Venus Wins 34th in a Row, Davenport Also Advances

Venus Williams won her 34th consecutive tennis match, beating unseeded Yelena Likhovtseva of Russia, 6-3, 6-2, Friday in the quarterfinals of the Generali women’s tournament at Linz, Austria.

Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport also advanced in the $535,000 event after hometown favorite Barbara Schett was forced to withdraw because of a sprained toe. She was trailing, 6-2, 4-1, when she withdrew.

Fifth-seeded Chanda Rubin advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia. Kveta Hrdlickova of the Czech Republic is the other semifinalist. She upset fourth-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France, 6-3, 6-4.

Max Mirnyi of Belarus rallied to oust defending champion Nicolas Escude of France, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3, in the quarterfinals of the Toulouse Open in France.

Carlos Moya of Spain beat Jan-Michael Gambill, the only American in the event, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (10), 6-4, and top-seeded Alex Corretja of Spain defeated Mikael Tillstrom of Sweden, 7-5, 6-3. Corretja will face Marcelo Rios of Chile, who beat Spain’s Juan-Albert Viloca, 6-4, 6-4.

Top-seeded Kristina Brandi and second-seeded Jelena Dokic of Australia were upset in the quarterfinals of the Heineken Open at Shanghai, China. Bulgaria’s Pavlina Nola beat Brandi, 6-4, 6-2, and Uzbekistan’s Iroda Tulyaganova defeated Dokic, 6-3, 6-4, in the WTA Tour event.

Auto Racing

Jeremy Mayfield won the pole for Sunday’s Pop Secret Popcorn 400 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham with a fast lap of 157.342 mph, and Winston Cup points leader Bobby Labonte got the second spot at 157.248.

Labonte leads runner-up Dale Earnhardt by 210 points, and if he finishes 10th or better in each of the four remaining races, Labonte will join older brother Terry, a two-time series winner, as a Winston Cup champion. Earnhard was 27th in qualifying at 155.090.

Also at North Carolina Speedway, Mark Martin earned the pole for today’s Busch Series Sam’s Club 200 with a speed of 154.162.

Mike Wallace injured his right shoulder in a crash during practice for the Sam’s Club 200. He had earlier qualified 16th.

Olympics

Influential International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound of Canada described Greece’s troubled preparations for the 2004 Summer Games at Athens as close to the breaking point.

“It’s very, very serious and needs to be resolved quickly and without compromise,” Pound told the Associated Press. “It’s eight to nine on the scale of 10.”

While declining to rule out the possibility of the Games being taken away from Greece, Pound said the next few weeks and months will be critical.

About 30% of the venues in Athens remain to be built.

Boxing

Former world featherweight champion Wayne McCullough, 30, fears his career could be over after a scan revealed a two-inch cyst on his brain.

The Las Vegas-based fighter from Northern Ireland broke down in tears at a news conference called to announce that his comeback fight against Hungary’s Sandor Koczek had been called off.

The British Boxing Board of Control ordered the scan leading up to the fight in Belfast.

On the day he was to be sentenced, former heavyweight champion Tony Tubbs has withdrawn his guilty plea to a charge of trafficking cocaine in Cincinnati and has requested a jury trial. Tubbs pleaded guilty Oct. 10.

Soccer

Dave Dir, the last original coach with one of the 10 Major League Soccer charter teams, was fired by Dallas Burn after five years with the club. . . . The MLS Cup, officially called the Alan I. Rothenberg Trophy, which the Kansas City Wizards won last weekend, was lost by baggage handlers at Dulles airport in Washington early last week and didn’t show up in Kansas City until almost 24 hours later.

College Basketball

North Carolina State forward Damon Thornton received 12 months of probation and must complete an alcohol treatment program after pleading guilty to driving while impaired. Thornton also pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident on Oct. 11. Police said Thornton’s blood-alcohol content was 0.14%.

New Mexico’s Isaiah “Zeke” Johnson will have to sit out the Lobos’ first three games under a recent NCAA rule. Johnson, a freshman who attended Maine Central Institute prep school in Baltimore, did not pay his tuition. Nor did his family. Coach Fran Fraschilla said the tuition was paid “by some guy in Baltimore who’s been doing it for 15 years to help kids out of the inner city.”

Miscellany

Four Detroit high school football players charged with gang-raping a 14-year-old cheerleader were ordered to return to class, and the school allowed them to play Friday night. River Rouge High fans filled the stadium and let out hearty cheers when the team, including the four boys, took the field before the Panthers’ 35-12 loss to Allen Park.

Gustav Kilian, a German cycling great who later became a top coach for his country, died at his home in Dortmund, Germany. He was 92.