Argentina Pulls Off Upset of Australia in Davis Cup

Argentina upset Australia on grass to reach the semifinals of the Davis Cup on Sunday, and was joined by Russia, Slovakia and Croatia.

Argentina beat the 28-time Davis Cup winner, 4-1, in Sydney, Australia. Argentina has never won the Davis Cup.

Russia beat France to qualify for the semifinals for the first time since winning its only title in 2002. That win was also over France. Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, a tennis aficionado, stepped on to the court in Moscow to dance and help the team celebrate.

Argentina advanced to the semifinals for the third time in the last four years but has only reached the final once, losing to the United States in 1981.

David Nalbandian sealed the victory by ending a career winless streak against Lleyton Hewitt, ranked second in the world. The Argentine won the fourth match of the tie by beating Hewitt, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4, after losing to Hewitt in their previous three encounters.

“This is great, to beat Australia here and on grass, it’s amazing,” Nalbandian said. “We’re trying so hard to win the Davis Cup, and I hope we can do it this year.”

Coria completed a 4-1 win for Argentina when he beat Peter Luczak, 6-3, 7-6 (11), in the second reverse singles.

Argentina will face Slovakia in the semifinals. Slovakia beat the Netherlands, 4-1, to reach the final four for the first time, playing on indoor courts in Bratislava.

Dominik Hrbaty secured the win when Peter Wessels retired because of a rib injury. Hrbaty won the first two sets, 6-3, 6-1, and was leading, 3-0, in the third when Wessels pulled out.

Russia rallied to beat France, 3-2, when Igor Andreev and Nikolay Davydenko won their reverse singles matches.

Russia will travel to Croatia in the semifinals. Croatia beat Romania, 4-1, after their reverse singles on indoor carpet in Split, Croatia.

The semifinals will be played Sept. 23-25.

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Anna Smashnova won her 10th title when Tathiana Garbin retired because of sunstroke during a first-set tiebreaker in the final of the Modena International at Modena, Italy.

Smashnova was leading the tiebreaker, 3-0, when the unseeded Italian asked for a break in play and collapsed on a bench.

Grimacing from cramps and nearly fainting, Garbin was treated by the tournament doctor and then carried on a stretcher to the club’s infirmary.

Organizers later said that Garbin had recovered from the sunstroke. The temperature at Club La Meridiana was about 95 degrees.

Swimming

China picked up where it left off at the Athens Olympics, winning two gold medals in synchronized diving at the FINA World Championships at Montreal.

The Chinese won six of eight gold medals in Athens.

Jia Tong and Yuan Pei Lin finished first in women’s 10-meter synchronized diving with 351.60 points, easily outdistancing Australians Loudy Tourky and Chantelle Newberry, who had 334.89.

He Chong and Wang Feng won the men’s three-meter synchronized springboard title with 384.42 points. Germany’s Tobias Schellenberg and Andreas Wels were second with 364.59. American brothers Justin and Troy Dumais earned bronze with 360.27.

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Hayley Peirsol won the 1,500-meter freestyle in 16 minutes 13.64 seconds in the final day of the four-day Janet Evans Invitational at USC.

The time for the Auburn junior was the second-fastest in the world this year behind Kate Ziegler’s 16:11.23, broke a 16-year-old pool record and a 1-year-old meet record.

Former Olympian Kalyn Keller, who finished 35 seconds behind Peirsol to take second place, set the meet’s 1,500-freestyle record last year in Irvine at 16:19.34.

Staciana Winfield, a gold medalist in the 400 individual medley relay at the 2000 Olympics, won the 100 breaststroke in 1:09.89, almost three seconds better than Haylee Johnson’s 1:12.11. Dana Kirk won the 100 butterfly in 1:00.64, besting second-place finisher Brooke Bishop’s 1:01.60.

Soccer

A Galaxy fan was attacked by a group of Chivas USA backers after Saturday night’s matchup between the teams, officials said.

The brawl occurred outside the Home Depot Center after the Galaxy beat Chivas 2-0, said Galaxy General Manager Doug Hamilton. Sheriff’s deputies said they had no record of the fight, but a police officer for Cal State Dominguez Hills, which owns the property where the stadium is located, said a report was being compiled.

The Galaxy fan, 32-year-old Oscar Nuez, said he was leaving the stadium with his wife and teenage son when he was attacked.

“It was around 50 of them,” he said. “They saw my Galaxy jersey and immediately initiated to beat me up.”

Nuez said the fans were part of Chivas’ loyal fan base known as the “Legion.” He said that he had a bloody nose and a swollen lip because of the incident. He was treated by paramedics at the scene.

Softball

Japan advanced to play the U.S. in the title game of the inaugural World Cup of Softball by beating Australia, 1-0, in eight innings at Oklahoma City.

Australia will play Canada in the third-place game of the five-team tournament.