Seles, Davenport Give U.S. the Upper Hand

Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport gave the United States a 2-0 lead Saturday in the best-of-five Fed Cup, threatening Spain’s three-year reign as the world’s top women’s tennis team.

Seles beat Conchita Martinez, 6-2, 6-4, and Davenport rallied to defeat Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, 7-5, 6-1, winning 10 of the final 11 games while overcoming a 5-3 first-set deficit at Atlantic City, N.J.

Seles has a 10-0 record against Martinez and has never lost a set to her, but the second set appeared headed for a tiebreaker until Seles, up 5-4, managed a brilliant passing backhand to force deuce, then rifled a baseline winner on a shot that appeared to be going past her.

“How a third set would have gone would have depended or not on whether I calmed down,” Seles said. “I don’t usually get worked up like that during the match.”

Davenport’s victory, her second in a row over Sanchez Vicario after five losses, puts the United States one point from capturing its first Fed Cup since 1990.

Seles can clinch if she beats Sanchez Vicario today. Davenport faces Martinez in the second singles match before Davenport and Mary Joe Fernandez face Martinez and Sanchez Vicario in doubles.

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U.S. Open champion Pete Sampras defeated French Open winner Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, in the semifinals of the Swiss Indoor tournament at Basel.

Sampras will play Germany’s Hendrik Dreekmann in today’s final. Dreekmann beat Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic, 7-5, 6-4.

Golf

For the first time in five years, the PGA Tour will have two consecutive 54-hole events.

The third round of the Buick Challenge at Pine Mountain, Ga., was halted by heavy rain before any of the leaders could get on the course.

Five players are tied for the lead--defending champion Fred Funk, Michael Bradley, Davis Love III, Len Mattiace and John Maginnes at 10-under 134, with five other players within two shots of them.

“It’s funny that it would happen two weeks in a row like this,” said Funk, who won the B.C. Open last week in a one-hole playoff after rain washed out the final round. “It’s frustrating because everything means so much for the money-list situation at this time of year. It’s much better to have a 72-hole tournament.”

J.C. Snead birdied four of his final eight holes to take a one-shot lead after two rounds of the seniors’ Vantage Championship at Clemmons, N.C.

Snead shot a three-under 68 for an eight-under 134 to lead Jim Colbert and Gary Player by one shot heading into today’s final round.

Colbert, a winner here in 1991-92, shot a 70. Player’s 65 was the best round of the day.

Dottie Pepper, bidding for her fifth victory in her last nine LPGA Tour events, shot a four-under-par 68 to take a two-shot lead with a 13-under 203 in the Fieldcrest Cannon Classic at Charlotte, N.C.

Dale Eggeling, defending champion Gail Graham and Kim Saiki were two shots behind at 205. Eggeling carded a 68, Saiki a 70 and Graham a 71.

Defending champion Ellen Port of St. Louis won two matches to advance to the final of the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage. Port, 34, who is 3 1/2 months pregnant, will face Kerry Postillion of Burr Ridge, Ill., a reinstated amateur.

John Pate, older brother of PGA Tour player Steve Pate, shot a two-under-par 69 to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of qualifying for the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship at West Hartford, Conn.

UCLA Coach Brad Sherfy shot a seven-under-par 65 at PGA West’s Tom Weiskopf Course to take a two-stroke lead after the third round of the PGA Club Professional Championship. Sherfy, 40, had a 16-under 200 total to break the 54-hole tournament record of 203 set by Howell Fraser in 1968.

Ireland will bid for the 2005 Ryder Cup. The competition alternates between the United States and Europe, and the defending champion Europeans are the host of next year’s event at Valderrama, Spain.

Motor Racing

Mark Martin, a Winston Cup regular driving in only his second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, won the Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse 250 at North Wilkesboro, N.C.

Kenny Bernstein covered a quarter-mile in an event-record time of 4.605 seconds at 311.20 mph to lead top fuel qualifying for today’s NHRA Sears Craftsman Nationals at Topeka, Kan.

John Force remained No. 1 in funny cars and Warren Johnson topped pro stock qualifiers.

Miscellany

An injured right elbow has forced World Boxing Assn. light-heavyweight champion Virgil Hill to reschedule his fight against Germany’s Henry Maske in Munich, Germany, from Oct. 12 to Nov. 23.

Italian jockey Frankie Dettori made English racing history by winning all seven races at the Ascot meet. It was the first time in British racing history that a jockey had won seven races at one meet in one day.

Steve Scott, 40, won the Masters division of the Discover Card Mile on New York’s Fifth Avenue in a time of 4 minutes 6.57 seconds and later outkicked world indoor mile record-holder Eamonn Coghlan, 43, of Ireland in a two-man Champions of the Mile race in 4:37.02.

In the elite competition, Isaac Viciosa of Spain became the first men’s repeat winner since Britain’s Peter Elliott in 1989-90. Viciosa, who won last year’s race in 3:47.8, ran 3:53.67 this year.

Britain’s Paula Radcliffe, last year’s women’s runner-up, won this year’s race in 4:26.69.

The murder trial of a man accused of killing an Atlanta Braves replacement player ended Saturday in a mistrial after the jury said it could not reach a verdict.

Neal Evans, 31, of West Palm Beach, Fla., faces the death penalty if convicted of killing player David Shotkoski, a 30-year-old pitcher from Illinois, in March 1995.