Clijsters Rolls Past Kuznetsova for Title

Top-seeded Kim Clijsters defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova, 7-5, 6-2, Sunday to win the clay court J&S; Cup in Warsaw, avenging a semifinal loss to Kuznetsova in last year’s tournament.

“She’s a very, very good clay-court player,” Clijsters said. “I was very aggressive and tried not to give her the opportunity to play her own game.”

Serving at 5-5 in the first set, Kuznetsova pushed a forehand wide to give Clijsters the break. Kuznetsova had two break points in the next service game but couldn’t take advantage.

“I think I built up my points really well and was patient until I felt like I could go for a winner,” Clijsters said. “I was very consistent throughout the whole match, and we have some really good rallies out there which makes it a lot of fun.”

The players traded breaks to open the second set. Serving at 1-1, Kuznetsova double-faulted to give Clijsters a break point, and she hit a forehand out as the second-ranked Belgian broke again.

“Kim hit the ball and I was defending, but after a good shot I was not coming in,” Kuznetsova said. “I was giving her too much space, and she could hit her winners.”

Kuznetsova, ranked No. 10, lost for the third straight year in the J&S; Cup final.

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Top-seeded David Nalbandian beat Nikolay Davydenko, 6-3, 6-4, to become the third two-time winner of the Estoril Open in Oeiras, Portugal.

Nalbandian -- who won in 2002 -- joins Carlos Costa (1992, ‘94) and Thomas Muster (1995-96) as two-time winners.

Earlier, sixth-seeded Zheng Jie won the women’s final when eighth-seeded Na Li retired because of leg cramps after two sets.

Na -- last year’s runner-up -- won the first set, 7-6 (5), but Zheng took the second, 7-5, and Na withdrew after being assisted by a trainer.

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Olivier Rochus defeated unseeded Kristof Vliegen, 6-4, 6-2, in the final of the BMW Open in Munich, Germany, in a match pitting two Belgian men for the first time since the open era began in 1969.

Rochus took advantage of numerous errors by Vliegen, who looked nervous in only his second final. The 30th-ranked Rochus won his second title in five finals. He won the title at Palermo, Italy, in 2000.

MOTOR RACING

Schumacher Takes European Grand Prix

Michael Schumacher won the European Grand Prix in Nuerburgring, Germany, for the sixth time with his second consecutive Formula One victory -- all of which makes perfect sense to the seven-time world champion.

Schumacher, who left champion Fernando Alonso the runner-up for the second race in a row, thought Ferrari’s earlier performances this season did not reflect the team’s strength.

“I thought we looked good already at the first race, honestly, so it’s not a surprise,” Schumacher said. “We had the package available. We didn’t make use of it all the time.”

He raised his finger as he crossed the line almost four seconds ahead of Alonso. He led by nearly six seconds entering the last lap.

Schumacher, racing in his home country, has won the European GP five times at Nuerburgring and in Spain in 1994. This was his 86th victory.

On Sunday, he overtook Alonso on the second pit stop after the 42nd lap of the 60-lap race.

Alonso, who won the title last year, started the race from the pole, the first time he has done so this season. Schumacher started second.

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Max Angelelli passed David Donohue with 21 laps left and led the rest of the way en route to his first victory of the season in the Road & Track 250 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif.

Angelelli, the defending Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype co-champion, co-drove the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley with Jan Magnussen, who led for 18 laps during his driving stint.

Angelelli held off Alex Gurney, the son of racing star Dan Gurney, to take the victory by 2.798 seconds. Gurney and co-driver Jon Fogarty finished second in their No. 99 GAINSCO Blackhawk Racing Pontiac Riley.

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Doug Kalitta raced to his second straight top-fuel victory and moved into second place in the championship standings, beating series leader Melanie Troxel in the final of the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Commerce, Ga.

Kalitta, the winner last week in Bristol, Tenn., had a run of 4.469 seconds at 327.57 mph to beat Troxel, who smoked her tires 100 feet into the race. Troxel has a 132-point lead over Kalitta in the season standings.

Tony Pedregon, Dave Connolly and Antron Brown also won their divisions at Atlanta Dragway.

Pedregon won the funny-car final, beating Robert Hight in the final with a 4.740-second run at 325.69 mph, and Connolly became the seventh pro-stock winner of the year when he edged Greg Stanfield in 6.695 seconds at 205.69 mph.

Brown won the pro-stock motorcycle competition.

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Brett Harris won the top-fuel division in the Goodguys Pomona Nitro Nationals at Pomona Raceway in 5.866 seconds at 258.71 mph.

Kris Krabill won in funny car in 6.074 seconds at 229.78 mph.

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Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael won his fifth Amp’d Mobile Supercross Series title with a second-place finish at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

Kawasaki’s James Stewart, leading from the start, won his eighth race of the season for his first Amp’d Mobile World Supercross GP win.

Carmichael, tied for the series points lead with Yamaha’s Chad Reed entering the race, moved into second on the second lap with Reed right behind and held him off the rest of the way.

VOLLEYBALL

May-Treanor, Walsh Win Another Title

Top-seeded Olympic gold medalist Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh defeated seventh-seeded Jen Kessy-Boss and Nancy Mason, 21-19, 21-8, in the AVP Crocs Tour’s Tempe Open in Arizona.

In men’s play, fourth-seeded Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers upset second-seeded Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal, ending Gibb and Rosenthal’s 20-game win streak.

Gibb and Rosenthal had upset top-seeded Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger, 21-18, 21-18, in the semifinals.

BOATING

Brazil One Takes Solid Early Lead

Brazil One got off to a solid start and led the seven-boat fleet down the Chesapeake Bay for the 400-mile trip to New York at the start of Leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race in Annapolis, Md.

Pirates of the Caribbean, the U.S. entry skippered by Paul Cayard, moved from third to second place.