Seles Defeated by Davenport

Lindsay Davenport won her first title since seriously injuring her right knee in November 2001, defeating top-seeded Monica Seles, 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-2, on Sunday in the Pan Pacific Open at Tokyo.

Davenport spent nine weeks on crutches after surgery early last year, then endured rehabilitation that included daily eight-hour sessions on a machine that repeatedly bent and straightened her knee.

After losing the first set in a tiebreaker, the third-seeded Davenport jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second set and then reeled off three straight aces to serve it out. Davenport, seeded third, broke Seles three times in the final set before closing out the match with an ace, her 16th of the day.

“I think losing the first set was a big wakeup call for me,” said Davenport, also the Pan Pacific winner in 1998 and 2001. “The last two sets were some of the best tennis I’ve played in years.”

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Unseeded Martin Verkerk defeated fifth-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, in the final of the Milan Indoors tournament for his first ATP title. Verkerk relied on a powerful serve, backhand passing shots and a few lapses by Kafelnikov on key points.

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USTA and Fed Cup captain Billie Jean King announced that Serena and Venus Williams will play for the United States in the first round of the Fed Cup against the Czech Republic in April.

Winter Sports

Stephan Eberharter of Austria won the super giant slalom at the World Alpine Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland, finishing just ahead of Bode Miller and Hermann Maier, who tied for second.

Eberharter finished in 1 minute 38.80 seconds to reclaim the title he won 12 years ago. Maier, also of Austria, and Miller, of Franconia, N.H., finished in 1:39.57.

Maier, who returned to competition three weeks ago after nearly losing a leg in a motorcycle accident in August 2001, built a 0.67-second lead in the top of the course but lost time at the bottom and finished tied with Miller.

Daron Rahlves of Sugar Bowl, Calif., the defending champion, finished 22nd.

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Sven Hannawald of Germany won a World Cup ski jumping event at Bad Mitterndorf, Austria, to close within 27 points of overall World Cup leader Janne Ahonen of Finland, who placed fifth.

Hannawald had jumps of 195 and 196.5 meters for 378.3 points on the giant hill in front of 40,000 fans. Florian Liegl of Austria, who won Saturday’s event, finished second with 370.7 points. Matti Hautamaki of Finland was third with 363.8.

Adam Malysz of Poland, who finished fourth, has 927 points in the overall standings, one point behind Ahonen. Hannawald is third overall with 901 points.

Miscellany

Ross Newhan, national baseball writer for The Times, has been voted 2002 California Sportswriter of the Year by his contemporaries. King announcer Bob Miller was named California Sportscaster of the Year. The awards are sponsored by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Assn.

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Svetlana Feofanova of Russia set a world indoor pole vault record, jumping 15 feet 7 1/4 inches at the Norwich Union meet in Glasgow, Scotland. She surpassed her previous record of 15-7 set on March 3, 2002, at the European indoor championships in Vienna.

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First-year UCLA football Coach Karl Dorrell completed his staff with the addition of Brian Schneider, who coached tight ends and special teams at Colorado State the last six seasons.

Schneider will coach outside linebackers and nickel backs for the Bruins. Also, Robert Lopez will be the UCLA director of football operations.

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Kevin Buckler’s Porsche 911 GT3 won the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway. It’s the first time a GT class car has won since 1977.