This Win Puts Her at No. 1

Justine Henin-Hardenne became the No. 1 player in women’s tennis by winning the Swisscom Challenge on Sunday at Zurich, Switzerland, with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Jelena Dokic.

Henin-Hardenne will advance from No. 2 and replace fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters at the top when the rankings are released today.

Clijsters, who lost to Dokic in the semifinals, was No. 1 for 10 weeks. The WTA Tour said she would regain the top spot in a week because Henin-Hardenne has withdrawn from next week’s Generali Open in Austria.

Henin-Hardenne, the 13th woman to be No. 1 since the tour rankings were introduced in 1975, won her eighth title of the year. She also won the French Open and U.S. Open.

“It was a dream of mine as a child,” Henin-Hardenne said before accepting the trophy and standing next to a giant board with No. 1 written in tennis balls. “I’ve been playing tennis since I was 5.”

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Juan Carlos Ferrero won the Madrid Masters with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Nicolas Massu and overtook Andy Roddick for first place in the ATP Champions Race with three weeks left in the season.

Ferrero, the French Open champion and runner-up in the U.S. Open, has four titles this season. The Spaniard received the trophy from Crown Prince Felipe after winning his first indoor championship.

Ferrero broke Massu to start each set. He was taken to deuce on serve only twice by Massu in the first two sets, and he broke the Chilean three times in the third.

Golf

Ernie Els won a record-tying fifth World Match Play title, defeating Thomas Bjorn, 4 and 3, at Virginia Water, England.

Els was three holes ahead after the first 18 and held on during the second 18 despite a late hole-in-one by Bjorn. Bjorn made his ace with a four-iron on the 179-yard 14th, the 32nd hole overall, and was awarded a $62,000 car for the shot.

Els won a first prize of $1.67 million and joined Gary Player and Seve Ballesteros as five-time winners. Els, the European money title winner with two events left, also won the event from 1994-96 and last season.

Players qualified through a system that takes into account performances in the four majors. Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Davis Love III were among those who declined to play despite one of the season’s biggest prizes.

“I said a few months ago that Ernie has the ability and more talent than Tigers Woods,” Ballesteros said during the trophy presentation. “And if he wants to be No. 1, he will be No. 1.”

Shigeki Maruyama won his third PGA Tour event in as many years, shooting a five-under 67 to beat Brad Faxon by five shots at the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro in North Carolina.

Maruyama started the day at 17 under and leading Faxon by three. No other player was within six shots of the leader, and it remained a two-man race. Maruyama finished with a 22-under 266, coming within one shot of the tournament record of 265, set by Jesper Parnevik in 1999.

Faxon, who shot a 69, has gone 73 tournaments since winning the 2001 Sony Open. He finished at 17-under 271.

Craig Stadler shot a four-under 67 to win the SBC Championship at San Antonio by four strokes over Bob Gilder, the largest margin in tournament history.

Stadler finished with a 15-under 198. It was the third Champions Tour victory for Stadler this year, his first on the tour. He previously won the Ford Seniors Champion Tournament and the Greater Hickory Classic. In July, he won the B.C. Open on the PGA Tour.

Gilder, runner-up for the third year in a row, shot a two-under 69 to finish at 11-under 202.

Basketball

A team of WNBA players was beaten in the final of the inaugural World Cup at Samara, Russia, losing to SGAU Samara of Russia, 72-68.

Nikki Teasley of the WNBA Select Team led all scorers with 21 points. Maria Stepanova had 17 points and 16 rebounds for Samara.

The WNBA, coached by Michael Cooper of the Sparks, tied the score at 66-66 with 1:17 left, but Samara made six free throws the rest of the way.

European champion UMMC Yekaterinburg of Russia finished in third place, beating French champion US Valenciennes Olympic, 70-64. Natalie Williams had 18 points and 11 rebounds for UMMC.

Volleyball

Stein Metzger and Dax Holdren lost to Brazil’s Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rigo, 21-18, 21-15, in the final of the FIVB World Beach Volleyball Championships at Rio de Janeiro. Metzger and Holdren, who have been a team for less than two months, defeated Brazil’s Benjamin Insfran and Marcio Araujo in the semifinals.

With the second-place finish, Metzger and Holdren could move into the second U.S. spot for the 2004 Athens Olympics.

There will be about eight Olympic qualifying tournaments before the Olympics begin next year.