Martina, 47, Will Return to Singles

Martina Navratilova will play singles at age 47 in two tournaments this month, her first tournament-sponsored singles matches in the United States since 1994.

She plans to play singles at the Bausch & Lomb Championships next week at Amelia Island, Fla., and the following week at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C.

The winner of a record 167 singles titles, Navratilova will accept a wild-card invitation to the Amelia Island event that starts Monday, officials said.

Her last singles match in a U.S. tournament was the Virginia Slims championship, which she lost to Gabriela Sabatini.

Navratilova became the oldest woman to win a WTA Tour-sanctioned singles match at Eastbourne, England, in 2002 at 45 years 8 months. She turns 48 in October.

Navratilova has said this will be her final year of tournament play. She lost in doubles with Lisa Raymond in the semifinals of the Nasdaq-100 Open at Key Biscayne, Fla., to Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Likhovtseva, 6-4, 6-4.

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Second-seeded Andy Roddick advanced to the finals of the Nasdaq-100 Open, playing nearly flawless tennis to defeat Vince Spadea, 6-1, 6-3.

Roddick won the first set in only 21 minutes and won seven consecutive games.

His opponent Sunday will be third-seeded Guillermo Coria, who overcame four match points to beat Fernando Gonzalez, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1.

Motor Racing

Bobby Labonte won the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Samsung/RadioShack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth with a fast lap of 193.903 mph in his Chevrolet.

He barely beat Bill Elliott, the semiretired driver who will start second in only his second race of the season after going 193.729 in a Dodge.

Rookie Kasey Kahne, who took over full time in Elliott’s old No. 9 Dodge owned by Ray Evernham, qualified third at 193.673

Miscellany

A judge has ruled that the family of an Oakland Raider co-founder lacked legal standing for much of a lawsuit they brought against owner Al Davis.

The lawsuit was seeking to remove Davis as the Raiders’ managing general partner.

Alameda County Judge Judith Ford ruled that two descendants of Raider co-founder E.W. McGah, who made Davis a general partner in 1966, could only pursue their claims against Davis if they got the support of the remaining eight to 10 interests in the Raiders partnership. That scenario is considered highly unlikely.

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Iowa’s football program has been cleared of any wrongdoing in a football prospect’s sexual liaison during a visit to campus. Iowa Deputy Atty. Gen. Douglas Marek said an investigation found no merit in an allegation made last month by high school quarterback Nick Patton.

Patton, who committed to Kansas State, told the Manhattan (Kan.) Mercury that he had consensual sex with a college student during his two-day official recruiting visit last fall, and that the encounter appeared to have been arranged either by players or football staff.

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Purdue Coach Gene Keady has declined an offer to coach at the University of San Francisco and will return for his 25th season with the Boilermakers.

He interviewed for the Don job last week but turned the position down after thinking it over for several days.

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California dominated its qualifying session at the NCAA men’s gymnastics championships in Champaign, Ill., finishing more than a point ahead of second-place Ohio State.

The Golden Bears had 220.875 points while the Buckeyes scored 219.625. Top-ranked Illinois, seeking its first national championship since 1989, was third with 218.525.

Not only did Cal lead its session, but its scores were higher than any of the teams in the earlier qualifying session too.

Penn State finished in first place in the early session with 218.700 points while Michigan was in second place with 218.450. Two-time defending champion Oklahoma was third with 217.750.