the rain-delayed final of the Strasbourg Open in France.

Soccer

Portugal, the opening opponent for the United States in the World Cup, defeated China, 2-0, at Macao on second-half goals by Nuno Gomes and Pedro Pauleta.

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After a scoreless first half, Brazil routed Malaysia, 4-0, at Kuala Lampur in a World Cup warmup on goals by Ronaldo, Juninho, Edilson and Denilson.

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Johan Mjallby put the ball in his own net in the 63rd minute, giving Japan a 1-1 tie with Sweden in an exhibition game at Tokyo.

Miscellany

Didier Gailhaguet, the head of the French Skating Federation suspended for his role in the Salt Lake City Olympics figure skating scandal, was re-elected to a second four-year term.

Gailhaguet and French skating judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne were suspended for three years and banned from the 2006 Winter Games by the International Skating Union last month.

The two were found guilty of colluding to fix the outcome of the event in favor of Russian pair Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze ahead of Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.

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San Francisco 49er center Jeremy Newberry is out of jail after being arrested on suspicion of hitting a woman in a fight on a boat.

Newberry, 26, and his sister Jennifer, 27, were arrested Friday and charged with battery.

The 23-year-old woman from San Diego told Napa County deputies she was hit several times on the face during the fight on Lake Berryessa, about 70 miles northeast of San Francisco.

Deputies said she suffered injuries to her face, back and arms.

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Carlos Yanez hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning as Mexico beat Cuba, 6-2, at Saltillo, Mexico, in the first game of a three-game all-star series.

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Aaron Peirsol won the men’s 100 and 200-meter backstroke events in the Speedo Grand Challenge swim meet at Irvine. Peirsol, the world-record holder in the 200 backstroke, won the men’s race in 2 minutes 0.96 seconds and the 100 in 56.21 seconds.

Michael Cavic of Tustin won the men’s 50 freestyle (23.11) and 100 butterfly (54.40) and California’s Natalie Coughlin, the two-time NCAA women’s swimmer of the year, won the 200 freestyle (2:02.03) and 100 backstroke (1:01.78).

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Three-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong finished third in a 124-mile stage of the Midi Libre cycling race at France and took the overall lead going into today’s final stage.

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Mexico’s Julio Alberto Perez Cuapio broke away in the final miles to win the 13th stage of the Giro d’Italia cycling race.

For the first time in a week, there were no doping reports or rumors. Defending Giro champion Gilberto Simoni withdrew Friday after learning that he tested positive for cocaine metabolites at a random test in April.

Passings

Creighton Miller, a Notre Dame halfback from 1941-43 and a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, died of a heart attack at home in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb. He was 79. See B Section.