Petrova Simply No Match for Davenport

Lindsay Davenport won the first set in 19 minutes and defeated seventh-seeded Nadia Petrova, 6-0, 6-3, Saturday to reach the final of the Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island, Fla.

The top-ranked Davenport will play for the title today against 12th-seeded Silvia Farina Elia, who beat Virginie Razzano, 6-1, 6-3.

Davenport played nearly flawless tennis in running off six consecutive games in the first set. Petrova held serve three times in a row in the second set, but Davenport broke the 12th-ranked Russian in the seventh and ninth games.

“I wanted to start this match in better fashion than I did yesterday,” said Davenport, referring to the 6-1 first-set loss to Venus Williams on Friday.

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Fifth-seeded David Ferrer advanced to the final of the Valencia Open in Spain with two victories. He first beat Alberto Martin, 6-1, 6-4, in the quarterfinals, then defeated Albert Costa, 6-3, 6-3, in the semifinals.

Ferrer and Costa had to play their quarterfinal matches Saturday because rain stopped play Friday. Costa beat Fernando Verdasco, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-1, in the other quarterfinal.

Ferrer will play seventh-seeded Igor Andreev, who beat Ivan Navarro Pastor, 7-6 (3), 6-2.

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Pro Football

Jerome Bettis told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he intends to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers this season. The 33-year-old running back had considered retiring after last season but signed a renegotiated contract on March 2 that will pay him $1.5 million in 2005.

Shane Stafford completed 27 of 40 passes for 262 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Tampa Bay Storm (6-4) to a 54-42 win over the Orlando Predators (7-4) in an Arena league game at Tampa, Fla.

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College Basketball

Steve Cleveland was hired to be Fresno State’s men’s coach.

Cleveland, who was 138-108 in eight seasons at Brigham Young, replaces Ray Lopes, who resigned March 17 after a school investigation determined he had broken an NCAA rule about telephone calls to recruits.

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College Hockey

Freshman Paul Stastny scored two goals, and Peter Mannino made them stand up with an almost flawless performance in goal to help Denver successfully defend its national title with a 4-1 victory over North Dakota at Columbus, Ohio.

It was the seventh national title for Denver (32-9-2), ranked No. 1 for most of the season.

Stastny also had an assist on Gabe Gauthier’s empty-netter. Gauthier, a Buena Park native, had an assist to go with his 26th goal of the season.

Mannino had a career-high 44 saves two nights after stopping 41 shots in a 6-2 win over Colorado College in the semifinals.

Junior center Marty Sertich of Colorado College won the Hobey Baker Award, taking the honors as college hockey’s top player. Sertich led the nation in scoring with 64 points.

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College Baseball

Sophomore Ian Kennedy (5-1) struck out a career-high 15 and pitched a three-hitter for his first career shutout in leading USC (20-9, 5-3) to a 9-0 Pacific 10 Conference victory over UCLA (7-20, 0-5) at Dedeaux Field.

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Miscellany

Cole Ford, the former USC and Oakland Raider kicker accused of shooting at the Las Vegas compound of Siegfried & Roy, viewed the illusionists as a threat, according to a psychiatric evaluation report.

The evaluation was performed by psychiatrist Norton Roitman on Nov. 10, a week after Ford was charged with firing several shotgun blasts at the Las Vegas home of entertainers Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn.

The report was published in Saturday’s editions of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Ford, 32, has been ruled incompetent to stand trial and was sent to a mental health facility in Sparks, Nev., for treatment.

Ford maintained he never intended to harm anyone and his actions were intended only to “warn the world of the illusionists’ unhealthy danger to them and to animals,” the report said.

The U.S. beat Canada, 3-1, in a penalty shootout to win the Women’s World Hockey Championship at Linkoping, Sweden, ending the Canadians’ run of eight consecutive titles.

Natalie Darwitz, Angela Ruggiero and Krissy Wendell scored for the Americans after regulation and a 20-minute overtime ended in a scoreless tie. Goalie Chanda Gunn of Huntington Beach made two saves in the overtime period.