The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 35

The Boston Globe Sports C9 SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 2006 Nasdaq-100 Open Oversized body of work Federer reaches 11th straight final this is the Ljubicic saidr "I really just hope to be at least close tomorrow." Ljubicic is the first Croatrto reach the men's final since Goran Ivanisevic in 1996. Ivanisevic woke up with a stiff neck the morning of his final and was forced to retire against Andre Agassi. The women's final today will be an all-Russian matchup between No. 4 seed Maria Sharapova and No. 12 Svetlana Kuznetsova.

The 1 lth-seeded Ferrer was coming off a win over Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals, but Federer quickly cooled him off, taking the opening set in 18 minutes. A flurry of errors, including two sloppy volleys, then put Federer in a 3-0 hole to start the second set The lapse didn't last long. Federer rallied to win the next, five games with an array of winners, including a crosscourt backhand that almost sent Ferrer spinning into the concrete in pursuit. "That's why he's No. 1 in the world," Ferrer said.

Federer improved to 27-1 this year and extended his record winning streak in the ATP Masters Series to 23 matches. By Steven Wine ASSOCIATED PRESS KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. An hour of court time at Crandon Park was more than enough last night for Roger Federer. Even with a brief lapse, the top-seeded Federer needed only 59 minutes to reach the final of the Nasdaq-100 Open, beating David Ferrer, 6-1, 6-4. "I didn't give him much chance," Federer said.

"I'm playing so well this week, it was tough for him from the start." The result was hardly a surprise: Federer has advanced to the final in his past 11 tournaments, the longest such men's streak since John McEnroe made 12 consecutive finals in 1984. Federer will bid for his second successive Key Biscayne title tomorrow against No. 6 seed Ivan Ljubicic, a Croat who advanced to his first final in the United States by beating No. 3 David Nalban-dian, 6-1, 6-2. Federer has won his past six meetings against Ljubicic, although three times they split sets.

Overall Federer leads, 9-3. "Every time when I have to play against him, it's like, 'OK, maybe Then he stepped out and nailed a big three. Outrageous. But George Mason has a CWB of its own. Jai Lewis is a 6-7 senior listed at 275.

He is a hunk of young manhood, and it might take 35 seconds to run around one of his picks. This game might be the first time all season he won't necessarily be the most intimidating player on the floor. The idea of an occasional low-post joust featuring Big Baby and Just Plain Big Jai is an intriguing thought. "I told our staff that matchup could be a made-for-TV heavyweight title fight," George Mason coach Jim Larranaga said. Davis's engaging personal qualities have been on display throughout the NCAA Tournament.

He is a polite young man who was dealt a bad hand (absent father, drug-plagued mother), but who has emerged as a thoughtful spokesman for the team and college basketball. The nickname? He has carried it since age 9. It was given to him by a youth football coach and he claims to be at peace with it. "I never looked at it in a negative way," Davis says. "Gives some of my critics something to feed off of.

I'm a nice guy. I don't mind. I adapt to anything." Larranaga had to outrecruit fellow Colonial Athletic Association lodge brothers Virginia Commonwealth and Drexel, sweating out the former because Lewis liked its new dorms and the latter because he had a girlfriend going to school in Philly. The coach was thrilled to be in the hunt at all. "He was terrific," Larranaga says.

"I thought he was an ACC player." With his size, hands, and quick feet, some think Lewis will likely be an NFL player when it's all said and done. For a recent precedent, see Antonio Gates, another certified CWB at Kent State before becoming a superb tight end for the San Diego Chargers. That's all fuzzy, crystal-ball stuff. The issue now is this basketball game, and one of the juicy subplots will be the rather intense battle down low in the paint. For as much as Messrs.

Davis and Lewis pride themselves on their versatility, their greatest team value lies in their ability to control that slice of real estate close to the hoop. If you feel the earth move a few times between the hours of 6 and 8 tonight, don't panic. It will simply be the CWBs, doing what they do best. RYAN ContinuedfromPageCl changed when BC played Florida in the round of eight 12 years ago. For one of.

the Rorida starters was the immortal Da- metri Hill, whose signature offensive weapon was a shot known as "Da Meat Hook." Florida scribes tell me that Hill, who was about 6-7, maybe 6-8, was at 300-plus when he arrived on campus, but had slimmed down to the 260 range by the time he met up with BC. I don't buy it. All I know is when Danya went up against Dametri, the former looked like a pillow that had just been swallowed up by the mattress. To be a true CWB, the cutoff height is usually about 6-9. But one exception was Thomas Hamilton, the man-mountain Chicago native who was 7-2 and who may have made the poundage acquaintance of 400 on occasion.

Among his many stops on the trail was Boston, and in his brief time with the Celtics, he demonstrated, as he always did, that he actually did have good hands and surprisingly quick feet. But it just didn't work, not at 400, or 375, or whatever he was, and I have no idea where Thomas Hamilton is now. Anyway Popeye Jones. Malik Rose. Arthur Johnson.

Rolan Roberts. They were all somewhere between 6-4 and 6-9 and they all set picks that required 24 seconds to circumvent. Then there was, and is, Robert "Tractor" Traylor, who needs no introduction to serious basketball fans. And we cannot forget the greatest wide-body of them all, Charles Barkley. At 6-4 or so, he really was north of 300 when he played at Auburn, and he always had the explosiveness that would be fully exploited when he played at a more reasonable 265 pounds during his prime NBA years.

Now, if you're a fan of the genre, boy, do we have a game for you. Make sure you tune in at 6:07 tonight, when contemporary college basketball's two best Certified Wide-Bodies one you probably know and one you might not be as familiar with will be playing each other. LSU will feature sophomore Glen "Big Baby" Davis, who stands 6-9 and whose own press guide lists him at 310. This, we are told, is down some 40 pounds from high school, where he was get ready a running back. Davis is a scary force who is almost criminally graceful for his size.

He executed an up-and-under move to split two Texas defenders last week that would have made Kevin McHale proud. MATTHEW STOCKMANGETTY IMAGES Top-ranked and defending champ Roger Federer soars into the Nasdaq-100 Open final, beating David Ferrer in a brisk 59 minutes. Flashy Bull eyes Derby run in Florida By Richard Rosenblatt ASSOCIATED PRESS HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. Kiaran McLaughlin has the Kentucky Derby on his mind again. The trainer who nearly won last year's Derby sends out Flashy Bull against undefeated favorite Barbara and nine other 3-year-olds in today's $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park.

The iy8-mile race (USA, 5:42 p.m. post) is a major steppingstone to the Kentucky Derby May 6. While a win would be nice for Flashy Bull, it's not a necessity for So far, Flashy Bull has yet to dazzle, although the colt has finished second four times and third once to go along with his maiden win back on Oct. 26. In his most recent race, Flashy Bull ended up second in the Fountain of YQUth despite leaving from the No.

10 post and enduring a wild stretch run in which Corinthian was DQ'd to third from first for impeding several horses. Barbara, with Edgar Prado aboard, is the 8-5 top choice off his 4-for-4 record but drew the No. ,10 post. Sharp Humor is the speed in the race and should be out front at the start. the gray son of Holy Bull.

After all, maybe the colt is following the footsteps of another son of Holy Bull last year's Derby winner, Giacomo. "I hope this gray horse, like Giacomo, keeps improving with each race and is headed for a big performance on the first Saturday in May," McLaughlin said yesterday. Flashy Bull has just one victory on his rfisumfi, but so did Giacomo before winning the Derby at 50-1 odds, beating McLaughlin's 71-1 shot Closing Argument by a half-length. Bob Ryan is a Globe columnist. His e-mailaddress is ryanglobe.com.

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