Nalbandian Wins First Tennis Title Since 2002

Top-seeded David Nalbandian won his first title since 2002, defeating Andrei Pavel, 6-4, 6-1, Sunday in the BMW Open final at Munich, Germany.

Nalbandian trailed, 4-1, in the first set, then lost only one more game in earning his third career title. Nalbandian, a Wimbledon finalist in 2002, was a top-10 player until a series of stomach muscle injuries.

“This is very important to me,” he said. “I’ve had a strange year with so many injuries. When I play like this, it makes all the hard work worthwhile.”

Nalbandian withdrew from the Monte Carlo tournament last week because of a virus and entered this clay-court tuneup for the French Open as a wild card.

Pavel said he was weakened by stomach problems and fatigued after beating Tommy Haas in nearly three hours in a semifinal Saturday.

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Justine Henin-Hardenne won her second clay-court title in two weeks, defeating second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, in the J&S; Cup final at Warsaw.

Henin-Hardenne extended her winning streak to 11 matches.

Kuznetsova left the court trailing, 4-1, in the second set and returned with her left thigh wrapped. She said that even though the injury slowed her, Henin-Hardenne also raised her game.

Henin-Hardenne, who won April 17 at Charleston, S.C., had lost five of her previous six matches against the 2004 U.S. Open champion.

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Second-seeded Gaston Gaudio won the Estoril Open at Oeiras, Portugal, beating wild-card Tommy Robredo, 6-1, 2-6, 6-1, for his third clay-court title this season.

Qualifier Lucie Safarova, ranked 155th, won the women’s title in the first final of her career with a 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-3 victory over fourth-seeded Na Li, ranked 40th. It was the first time a qualifier has won this tournament.

Gaudio, last year’s French Open champion, got off to a strong start against Robredo, who was playing on his 23rd birthday. Robredo regrouped in the second set to even the match. Gaudio had no trouble in the third set despite three double-faults.

Gaudio’s other titles on clay this year were at Vina del Mar, Chile, and Buenos Aires.

Hockey

The United States routed Slovenia, 7-0, in its opener in the world championships at Innsbruck, Austria, with Mike Knuble scoring two goals and Rick DiPietro facing only 15 shots.

Slovenia, a newcomer to international hockey’s top annual event, was greeted with a goal by Knuble 31 seconds after the opening faceoff. It was one of the fastest goals ever in the the world championships.

Adam Hall, Mark Parrish, Jeff Halpern, Yan Stastny and Brian Gionta scored for the U.S., which finished third in last year’s tournament.

Knuble, selected the player of the game for the U.S., had a great chance six minutes after his first goal. But Robert Kristan made a pad save on a breakaway. Knuble beat Kristan for his second goal at 5 minutes 48 seconds in the second period, banging in a loose puck in front of the crease to make it 4-0.

At Vienna, the Czech Republic scored three power-play goals and beat Switzerland, 3-1, with Jaromir Jagr scoring once for the Czechs, and Kazakhstan beat Germany, 2-1.

Sweden, the 2003 and 2004 runner-up, beat Ukraine, 3-2, at Innsbruck.

Miscellany

Las Vegas quarterback Clint Dolezel’s two-point conversion pass attempt skidded through Coco Blalock’s hands with 17 seconds left, giving the Chicago Rush a 63-62 victory over the Gladiators in an Arena Football League game at Rosemont, Ill.

Chicago (8-5) took a 63-56 lead with 56 seconds to play on Raymond Philyaw’s 19-yard pass to Jeremy McDaniel, but Las Vegas (7-6) pulled within a point on Dolezel’s 14-yard scoring pass to former Rush player Joe Douglass.

Dolezel completed 28 of 36 passes for 355 yards and nine touchdowns.

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St. Bonaventure women’s basketball Coach Jim Crowley and assistant Scott Young were put on administrative leave after a complaint by a university employee.

The school would not elaborate on the complaint but said the coaches would be on leave until an investigation was completed. School officials met with the team to explain the situation.

In five seasons as coach, Crowley has a 44-96 record, including 9-19 last season.

The school’s athletic department has had problems the last two years. In February 2004, the NCAA punished the men’s basketball program a year after the team violated junior college transfer rules.

Last month, the men’s team suspended top recruit Tyler Relph after he was charged with drunk driving. He pleaded not guilty last week.

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Former Olympic champion Viatcheslav Ekimov, a member of Lance Armstrong’s Tour de France cycling team, was injured during a training ride near Austin, Texas.

Ekimov will be off his bike for a few weeks and team doctors will reevaluate his condition then, said Mark Higgins, a spokesman for Capital Sports Entertainment, which represents Armstrong.

Armstrong will be bidding for a seventh consecutive Tour title this summer, his last ride in the event before retirement.

Ekimov was riding with Armstrong on Saturday when he hit a hole in the road and lost control of his bike, hitting his chest on the handlebar and crashing on his back, according to Armstrong’s website.

Ekimov’s injuries were termed “significant,” even though he was treated and released from an Austin hospital. Further details were not provided.

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Olympic silver medalist Kim Severson won her third equestrian title in four years in the $200,000 Kentucky Rolex Three-Day Event at Lexington.

Severson, riding Winsome Adante, turned in a perfect round in the jumping competition on the final day of the competition.

Phillip Dutton was second on The Foreman and Olympic gold medalist Leslie Law was third on Coup de Couer.