Duval Shoots a 63, Leads at Las Vegas

David Duval, showing signs he might be ready to reclaim his spot among golf’s best, shot a nine-under 63 on Saturday in the Invensys Classic at Las Vegas to get in position for his first victory since last year’s British Open.

Duval made nine birdies and nine pars to take a one-shot lead over third-round leader Jim Furyk and Jeff Sluman going into the final round of the 90-hole event.

It was his lowest round since the 2001 Tour Championship, moving Duval to 24 under and leaving him excited about his prospects over the final 18 holes.

“Tomorrow, I have one goal and that’s to win the golf tournament,” said Duval, who started the round five shots behind Furyk.

Jonathan Byrd (64) and Stuart Appleby (67) were 22 under, and six players were four strokes off the lead at 20 under.

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Carin Koch struggled to protect her lead in the Mobile LPGA Tournament of Champions at Mobile, Ala., allowing Annika Sorenstam and Se Ri Pak to move into contention.

Koch ended a string of nine scrambling pars with a tap-in birdie on the 18th to salvage a two-under 70. She had a tournament-record 17-under 199 total.

Emilee Klein was two strokes back after a 67, Pak (67) and Cristie Kerr (69) were another shot behind, and Sorenstam (67) was alone at 13 under.

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Tom Kite, seeking his third victory this season, shot a six-under 66 to take a two-stroke lead after the second round of the Napa Valley Championship at Napa, Calif.

Kite had a 12-under 132. First-round leader Allen Doyle was 10 under after a 70, and Charles Coody had a 67 to join Bob Gilder (69) at eight under.

Tennis

Three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten defeated Arnaud Clement, 6-4, 6-7 (1), 6-4, and Paul-Henri Mathieu defeated Kristian Pless, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-4, in the semifinals of the Lyon Grand Prix in France....Sixth-seeded Roger Federer and fifth-seeded Jiri Novak won semifinals of the CA Trophy indoor tournament at Vienna. Federer beat fourth-seeded Carlos Moya, 6-2, 6-3, and Novak defeated Andrei Pavel, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2)....Kim Clijsters fought off a match point and won the last five games to beat Amelie Mauresmo, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, and Daniela Hantuchova beat Elena Dementieva, 6-3, 6-2, in the semifinals of the Porsche Grand Prix at Filderstadt, Germany.

Motor Sports

Tim Huddleston of Agoura Hills closed out the Late Model season at Irwindale Speedway with a victory in the Racecar Factory 100 before 6,352.

In the 50-lap season-ending Super Stock open competition feature, Lee Ladd of Westlake Village won for the first time.

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Billy Hamill won the U.S., National Speedway championship at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

Hamill took the lead out of the first turn in the four-lap main event and held off three-time national champion Mike Faria of Reno, Nev. Gary Hicks of Hesperia finished third.

Miscellany

Morgan Hamm and Paul Hamm will lead a five-man U.S. delegation to the world gymnastics championships, to be held Nov. 20-24 in Debrecen, Hungary. Also competing will be Jeff Johnson, Brett McClure and Sean Townsend. This year’s world championships will crown individual champions only, not all-around or team winners.

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Frenchwoman Audrey Mestre, 28, died shortly after plunging into the sea near La Romana, Dominican Republic, where she was attempting to break the world freediving record of 531.5 feet set by her husband, Cuban Francisco “Pipin” Ferreras.

Carlos Serra, president of the Miami-based International Assn. of Free Divers, said Mestre reached her target depth of 561 feet. But she needed to return to the surface safely for it to be considered a record.

Mestre last year set the female world record at 426.5 feet off Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

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An America’s Cup sailing race between U.S. syndicates OneWorld and Oracle was postponed because of strong wind on Hauraki Gulf off Auckland, New Zealand.

The race between the American yachts and all five deferred matches will be contested Monday.