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Federer’s Winning Streak Ends at 25

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From Times Staff and Wire Reports

Roger Federer’s 25-match winning streak -- the longest in men’s tennis since 1984 -- ended Friday at the hands of a French teenager not even ranked in the top 100.

Richard Gasquet, an 18-year-old qualifier playing in only his fourth match of the year on the ATP Tour, upset the world’s No. 1 player by saving three match points in a 6-7 (1), 6-2, 7-6 (8) victory to reach the semifinals of the Monte Carlo Masters in Monte Carlo.

Federer, a four-time Grand Slam winner, was going for his third consecutive Masters Series title in the clay-court event leading to the French Open.

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Gasquet, ranked 101st, will play Rafael Nadal, another 18-year-old, in today’s semifinals. Nadal, seeded 11th, defeated fourth-seeded Gaston Gaudio, 6-3, 6-0.

Federer entered the match with a 35-1 record this year, the best ATP start since John McEnroe was 39-0 in 1984. His only previous loss was to Marat Safin in the Australian Open semifinals. Federer hadn’t lost in his last 35 matches against players outside the top 100.

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Justine Henin-Hardenne advanced to the semifinals of the Family Circle Cup at Charleston, S.C., when top-ranked Lindsay Davenport was forced to retire in the third set of their match because of a pulled muscle.

Henin-Hardenne, who spent most of last season ranked No. 1, won 3-6, 6-3, 1-0.

Davenport said she thought she had a slight strain in her hip Thursday night and taped it for the match. At one point during the first set, the match was delayed so she could get additional taping.

Davenport said she knew she probably wouldn’t complete the match when she fell behind 3-0 in the second set.

“It’s not the way I like to win but ... you have to take it this way,” said Henin-Hardenne, playing her second tournament since being sidelined last year because of illness and injury.

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Henin-Hardenne will play Tatiana Golovin, who defeated seventh-seeded Nadia Petrova, 7-5, 6-3, in today’s semifinals.

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Golf

Darren Clarke’s second consecutive 65 gave him a six-stroke lead and left him at 12-under-par 130, his career-best for 36 holes, at the MCI Heritage in Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Peter Lonard, who shot a career-best 62 to lead by two shots after the first round, ballooned to a 74 and was tied for second with Patrick Sheehan, who had a second-round 70. Thomas Levet, who had a 64 in the first round, also had a 74 and was eight shots off the lead.

Meanwhile, Tom Kite was disqualified for the first time in his 34-year PGA Tour career after signing an incorrect scorecard.

Wendy Ward shot a four-under 68 to take a three-shot lead after two rounds of the Takefuji Classic at the Las Vegas Country Club. She is at 11-under 133.

Karrie Webb, who shared the opening-round lead with Ward, had a 71 and was tied for second with Moira Dunn, who is winless in 10 years on the tour. Dunn had a five-under 67.

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Motor Racing

Ryan Newman had a fast lap of 192.582 mph at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth to earn his 30th pole in 123 races -- the highest percentage of pole starts (24%) in NASCAR Nextel Cup history.

Newman earned the pole for Sunday’s Samsung/RadioShack 500 in a Dodge. Teammates Jeremy Mayfield (192.431) and Kasey Kahne (191.734) qualified 2-3 in Dodges.

Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais became the fourth foreign-born driver to win an International Race of Champions event, leading the final 22 laps at Texas Motor Speedway.

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Pro Football

James Shortt, the doctor at the center of a steroid investigation involving Carolina Panther players, was suspended by the state medical board, which called the practitioner a “serious threat” to public health.

The South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners said Shortt prescribed the steroid testosterone to four unidentified male patients “in doses and frequencies that were extremely unlikely to have been prescribed with any legitimate medical justification.”

In arena games: Chris Sanders threw two touchdown passes and ran for two more scores in relief of injured starter Joe Hamilton in the Orlando Predators’ 72-60 victory over the New York Dragons; Matt Nagy threw six touchdown passes to help the National Conference-leading Georgia Force beat the Grand Rapids Rampage, 62-41; and Mark Grieb threw eight touchdown passes in San Jose’s 83-71 victory over Dallas.

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Soccer

Inter Milan was ordered to play its next four European cup games -- Champions League or UEFA Cup -- in an empty stadium as punishment for the mayhem in the stands that forced the Champions League quarterfinal against Italian rival AC Milan to be abandoned.

Inter was fined the equivalent of nearly $250,000 by European soccer’s governing body. UEFA also ruled that AC Milan won Tuesday night’s game as a 3-0 forfeit.

AC Milan, which won the first leg, 2-0, will play PSV Eindhoven in the semifinals.

During the second half of the second-leg game at San Siro, Inter fans threw flares and bottles onto the field, forcing the game to be cut short with AC Milan leading, 1-0.

Edson Buddle scored in the 26th minute and the Columbus Crew defeated D.C. United, 1-0, in an MLS game at Columbus, Ohio.

College Basketball

DePaul’s Dave Leitao has accepted an offer to become Virginia’s men’s basketball coach, his former athletic director confirmed Friday night.... Rollie Massimino has been selected head of basketball operations at Northwood University in West Palm Beach, Fla., a fledgling NAIA program.

Villanova forward Curtis Sumpter had surgery to repair a ligament in his left knee that he tore during the NCAA tournament.

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USC, having already received letters of intent from Diamond Bar High point guard Collin Robinson and IMG Academy of Bradenton, Fla., forward RouSean Cromwell, signed scholarship papers with College of Southern Idaho point guard Shaun Davis, who previously played at Pepperdine.

Tierra Henderson of Pasadena Muir High and Chinyere Ibekwe of Carson High have signed letters of intent to attend UCLA. Nadia Parker, from Bethel High in Spanaway, Wash., has signed a letter of intent to attend USC.

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Miscellany

Former USC and NFL quarterback Rodney Peete starts Monday on FSN’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period.”

With his left eye nearly swollen shut, former five-time world champion Johnny Tapia battled back to win a unanimous featherweight decision over Frankie Archuleta in Tapia’s hometown of Albuquerque.

Passings

Bob Hoffman, an all-conference back on USC’s 1939 national championship football team who later played with the Los Angeles Rams, died Wednesday in Bakersfield. He was 87.

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