Second-Set Tear Gives Clement Washington Win

Steady if unspectacular, Arnaud Clement beat Andy Murray, 7-6 (3), 6-2, in the Legg Mason Tennis Classic final Sunday in Washington for his second title of the season.

Clement won 14 of 16 points during a stretch in the second set to take complete command as Murray struggled with blisters on his racket hand.

The 11th-seeded Clement mainly worked to extend points, keeping the ball in play until No. 8 Murray erred. Murray made repeated mistakes, finishing with 31 unforced errors to Clement’s 20, often looking at his right hand after flubbing shots.

“He missed too much,” Clement said.

Twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan of Camarillo won the doubles title for the second consecutive year, beating Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett, 6-3, 5-7, 10-3.

*

Andy Roddick withdrew from the hard-court Rogers Cup tournament in Toronto, citing the injury that forced him to pull out of the Legg Mason tournament.

“Unfortunately, my side strain is still preventing me from being able to play matches,” Roddick said in a statement. “I will be working hard this week, and I am optimistic to be back in top form for the U.S. Open.”

He strained the lower left side of his back while playing in the Countrywide Classic at UCLA last month and pulled out before the quarterfinals. Then he withdrew from the hard-court tournament in Washington.

Roddick, the 2003 U.S. Open champion who has been ranked No. 1, is 10th in the current rankings.

The U.S. Open begins Aug. 28.

*

Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko beat Florian Mayer, 7-6 (6), 5-7, 6-4, to win the Prokom Open in Sopot, Poland.

COLLEGES

Nebraska Cornerback’s Season Ends Early

Nebraska cornerback Zackary Bowman will sit out the season after injuring his left knee during a one-on-one drill.

Bowman, who started the last five games in 2005, came down on his leg wrong while defending a corner route during Saturday’s practice. He had an MRI exam Sunday, revealing a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

*

Former Duke lacrosse coach Mike Pressler was hired by Bryant University in Rhode Island, four months after he resigned at Duke amid a scandal over an alleged rape that temporarily shut down the program he guided for 16 seasons.

“I truly believe that everything happens for a reason in the end,” Pressler told the Associated Press. “For this program and this athletics director to step up and make this happen for myself and my [family], I’m very, very indebted and very grateful. Now it’s up to me to go up there and deliver.”

Pressler went 153-82 at Duke, winning three Atlantic Coast Conference championships and making 10 trips to the NCAA tournament.

PRO BASKETBALL

Stern Says New Orleans Will Be Hornets’ Home

NBA Commissioner David Stern says he expects the Hornets to play all their home games in New Orleans by the 2007-08 season.

The team has scheduled only six home games for New Orleans in the upcoming season, with the other 35 in Oklahoma City, where the Hornets temporarily relocated after Hurricane Katrina.

Team owner George Shinn expects the team to return home permanently but said last month he wouldn’t rule out a move elsewhere.

However, Stern said a permanent return to New Orleans was the only option at present.

“It will happen,” Stern said in Guangzhou, China, where the U.S. national team is playing a pair of warmup games for the world championships in Japan this month.

TRACK AND FIELD

Sprinter Suspended for Missing Doping Tests

British sprinter Christine Ohuruogu was provisionally suspended by UK Athletics after missing three out-of-competition doping tests in the last 18 months.

Ohuruogu, the 400-meter champion at the Commonwealth Games, had been expected to compete at the European Athletics Championships, which start today in Sweden.

Ohuruogu upset world and Olympic champion Tonique Williams-Darling in the 400 by running a personal-best 50.28 seconds this year in Melbourne, Australia.

*

Alarmed by the case of Olympic champion Justin Gatlin, track and field’s governing body wants to reintroduce four-year bans for first-time serious doping offenders.

Calling the Gatlin case a “disaster for our sport,” International Association of Athletics Federation chief Lamine Diack said his group was prepared to go alone in imposing four-year bans.

“We want to move in that direction,” Diack said Sunday, a day before the start of the European Championships. “It’s not a problem for us to go back to four years. We cannot have doping.”

“This is the position of the whole IAAF family,” said Diack, adding that the athletes’ commission of the federation supports such action.

The IAAF originally reduced its four-year bans to two years to be in line with the doping policies of other sports.

MISCELLANY

French Swimmer Tops Her 400-Meter Record

Laure Manaudou of France bettered her own world record in the 400-meter freestyle for her fourth gold medal at the European Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

Her time of 4 minutes 2.13 seconds was 0.90 of a second better than the mark she had set in May when she broke Janet Evans’ 18-year-old record.

*

World Boxing Organization flyweight champion Omar Narvaez defeated Rexon Flores by unanimous decision in Cordoba, Argentina, to successfully defend his title for the eighth time.