Venus Williams Wins Second Consecutive Title

Venus Williams kept her winning streak going Sunday.

Williams beat Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-1, 6-4, in the J&S; Cup final at Warsaw for her second straight WTA tournament title and 11th consecutive victory.

The streak is Williams’ longest since she won 19 straight matches in 2002. It started with her title run in Charleston, S.C., and continued with two wins in the United States’ triumph over Slovenia in the Fed Cup.

“My win in Charleston was great for me, but it was so important for me to follow it up this week. I was playing strong and playing better each match,” Williams said.

Williams overwhelmed Kuznetsova in the first set with powerful groundstrokes, forcing her into errors. One of those gave Williams a break for 2-1, and a fierce service return trapped Kuznetsova into another error to give Williams a 4-1 lead.

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Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Montenegro won the Budapest Grand Prix at Hungary with a 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over Martina Sucha of Slovakia for her first title.... Tommy Robredo of Spain defeated Gaston Gaudio of Argentina, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, to win the Open Seat Godo tournament at Barcelona, Spain.... Nikolay Davydenko beat fourth-seeded Martin Verkerk, 6-4, 7-5, at the BMW Open in Munich, Germany, for his third career title.

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Arena Football

Clint Dolezel threw five touchdown passes to lead the Las Vegas Gladiators (5-7) to a 60-38 victory over the visiting Indiana Firebirds (6-7) in front of 9,891.... Chad Salisbury threw four touchdown passes and ran for another to lead the Chicago Rush (8-4) to a 57-40 victory over the host Detroit Fury (4-8) in front of 9,804.... Shane Stafford threw seven touchdown passes to lead the Tampa Bay Storm (6-7) to a 63-58 victory over the host Orlando Predators in front of 13,714.

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Hockey

Jonas Hoglund scored two goals to lead Sweden to a 3-1 victory over the United States in a qualifying-round game in the world hockey championships at Ostrava, Czech Republic.

The Americans, who needed at least a tie with Sweden to reach the quarterfinals, now must get at least a point against Denmark in the qualifying-round finale Tuesday in Prague to advance to the final eight.

In other games, Canada routed Germany, 6-1, led by Scott Niedermayer of the New Jersey Devils and Dany Heatley of the Atlanta Thrashers, who scored two goals apiece, and the Czech Republic beat Switzerland, 3-1.

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Miscellany

Baltimore Raven linebacker Ray Lewis reached a financial settlement with the daughter of one of two men killed in a fight after the Super Bowl in January 2000, avoiding a civil trial scheduled to begin next month.

Thomas Carlock, Lewis’ attorney, would not comment on a report in the Baltimore Sun that Lewis agreed to pay at least $1 million to settle the case.

Former Alabama football coach Mike Price has decided to dismiss university President Robert Witt from a lawsuit over his firing in May 2003.

The motion was filed Friday in U.S. District Court after testimony by Witt and Alabama Athletic Director Mal Moore, said Stephen Heninger, Price’s attorney.

Three-time WNBA scoring champion Cynthia Cooper has ended her comeback bid because of recurring right shoulder problems. Cooper, 41, separated her shoulder in a recent practice and reinjured her rotator cuff tendon, which she had repaired four games into last season after coming out of retirement with the Houston Comets.

American Tyler Hamilton won the Tour de Romandie at Lausanne, Switzerland, for the second straight year. Hamilton had an overall time of 15 hours 45 minutes 44 seconds. Switzerland’s Fabian Jeker finished second, 1:43 behind.

Final eliminations for the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway in Tennessee were postponed until today because of rain.

California won the 2004 USA rugby college championship with a 46-24 victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at Stanford’s Steuber Stadium on Saturday. In the women’s title game, Penn State defeated Princeton, 24-8.