Serena Can’t Stop Mauresmo

Serena Williams lost for the second time in just over a month, the closest she has come to a “Serena Slump” in an otherwise dominant season.

With a little more than a week before she defends her title at the French Open, the world’s top-ranked player lost to Amelie Mauresmo of France, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, in the semifinals of the Italian Open on Saturday at Rome.

Williams, who is 26-2 this year, failed to close out the match in the second set after leading, 5-4, and serving for the victory.

Such missed opportunities were a rarity for Williams when she completed her “Serena Slam” by winning four consecutive majors, starting at Roland Garros last year and ending with the Australian Open in January.

“Everything went wrong for me,” Williams said. “I was making too many errors and struggling with my serve. I guess that sums it up. You can’t win a match with a second serve.”

Williams’ only other loss this year came against Justine Henin-Hardenne in the final of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C., on April 13. Both defeats were on clay, the same surface as the French Open, which begins May 26.

The fourth-seeded Mauresmo will play for the title against second-seeded Kim Clijsters of Belgium, who defeated No. 13 Ai Sugiyama, 6-3, 6-2.

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Countrymen Agustin Calleri and Guillermo Coria will meet in the final of the Hamburg Masters in Germany.

On a historic tennis day for Argentina, Calleri beat David Nalbandian, 6-4, 6-1, and the 12th-seeded Coria defeated Gaston Gaudio, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-0.

Never before had four players from Argentina reached the semifinals at one ATP tournament. It also was the first time four players from the same country played in the semifinals of a Tennis Masters Series tournament, the nine events that rank just below the Grand Slams.

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UCLA advanced to the NCAA men’s tennis quarterfinals with a 4-0 victory over Oklahoma State at Athens, Ga. Marcin Matkowski, Chris Lam and Erfan Djahangiri all won in singles for the Bruins (23-3), who will play Florida today at 9 a.m.

The Bruins started the match by winning the doubles point as the teams of Matkowski and Rodrigo Grilli and Djahangiri and Alberto Francis each recorded victories.

Junior Tobias Clemens, the Bruins’ No. 1 singles player, also competed as the NCAA continues to investigate his amateur status along with a number of other foreign players. Clemens was leading his match against Mark van Elden, 6-3, 4-5, when the Bruins clinched the victory.

Miscellany

The UCLA men’s golf team won the NCAA West Regional championship at Auburn, Wash., edging second-place Arizona by one stroke. It is the seventh tournament title for the Bruins this season.

Arizona made up eight strokes in the final round but could not overtake the Bruins, who won their first regional title in the 11-year history of the format. USC and Washington finished in a seventh-place tie as both also qualified for the NCAA championships, May 28-31 at Stillwater, Okla.

Kim Collins of St. Kitts beat Maurice Greene in the 100 meters in the Oregon Track Classic in rainy conditions at Gresham, Ore.

Collins finished in 10.21 seconds, far slower than Tim Montgomery’s world record of 9.78 set last year. American John Capel was second in 10.28, and Greene, the three-time world 100 champion, finished third in 10.33

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The San Francisco 49ers waived quarterback Cade McNown, the latest disappointment for the former first-round draft pick from UCLA.

McNown was acquired from the Miami Dolphins last June, and after having shoulder surgery in August he spent the season on injured reserve. He worked out with receiver Terrell Owens during the off-season, but he was among five quarterbacks under contract.

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Paul Spadafora and Leonard Dorin fought to a draw in a lightweight title unification fight at Pittsburgh.

Both fighters hoped it would be a springboard to a bout with WBC champion Floyd Mayweather that would unite all three titles, but the draw only muddles the division.

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The U.S. national boxing team, relatively inexperienced on the world stage, won six of 10 bouts against Kazakhstan in a duel meet at Tunica, Miss. Kazakhstan is considered one of the top three teams in the world.

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Boston Bruin captain Joe Thornton, third in the NHL in scoring this season with 101 points, was arrested Saturday in St. Thomas, Canada, and charged with assaulting a police officer. Thornton, 23, was released on bail.