UCLA surprises Florida to reach tennis semifinals

UCLA upset fourth-seeded Florida, 4-3, Sunday to reach the semifinals of the NCAA women’s tennis championships at Athens, Ga.

The 12th-seeded Bruins will face a familiar opponent in today’s semifinal -- top-seeded Stanford, which beat ninth-seeded Miami, 4-1, to reach the final four for the 25th time in 26 years.

The No. 5 singles match gave UCLA its victory when Alex McGoodwin beat Csilla Borsany, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).

“It was a really tight match, especially when I got broken there late in the second set,” McGoodwin said. “I think we were both nervous and we both really, really wanted to win.”

UCLA had taken a 3-0 lead before Florida rallied to tie it.

The Bruins’ Elizabeth Lumpkin and Stepanie Wetmore won the doubles point, Yasmin Schnack beat Anastasia Revzina, 6-4, 6-1, and Lumpkin prevailed, 6-2, 6-4, over Whitney Benik to give them a 3-0 lead.

Jelena Jankovic defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova, 7-5, 6-1, to win the Italian Open at Rome and join Justine Henin as the only three-time winners on the women’s tour this year.

Jankovic, who will rise to a career-high No. 4 in the rankings, became the first woman since Conchita Martinez 13 years ago to win the Italian Open without dropping a set. Kuznetsova dropped to 0-4 in finals this year.

Pete Sampras relied on his still powerful serve to defeat Todd Martin, 6-3, 1-6, 10-6, in the Athens Champions Cup final in Greece.

In the seesaw tiebreaker -- used in Champions Series matches instead of a third set -- Martin fell behind, 3-0, before winning the next four points. Sampras then served four straight aces to lead 7-4, followed by two cross-court winners. Martin hit long to give Sampras the title. Sampras had finished a rain-interrupted 6-2, 6-4 victory over Jim Courier earlier.

Milagros Sequera won her first WTA Tour title, defeating Aleksandra Wozniak, 6-1, 6-3, to claim the championship of the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem at Fez, Morocco.

Top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan defeated defending champions Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett, 6-3, 6-4, in the doubles final of Masters Series Hamburg.

Jose Acasuso rallied from match point and beat Jonas Bjorkman, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (7), 6-3, sparking Argentina to a 2-1 victory over Sweden in the World Team Cup at Duesseldorf, Germany.

In the other matches, Germany swept Belgium, 3-0, despite the withdrawal of the injured Tommy Haas.

The eight-nation field is split into two groups, with the winner of each group advancing.

Argentina, Chile, Sweden and the United States are in the Red Group, and Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany and Spain are in the Blue Group.

SWIMMING

Phelps loses for first time in six finals in Michigan

Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps lost for the first time in six individual finals at the Eric Namesnik Memorial Grand Prix at Ann Arbor, Mich., finishing second to Club Wolverine teammate Erik Vendt in the 1,500 freestyle.

Vendt won in 15 minutes 31.29 seconds, and Phelps swam a 15:34.18.

SOFTBALL

Fullerton advances by ousting Ohio State

Candice Baker hit a pair of triples and a double for four runs batted in and pitched six innings of scoreless relief to help Cal State Fullerton eliminate Ohio State, 10-3, to win the Columbus (Ohio) Softball Regional.

The Titans (38-21), who handed the Buckeyes (40-18) a 6-5 loss earlier in the day, advance to the super-regional at Tucson against top-seeded Arizona.

Fullerton had not won a regional tournament since 1995.

Loyola Marymount’s record-setting season ended with a 9-0 loss to Hawaii (49-11) in the Los Angeles Regional final at UCLA’s Easton Stadium.

Loyola finished a school record 47-18.

MOTOR RACING

Mladin completes sweep at Sonoma

Mat Mladin completed a sweep of the AMA Superbike races at Infineon Raceway at Sonoma, Calif., to tie Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Ben Spies for the series lead.

Spies finished second. Jake Zemke was third on a Honda.

Suzuki’s Ricky Carmichael won the opening round of the AMA Toyota Motocross Championship, beating Kawasaki’s James Stewart in the Honda Hangtown Classic at Sacramento.

MISCELLANY

Jets’ Pro Bowl returner Miller is arrested

New York Jets kick returner Justin Miller was arrested early Sunday and charged with third-degree assault after a fight at a New York City nightclub.

ESPN.com reported that the 23-year-old Pro Bowl returner was arrested after allegedly punching a woman in the nightclub. He was apprehended at 4:20 a.m. following a chase by police.

According to the report, police said Miller swung at a man, but hit the woman when the man ducked out of the way.