Mauresmo Upsets Henin-Hardenne

Amelie Mauresmo dealt Justine Henin-Hardenne her second loss of the year, erasing a match point to defeat the WTA Tour’s top-ranked player, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-3, Saturday in the semifinals of the Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island, Fla.

The third-seeded Mauresmo moved into the final against fourth-seeded Lindsay Davenport, who came back from a set and break down to defeat seventh-seeded Nadia Petrova, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.

Mauresmo clearly has recovered from the back injury that forced her to the sideline for the last 10 weeks. Playing in her first tournament since withdrawing from the Australian Open quarterfinals in January, she changed speeds well during the 2-hour 45-minute match.

With Henin-Hardenne up a set and leading, 5-4, in the second, she held a match point. But she sent an easy forehand return into the net, watched one of Mauresmo’s two aces go past her, and then committed one of her 52 unforced errors.

Mauresmo held to 5-5, then broke and held again to even the match at a set apiece.

Henin-Hardenne is 25-2 in 2004, including four titles -- one at the Australian Open.

Motor Racing

Michael Waltrip avoided a crash that took out the top four drivers with two laps to go, and won the NASCAR Busch Series Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway.

Rookie Clint Bowyer was racing rookie Kyle Busch for the lead coming out of Turn 2 on the 224th lap when he tapped Busch’s Chevrolet. Busch started to spin, and Johnny Benson’s Dodge ran into the back of Bowyer’s Chevrolet, sending the trio and Robby Gordon into the infield.

Waltrip drove his Chevrolet past the crash by staying close to the wall. NASCAR ruled that Waltrip had already passed Johnny Sauter when the caution came out and the field was frozen, giving him his 11th Busch Series victory.

It took NASCAR time to figure out the finishing order because Gordon came across the line third, followed by Bowyer, Busch, Kasey Kahne and Benson. The unofficial list had Sauter second, followed by Kahne, Bowyer and Gordon.

Lee Hatch earned his first victory of the season as he held off Darren Young and Kevin Freddersohn to win the 50-lap Mechanix Wear Speed Truck Challenge Series feature at Irwindale Speedway. Hatch, the current series champion, had not won a race at the track in its six-year history.

In the 50-lap Auto Club Late Model Series feature, Tim Huddleston held off Deryk Ward over the final 15 laps for the victory.

Miscellany

U.S. national team members Mark Ruiz and Rachelle Kunkel won titles at the American Cup diving competition at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.

Ruiz, sixth in the 10-meter platform at the 2000 Olympics, won the event with 1,036.17 points. Kunkel took the women’s three-meter springboard with 772.41 points.

Ruiz entered the final in first place and stayed there. His second dive, an inward tuck 3 1/2 somersault, which carried a difficulty degree of 3.2, earned him 86.4 points.

Kunkel, representing the Trojan Dive Club of Los Angeles, was second in the competition after the semifinals. Her final dive -- a forward pike 3 1/2 somersault -- earned her 70.68 points.

Broadcaster Pat Summerall received a liver transplant in Jacksonville, Fla., and was in stable condition in an intensive care unit, hospital spokeswoman Evelyn Tovar said.

Summerall, 73, had been on the waiting list at St. Luke’s Hospital since April 2. Transplant surgeon Jeffrey Steers said the 2 1/2-hour procedure was completed without complications.

Summerall, a recovering alcoholic, qualified for a transplant through blood tests that rank potential recipients anonymously.

Dremiel Byers beat Olympic champion Rulon Gardner and Lee Fullhart defeated Cael Sanderson to win titles at the U.S. wrestling championships in Las Vegas.

Byers’ three-point takedown with 23 seconds left beat Gardner, 3-1, in the 264.5-pound Greco-Roman weight class. Gardner was the 2000 Olympic gold medalist and the 2001 world champion. Fullhart spotted three-time U.S. national champion Sanderson a two-point lead and then rallied for a 5-2 win in the 185-pound freestyle class.

Sanderson, the four-time unbeaten NCAA champion, won his last two national titles by beating Fullhart in the finals.