Hingis Earns Breakthrough

Martina Hingis saw a different side of life in her three years away from tennis. Some things, however, don’t change: She can still win tennis tournaments.

Hingis beat 16th-seeded Dinara Safina, 6-2, 7-5, Sunday in the Italian Open final in Rome for the 41st title of her career, but first since winning in Tokyo more than four years ago.

She returned in January after nearly three years out of the sport because of foot and ankle injuries.

“I lived a different life and experienced a lot of things, and that probably helps me today in those moments,” Hingis said.

“If I could turn back time, of course I would have continued to play. But at that point it wasn’t possible -- the pain and the operations. Right now, I’m very happy that my health is as good as it is.”

After winning the first set in 27 minutes and taking a 4-1 lead in the second, Hingis faced three break points that would have sent the second set to a tiebreaker. But she gathered herself and served the match out.

When Safina’s backhand return sailed long, the Swiss player placed her hand on her chest and took a deep breath of relief.

“I know how life is after tennis, and that probably gives me a lot of joy at these moments. I want to save them as much as I can,” Hingis, 25, said.

Hingis is projected to rise to No. 14 in the rankings today. It was Hingis’ second Italian Open title. She beat Venus Williams in the 1998 final.

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Tommy Robredo beat Radek Stepanek, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3, in the Hamburg final in Germany for his first Masters Series title.

The eighth-seeded Spaniard won the third title of his career without dropping his serve and is 13-3 on clay this year.

Robredo, playing in his first Masters final, has won all four of his meetings with Stepanek.

Both players will enter the top 10 when the latest rankings are released today.

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Meghann Shaughnessy won her fourth career title, beating eighth-seeded Martina Sucha, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, on clay at the Grand Prix SAR in Rabat, Morocco.

After starting the year without a win in five straight tournaments, the former 11th-ranked player has won 14 of her last 20 matches.

COLLEGES

UCLA Softball Team Reaches Super-Regional

Angelica Selden gave up only four hits and Ashley Herrera hit the first grand slam of her career to help UCLA (46-7) advance to a super-regional with a 7-0 victory over visiting San Diego State.

UCLA will play host to South Florida this weekend in a best-of-three series.

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With rain forcing officials to move men’s play from Stanford to a public tennis club in downtown San Francisco, third-seeded Texas beat sixth-seeded Ohio State, 4-3, to reach the semifinals of the NCAA tennis championships for the first time since 1993 and for only the second time in school history.

Texas will play the winner of a late match between No. 2 Pepperdine and No. 10 UCLA.

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Leading 1-0 after winning the doubles point, the third-seeded USC women had their NCAA tennis semifinal against seventh-seeded Miami postponed until this morning because of rain at Stanford.

The title match was moved from today to Tuesday.

SOCCER

Pachuca Takes Fourth Title in Seven Years

Pachuca won its fourth Mexican soccer championship in seven years with a 1-0 victory over visiting San Luis.

Forward Richard Nunez converted a penalty kick in the 78th minute for the only goal in the two-leg finals.

In both matches, the standout was Pachuca goalkeeper Miguel Calero, who in the 25th and 55th minutes Sunday diverted shots from James Mendoza and Israel Martinez, respectively.

ARENA FOOTBALL

Graziani Carries Soul Past Wranglers

Tony Graziani’s four touchdown passes and a staunch defense lifted the visiting Philadelphia Soul (10-7) over the Austin Wranglers (10-7), 52-35, in the Arena Football League playoffs.

The Soul advanced to play at Orlando on Sunday.

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Adam Metts forced a fourth-quarter fumble that Tyronne Jones converted into the clinching touchdown as the Georgia Force (9-8) eliminated the New York Dragons (10-7), 72-69, at Uniondale, N.Y.

Metts knocked the ball loose from running back Bruce Blue and Robert Thomas recovered. Then Matt Nagy threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to Jones for a 72-61 lead with 49 seconds left.

Georgia plays at Dallas on Saturday.

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Matt D’Orazio threw for five touchdowns and ran for another, leading the visiting Chicago Rush (8-9) past the Nashville Kats (8-9), 55-47. The Rush will play at defending champion Colorado on Sunday.