America’s Cup Delayed Again

Race 4 of the America’s Cup between Alinghi of Switzerland and two-time defending champion Team New Zealand was postponed today because there was practically no wind on the vast patch of water in the Hauraki Gulf, northeast of downtown Auckland, New Zealand.

The race committee will try for a third time to get the race in on Sunday, although the forecast is for light wind. The race originally was scheduled for Thursday.

Alinghi has a 3-0 lead over two-time defending champion Team New Zealand. Organizers will decide by Sunday whether to race on Monday, which is scheduled as a lay day.

Tennis

Taylor Dent struggled with his first serve but still had enough on his second to beat Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus, 7-6 (1), 6-2, in the quarterfinals of the Kroger St. Jude tournament at Memphis, Tenn.

Dent will play Vince Spadea, who beat Mardy Fish, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. Brian Vahaly advanced with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Irakli Labadze of Georgia and will play defending champion Andy Roddick, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Robby Ginepri.

On the women’s side, third-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa beat Laura Granville, 6-4, 6-1, and in the final will play second-seeded Lisa Raymond, a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 winner over Yoon Jeong Cho.

Top-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne beat Jennifer Capriati, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, to advance to the final of the Dubai Open in the United Arab Emirates. She will play Monica Seles, who advanced when second-seeded Amelie Mauresmo retired because of a right thigh injury.

Miscellany

Nine-year Champions Tour player Mike McCullough shot a four-under-par 67 to take a one-shot lead in the Verizon Classic at Lutz, Fla., in front of Mark McCumber, Hale Irwin, Tom Kite and Bruce Fleisher.

Karrie Webb completed a round of six-under-par 66 today to take a one-stroke lead over Laura Davies after the second round of the ANZ Ladies Masters at Gold Coast, Australia.

Dave Blaney won the first pole of his career when most teams chose not to bother with qualifying on a cold, wet day at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham. Blaney took the top spot for Sunday’s Subway 400 by turning a lap in the No. 77 Ford at 154.683 mph.... Rookie Sebastien Bourdais of France took the provisional pole for Sunday’s opening race of the CART season at St. Petersburg, Fla., speeding around the 1.806-mile, 14-turn course in 1 minute 1.676 seconds at 105.415 mph.... Tony Pedregon continued to set the early-season pace in NHRA Funny Car qualifying with the fastest time (4.797 seconds at 317.57 mph) at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, Ariz.

Texas Tech basketball player Nick Valdez, who was suspended for Monday night’s game against third-ranked Texas by Coach Bob Knight, has quit the team.

Valdez had not attended practice this week.

Connell Maynor stepped in after quarterback Jay Gruden broke his ankle on the first play of the second half and led the unbeaten Orlando Predators to a 70-42 Arena League victory over the winless Carolina Cobras at Charlotte, N.C.

Passings

Harry Jacunski, a former Green Bay Packer lineman and assistant coach at Yale, died Thursday in Branford, Conn. He was 87.

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America’s Cup

*--* TEAM NEW ZEALAND VS. ALINGHI Alinghi of Switzerland leads, 3-0, in best-of-nine series Schedule (U.S. dates, 4 p.m. PST; TV: ESPN2) Race 1--Alinghi wins Race 2--Alinghi wins Race 3--Alinghi wins Race 4--Today Race 5--Sunday ** Race 6*, 7*, 8* and 9* TBA * If necessary. ** Tentative

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