Venus Williams Reaches Family Circle Cup Final

Venus Williams defeated Jelena Kostanic, 6-4, 6-1, Saturday at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C., capitalizing on a strong serve to reach her first final of the year.

She will play Conchita Martinez, who defeated Patty Schnyder, 6-4, 6-3, in the other semifinal. Martinez, seeded 16th, won the tournament in 1994 and ’95.

Williams was playing in her first semifinal of the season and first clay-court event. She struggled with unforced errors in the first set but had no trouble in the second.

Kostanic left the court with a trainer at the end of the first set to treat a cramp in her hip.

“It wasn’t that painful,” she said. “You know it’s there and it made me scared a little.”

Williams is seeded fourth. The top three seeded players, including sister Serena, withdrew because of injuries or illness.

Williams wasn’t at her best Saturday, with 34 unforced errors and five double faults. But she hit 65% of her first serves, which were consistently more than 100 mph.

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Tommy Haas reached a final for the first time since 2002, beating fifth-seeded Andrei Pavel, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4, in the semifinals of the U.S. Men’s Clay Court championships in Houston.

Haas, who didn’t play last season while recovering from rotator cuff surgery, will play top-seeded Andy Roddick, who defeated seventh-seeded Luis Horna, 6-3, 6-4.

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Top-ranked Roger Federer and Andre Agassi pulled out of the Monte Carlo Masters, which starts Monday. Federer cited fatigue but Agassi did not immediately give a reason, organizers said.... Top-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne will rest for two weeks because of a virus infection, but she is optimistic she will be cleared to prepare for her French Open title defense next month.

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Marat Safin advanced to the final of the Estoril Open in Oeiras, Portugal, after back pain forced Irakli Labadze to retire. Safin will play Juan Ignacio Chela, who beat Florian Mayer, 6-3, 6-3. Labadze was ahead, 3-2, in the first set when he retired.

In the women’s draw, third-seeded Emilie Loit reached the finals with 6-4, 6-4 victory over Marta Marrero. Loit will play Iveta Benesova, who defeated Stephanie Cohen-Aloro, 6-3, 7-5.

Motor Racing

Dan Wheldon won the Indy Japan 300 for his first Indy Racing League victory and Honda’s first Indy-car win on its home track.

Wheldon, the 2003 Indy Racing League rookie of year, started from the pole and led 192 of 200 laps on the 1 1/2-mile Twin Ring Motegi circuit. The Japanese manufacturer was winless in six previous Indy-car races there. Tony Kanaan was second.

Rick Crawford held off Dennis Setzer during a two-lap sprint to the finish at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Kroger 250.

Crawford pulled away in his Ford on two restarts in the final 34 laps, then had to do it again after Steve Park hit the wall with just over three laps to go.

Because series rules provide for a two-lap, green-flag finish, Crawford had to wait until the 253rd lap to do it again. Setzer finished 0.365 of a second back in his Chevrolet.

Yamaha’s Chad Reed raced to his 10th THQ World Supercross GP/THQ AMA Supercross Series victory of the season at Irving, Texas. Kawasaki’s Ivan Tedesco clinched the 125cc THQ AMA Supercross Series title.

Saturday’s rain caused the program at Irwindale Speedway to be canceled for the second time in three weeks. Because of the Long Beach Grand Prix, no races were scheduled for today.

Pro Football

Ricky Ross was stopped just short of the goal line on the final play, giving the Carolina Cobras a 63-59 victory over the Philadelphia Soul in an Arena League game in front of 5,142 in Charlotte, N.C. Rickey Foggie threw five touchdown passes for the Cobras (4-7). Todd Hammel threw five touchdown passes for the Soul (4-6).... Adrian McPherson threw four touchdown passes to help the Indiana Firebirds (6-5) extend their winning streak to six games with a 67-49 victory over the Grand Rapids Rampage (1-9) in front of 9,832 in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Miscellany

Pete Cabrinha of Hawaii was honored at the Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards at the Grove Theater in Anaheim with a $70,000 prize for riding the biggest wave by a surfer. Cabrinha, 42, rode a 70-foot wave on Jan. 10 at the break known as Jaws on the north shore of Maui, near his home in Haiku.

Brad Davis hit a two-run homer and sophomore left-hander Cesar Ramos (7-2) gave up six hits and two runs in 8 1/3 innings to lead fifth-ranked Long Beach State (25-9, 4-0) to a 4-2 victory over 14th-ranked UC Irvine (23-9-1, 2-3) in a Big West Conference game at Blair Field.

Allyse Ishino of Santa Ana won the senior women’s all-around gold medal at the 2004 Pacific Alliance gymnastics championships in Honolulu. She scored a 37.782 to edge Carly Patterson by 0.066.