Alinghi Takes 3-0 Lead at the America’s Cup

Alinghi of Switzerland led beleaguered Team New Zealand all the way around the course, and the America’s Cup is that much closer to going to Europe for the first time in 152 years.

New Zealand-born skipper Russell Coutts sailed another masterful race, steering Alinghi to a 23-second win today at Auckland, New Zealand, to give the Swiss a 3-0 lead in the best-of-nine series.

Two more wins by Alinghi and the oldest trophy in international sports will belong to a landlocked country for the first time. Specifically, it would go to La Societe Nautique de Geneve, a yacht club on the shores of Lake Geneva.

“Race three, it puts you over the halfway point,” said Alinghi tactician Brad Butterworth, another Kiwi. “It’s a big deal.”

On a gray day on the Hauraki Gulf -- 29-year-old skipper Dean Barker and two-time defending champion Team New Zealand tried vainly to keep up with the 40-year-old Coutts and his Kiwi-heavy crew. Alinghi led from the start, gained immediately from a wind shift and then kept its black-and-red boat ahead of the Kiwi black boat the rest of the way around the six-leg, 18.5-nautical mile course.

The Kiwis need a miracle to keep the America’s Cup at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. Coutts has never been beaten in an America’s Cup match, and now Team New Zealand must defeat its former skipper five times in six races. Race 4 is scheduled for Wednesday (Pacific time).

Coutts extended his record to 12 consecutive victories in the America’s Cup match, a streak spanning three regattas and two countries.

Two defenders have rallied from 0-2 deficits to win the America’s Cup, but no team has been able to come back from three down. The America’s Cup has been best of nine since 1995, when Coutts and Team New Zealand embarrassed Dennis Conner in a five-race sweep off San Diego.

Five years later, Team New Zealand routed Italy’s Prada Challenge in five races. Coutts handed the wheel to Barker for the clinching fifth race in 2000, then signed with Alinghi two months later, taking Butterworth and several top crewmen with him.

Coutts downplayed his impressive record, pointing out that Butterworth and the other “Kiwi Swiss” have one more win than he does in the America’s Cup.

The wind was about 12 knots at the start. Alinghi wanted the favored right side of the course and got it thanks to entering the box on favored starboard tack for the prestart maneuvers. The Swiss gained almost immediately from a 20-degree wind shift to the right and led by six lengths less than halfway up the 3.25-nautical mile windward leg.

Coutts said the weather team called the boat just before the start to say that it changed its mind and thought the right side of the course was the best.

“That was a big call,” Coutts said.

Alinghi led by 28 seconds at the first mark. Team New Zealand closed to 15 seconds after the downwind fourth leg, but the Swiss were ahead by 21 seconds when they rounded the buoy for the downwind run to the finish.

Tennis

Fourth-seeded Wayne Ferreira of South Africa was eliminated in his opening match of the Kroger St. Jude tournament, losing, 7-5, 6-4, to Jeff Morrison at Memphis.

Ferreira was one of three seeded players eliminated. Seventh-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia sprained his wrist in the first set and retired from his match against Magnus Norman leading, 6-4. Eighth-seeded Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark also lost, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4, to qualifier Eric Taino.

On the women’s side of the tournament, third-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa struggled in the first set before beating Angelika Roesch of Germany, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-1.

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Seventh-seeded Alex Corretja of Spain was eliminated in the first round of the ABN Amro tournament at Rotterdam, Netherlands, losing, 6-4, 6-0, to Jarkko Nieminen of Finland. Corretja was hurt by double faults and unforced errors.

Eighth-seeded Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands defeated Christophe Rochus of Belgium, 6-3, 6-3; Max Mirnyi of Belarus downed Mario Ancic of Croatia, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-4; Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia stopped Adrian Voinea of Romania, 6-4, 6-2; and Olivier Rochus of Belgium beat Stefan Koubek of Austria, 6-2, 6-1.

Pro Football

Tom Rathman was hired as running backs coach of the Detroit Lions, rejoining former boss Steve Mariucci. Rathman, a former fullback with San Francisco, served as running backs coach with the 49ers the last six seasons. He takes over for Bobby Williams, who will become Detroit’s receivers coach.

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Drug charges against Dallas Cowboy defensive end Peppi Zellner at Forsyth, Ga., were dropped after his brother claimed responsibility for having crack cocaine in their car. Magistrate Judge Frank Wilder dismissed the charges on the basis of a sworn statement from Mannon Lee Zellner Jr. that said his brother knew nothing about drugs being in the car.

Miscellany

Rain didn’t dampen the television ratings for Sunday’s Daytona 500. Fox reported that the four hours of race coverage scored an impressive 9.8 preliminary national overnight Nielsen rating with a 21% share of the audience.

The race, shortened from 200 laps to 109 by the rain, drew 29.9 million total viewers, Daytona’s fifth-largest audience.

Last year’s Daytona 500, televised by NBC, got a 10.9/26, with 35 million total viewers. Those numbers are all Daytona 500 records.

In L.A., Sunday’s Daytona 500 got a 4.0 rating, compared with a 7.3 for last year’s race.

Saturday’s running of the NASCAR Busch Series Koolerz 300 earned a 3.6/8 overnight rating/share. The Budweiser Shootout, televised in prime time in the East on Feb. 8, posted a 5.5/10 with 9.5 million viewers, making it the most-watched Budweiser Shootout.

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Olympic 100-meter gold medalist Maurice Greene, cautious after slightly pulling a calf muscle in Saturday’s Tyson Invitational track meet, said he will skip the rest of the indoor season, including the U.S. indoor championships. He will rehabilitate the injury and focus on preparing for the outdoor season.

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Construction delays and political instability in Venezuela may force the cancellation of some events at this summer’s Pan American Games at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Less than 20% of the work has been completed on the stadium and facilities for volleyball, track cycling and rowing, said Roque Napoleon Munoz, Pan American Sports Organization construction supervisor in the Dominican Republic. Because of protests in Venezuela, most of the building materials, such as scoreboards and stadium seats, have not arrived.