Angry Safin Is Defeated by Clement

Marat Safin was at his umpire-berating, racket-spiking, error-spraying worst Saturday, and Arnaud Clement took full advantage.

Happy to be on hard courts, Clement came back from a deficit in each set to defeat Safin, 7-6, (5), 7-6 (4), and reach the final of the Legg Mason Classic at Washington.

It was a second consecutive victory over a past U.S. Open champion for the 11th-seeded Clement, who upset third-seeded Lleyton Hewitt in the quarterfinals.

Clement’s opponent in today’s final will be eighth-seeded Andy Murray, who won the last five games to beat seventh-seeded Dmitry Tursunov, 6-2, 7-5.

Murray was broken only once in the match.

Safin finished with 40 unforced errors -- 18 more than Clement.

Sometimes, Clement said, “against Marat, you have no chance: He can break, he can serve, he can do everything. But sometimes, and I know it, he can make a few mistakes in a row, and I know I just have to be focused.”

As often happens with Safin, he appeared distracted at times, including an argument with chair umpire Jake Garner about whether he took too long to decide whether to challenge a call midway through the first set.

“His job is not to interrupt our game by making some decisions and some comments,” Safin said later. “He should just do his job.”

Safin received a warning for smacking a ball in anger after dropping a point in the second set, and he later reared back and cracked his racket on the court after missing a forehand.

Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko defeated Filippo Volandri, 6-2, 6-4, to reach the final of the Prokom Open at Sopot, Poland. He will play eight-seeded Florian Mayer, who was leading Agustin Calleri, 6-2, 4-3, in their semifinal when Calleri retired.

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TRACK AND FIELD

Chambers to Run in Goteborg

British sprinter Dwain Chambers will race at the European Championships in Goteborg, Sweden, for the first time since being stripped of the 100-meter title because of doping violations.

Chambers was banned for two years after testing positive for the steroid THG in November 2003. All his personal and team results from January 2002 to August 2003 were annulled in June, including his European 100- and British 400-meter relay titles.

Chambers’ winning time of 9.96 in the 100 at the 2002 championships in Munich, Germany, was expunged. Francis Obikwelu of Portugal was given the gold with a time of 10.06. The 400-meter relay team anchored by Chambers lost its title, which was given to runner-up Ukraine.

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PRO BASKETBALL

Stevenson Signs With Wizards

Free-agent guard DeShawn Stevenson signed with the Washington Wizards, giving the team insurance in case it decides not to match an offer sheet to Jared Jeffries.

Stevenson signed a two-year contract that will pay the league minimum of $932,000 for the first year. He started all 82 games for the Orlando Magic last season, averaging 11 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2 assists.

He opted out of the final year of his contract, giving up $3 million in salary in hopes of earning more on the free agent market.

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HOCKEY

Comrie, Coyotes Avoid Arbitration

The Phoenix Coyotes avoided salary arbitration with Mike Comrie, re-signing him to a one-year, $3-million deal.

The agreement came just before an arbitration hearing was to begin in New York. The 26-year-old center had 30 goals and 30 assists in 80 games after being acquired by the Coyotes from Philadelphia.

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Division II School Wants Bomar

Texas A&M-Commerce; has asked Oklahoma for permission to contact ousted quarterback Rhett Bomar to discuss his possible transfer to the NCAA Division II school.

Coach Bob Stoops dismissed Bomar and offensive lineman J.D Quinn from the team Wednesday for breaking NCAA rules by accepting compensation beyond the actual hours they worked at a Norman car dealership.

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MISCELLANY

Campbell Wins Sixth Hambletonian

Hall of Fame driver John Campbell won the Hambletonian, trotting’s most prestigious race, for a sixth time, guiding Glidemaster to a 1 1/4 -length victory over Chocolatier in a stakes-record time of 1:51.1 at East Rutherford, N.J. That was two-fifths of a second faster than the previous mark set by Self Possessed in 1999.

Former two-time world champion Vernon Forrest scored a unanimous decision over Ike Quartey in a junior-middleweight bout at Madison Square Garden. Quartey (37-3-1) appeared to connect with more punches, and land more jabs and power punches, but the decision went to Forrest (38-2-0).

The U.S. set a world record in women’s skeet, hitting 211 targets at the world shooting championships at Zagreb, Croatia. Connie Smotek hit 72 marks, Brandie Neal 70 and Haley Dunn 69 in the team event and beat Italy’s record of 210. Russia was second and Italy third.

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PASSINGS

Iditarod Champion Butcher Dies

Four-time Iditarod champion Susan Butcher died in a Seattle hospital of a reoccurrence of leukemia after a recent stem-cell transplant, her doctor said. She was 51.

Butcher dominated the 1,100-mile sled dog race from Anchorage to Nome in the late 1980s. In 1986, she became the second woman to win the grueling race. She added victories in 1987, ’88 and ’90 and finished in the top four through 1993.