Injury Takes Davenport Out of Pilot Pen Final

Lindsay Davenport began Saturday seeking to defend her Pilot Pen title at New Haven, Conn. She ended it hoping she’ll be able to play in the U.S. Open.

Davenport retired from the Pilot Pen championship because of an injured right shoulder, allowing Justine Henin-Hardenne to take the title in the final hard-court tuneup before the year’s last Grand Slam tournament, which starts Monday.

“Rest is going to help no matter what. Of course, with the U.S. Open less than 48 hours from beginning, this is not where I want to be,” Davenport said. “I certainly can’t play if it’s like it was today.”

In the men’s final, second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko defeated Agustin Calleri, 6-4, 6-3. At No. 7 in the world, Davydenko is the highest-ranked Russian on tour and the only one of his countrymen to win this year.

Davenport and Henin-Hardenne entered New Haven after long layoffs because of injuries, and the 24-year-old Belgian picked up momentum entering the U.S Open. She did not lose a set in New Haven in reaching her eighth final in 12 events.

Henin-Hardenne needed only 22 minutes to win the first set, 6-0. Between sets, Davenport called for a trainer and took a medical timeout. When she returned, Davenport lost her serve in the first game of the second set and was in obvious pain.

She met Henin-Hardenne at the net and shook hands, and the longtime favorite drew an ovation from the crowd.

“I could feel from the beginning of the match she wasn’t hitting the ball as usual,” Henin-Hardenne said.

“I did what I had to do. It’s not easy in this kind of situation, but I stayed focused on every point.”

Davydenko’s win was his third title of the year, but his first on a hard court.

“It was good to play not so long matches, like one hour something, two sets,” Davydenko said. “Now I am happy. It is my third title already on hard courts. I have not won too many tournaments on hard.”

Davydenko has never been beyond the third round at the U.S. Open but said the victory was a big boost to his confidence.

“For my mind, to win the tournament here, I felt good already from the first round so I hope I play good,” he said.

LITTLE LEAGUE

Georgia Team to Play Japan

Teams from Columbus, Ga., and Kawaguchi City, Japan, are scheduled to meet today for the Little League World Series championship in South Williamsport, Pa.

Brady Hamilton drove in two runs and J.T. Phillips struck out eight to help Columbus defeat Beaverton, Ore., 7-3, to win the U.S. title.

Go Matsumoto homered and got starter Seigo Yada out of a sixth-inning jam with sharp relief pitching in Japan’s 3-0 victory over Mexico to win the international championship.

Beaverton and Mexico are scheduled to play a consolation game before today’s championship, but a chance of rain could postpone the games.

MISCELLANY

Italian Team Loses Appeal

The Italian team Reggina lost its appeal of soccer federation sanctions in the latest ruling stemming from the country’s game-fixing scandal.

A sports tribunal also upheld a 2 1/2 -year ban from soccer for Reggina President Lillo Foti, the Italian soccer federation said.

Reggina, which finished 15th in Italy’s top league last season, was docked 15 points by a federation sports court Aug. 17 for allegedly trying to have cooperative referees assigned to the team’s games.

Mahe Drysdale set a world best in defending his single sculls title at the world rowing championships, rallying to win by .09 of a second at Eton, England.

The New Zealander won in 6 minutes 35.40 seconds on Dorney Lake, the venue for the rowing events at the 2012 London Olympics.

He beat Marcel Hacker of Germany, who had previously held the fastest time.

Hacker finished in 6:35.49. He set the previous world best of 6:36.33 at the 2002 world championships in Seville, Spain.

Pakistan’s players have been told to forget the ball-tampering row with umpire Darrell Hair and look to winning the match and one-day series against England.

“They have been advised that the Pakistan Cricket Board and International Cricket Council will sort out the ball-tampering row and to just concentrate on doing well in the one-day series,” team manager Zaheer Abbas said.

Pakistan plays a match against England in Bristol and then the five one-dayers that had been in serious doubt after the row broke out last Sunday during the fourth day of a five-day match.