Sorenstam Has a Record Day

Annika Sorenstam became the first player in LPGA Tour history to win a tournament five straight times, shooting an eight-under-par 64 today for a three-stroke victory in the Mizuno Classic at Otsu, Japan.

Sorenstam broke a tie with Laura Davies for the LPGA record for consecutive victories in an event. Davies won the Standard Register Ping from 1994 to 1997.

The PGA Tour record for consecutive victories in an event is four, shared by Gene Sarazen, Walter Hagen and Tiger Woods.

Sorenstam pulled away from playing partners Jennifer Rosales and Young Kim with birdies on Nos. 14 and 15 and birdied the final two holes -- both par fives -- for the second day in a row. She finished at 21-under 195.

Rosales, who won the SBS Open at Turtle Bay in February for her second LPGA Tour title, closed with a 66. Kim, who led after each of the first two rounds, shot a 70 to drop into a tie for third.

Sorenstam, who earned $150,000 to push her season total to $2,373,240, has nine LPGA Tour victories in 19 starts this year and also won a European tour event in Sweden. She has 65 career LPGA Tour victories.

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Bart Bryant holed out a bunker shot to finish with a birdie for a four-under 66 and increase his lead in the Tour Championship at Atlanta to three shots over defending champion Retief Goosen.

Bryant is paired today with Goosen, who shot a 69 for an 11-under 199, for the third consecutive day.

Another shot back was Tiger Woods, who birdied three of the last five holes for a 67.

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Rookie Joey Snyder III surged to the top of the leaderboard in the Southern Farm Bureau Classic, shooting a seven-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead after three rounds at Madison, Miss.

MOTOR RACING

Fast Pit Stop Helps Harvick Win in Texas

Kevin Harvick took the lead in the O’Reilly Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth with a pit stop of just over 17 seconds on Lap 168 of the 200-lap race and went on in a Chevrolet to his fourth victory this season in the NASCAR Busch Series.

Clint Bowyer was seventh in a Chevrolet and gained 16 points on series leader Martin Truex Jr., who was 11th in a Chevrolet. Truex leads Bowyer by 84 points with two races remaining.

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Justin Wilson cut nearly two seconds off his provisional qualifying time and won the pole for today’s Mexican Grand Prix at Mexico City, improving his hold on third place in the Champ Car World Series.

HORSE RACING

Mea Domina Dominates in Las Palmas Handicap

Picking up where she left off, Mea Domina remained perfect in four starts on the Santa Anita turf course with a wire-to-wire victory in the $150,000 Las Palmas Handicap.

Trained by Ron McAnally for owner-breeder Janis Whitham, Mea Domina, a 4-year-old Dance Brightly filly, ran the mile in 1:33.59 under Tyler Baze. The win in the Grade II was her sixth in 11 starts overall and came in her first appearance since she won the Gamely Breeders’ Cup Handicap on May 30 at Hollywood Park.

Elusive Diva, the 5-2 favorite who had won all three of her previous starts on the Santa Anita grass, finished second, beaten by one length, and Star Parade was third.

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With three victories Saturday, Steve Knapp took over the lead in the Oak Tree trainer standings. He leads Jeff Mullins, 15-14, going into the final day.

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Hollywood Park will be dark on four consecutive Wednesdays as part of its reduced schedule because of the cancellation of turf racing at its fall meet, which opens Wednesday.

The Inglewood track will be open for simulcasting only Nov. 23, Nov. 30, Dec. 7 and Dec. 14.

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Catchmeinyourdreams made it two Grade 1 victories in three weeks with a decisive victory in the $300,000 MBNA Challenge Championship at Los Alamitos.

Catchmeinyourdreams, under jockey Cody Jensen, completed the 440 yards in 21.41 seconds as the 3-5 favorite.

Texas Chatterbox upset odds-on choice Mini Rock to win the $100,000 Distaff Challenge Championship and Canosa beat 14-1 outsider Passion Rush and six others to take the $150,000 Juvenile Challenge Championship.

Lds Dash For Dylan, the even-money favorite, overcame a sluggish start to edge 9-5 second choice Tell Em Im Gone in the $175,000 Derby Challenge Championship and heavily favored Prankster Cf remained unbeaten at 870 yards with a victory in the $100,000 Distance Challenge Championship.

-- Bob Mieszerski

TENNIS

Ailing Roddick Loses in Paris Semifinal

His back and shoulder aching, Andy Roddick lost in the Paris Masters semifinals and said he was unsure about being ready for the season-ending Masters Cup.

Roddick, seeded first, fell to sixth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, 6-3, 7-5. Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic defeated countryman and eighth-seeded Radek Stepanek, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, in the other semifinal.

Roddick twice needed long massages on his lower back and left shoulder and was unable to serve effectively.

He has qualified for the eight-player Masters Cup at Shanghai on Nov. 13-20, but said he was not sure whether he would be able to play.

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Amelie Mauresmo of France advanced to the final of the Advanta Championships by defeating Nicole Vaidisova, 7-5, 7-5, at Philadelphia to end an 18-match winning streak for the 16-year-old from the Czech Republic.

Mauresmo, the two-time defending champion, will play Elena Dementieva of Russia today.

Dementieva advanced when Nadia Petrova of Russia withdrew from their semifinal match because of a foot injury.

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Sixth-seeded Amy Frazier defeated top-seeded Nathalie Dechy of France, 6-4, 7-5, to reach the title match in the Bell Challenge at Quebec City.

Eighth-seeded Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden won the other semifinal when third-seeded Marion Bartoli of France withdrew after the first game of the second set because of illness.

MISCELLANY

Klitschko-Rahman Fight Is Put Off

Vitali Klitschko’s heavyweight title defense next Saturday against Hasim Rahman is off because of a knee injury suffered by the champion in training.

Promoter Bob Arum said that a new date for the fight would be announced this week.

It was the second official postponement of the fight, which was originally scheduled for April 30.

Klitschko injured the knee while sparring Thursday in Los Angeles and was fitted with a brace, but he tried sparring Saturday and was not comfortable with going ahead with the fight.

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Kim Yong Jun scored in the 29th minute and Ryang Yong Gi scored early in the second half to give North Korea a 2-0 victory over South Korea in a soccer semifinal of the East Asian Games at Macao.

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General Manager Doug Melvin of the Milwaukee Brewers received a three-year contract extension.

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Figure skating world champion Irina Slutskaya of Russia had 196.12 points to defeat junior world champion Mao Asada and 2004 world champion Shizuka Arakawa, both of Japan, and win the women’s competition in the Cup of China at Beijing.

Emanuel Sandhu of Canada had 212.66 points, rallying from fourth in the short program to win the men’s competition.

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Martin Lel of Kenya, the 2003 winner of the New York City Marathon, pulled out of today’s race because of a leg injury.

The favorites for the men’s title include world-record holder Paul Tergat of Kenya, defending champion Hendrik Ramaala of South Africa and Boston Marathon winner Hailu Negussie of Ethiopia.

The men’s first prize is $100,000 and the women’s is a marathon-record $130,000.