Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 38

PO go glie 2D Wednesday August 18 1999 wwwstar-telegrancom ac 'gfig 1TA I' 111-- SPORTS BRIEFLY I 0 ANOTHER VIEW Serena Williams has a definite goal in mind New dirt track To be located on east side It From Wire Reports Pit or Serena Williams a professional tennis career is a lot like a piece of expensive jewel-I)' She's trying it on to see how she likes it The truth? It flatters her beyond belief You don't have to be working on commission in some tony store to recognize KAREN that tennis accentuates CROUSE Williams' best features She has noticed it too but that doesn't III mean something else in life's COMMENTARY display window won't grab her eye tomorrow The teen-ager is always shopping for new gems and new journeys Williams' peers on the professional tour a group that includes her older sister Venus can only hope she stumbles upon something she considers even more precious than the No 1 global ranking Otherwise we're not sure anyone can stop her from claiming it for her collection Williams acknowledges that she is 'covetously eyeing Martina Hingis' throne Williams didn't bat a lash when a man in the stands serenaded her with the sweet-sounding Number One following her straight-sets victory over Julie Halard-Decugis in the singles final at the Acura Classic on Sunday in Manhattan Beach Calif AVLUILLIULLUIL One is modest the other flashy and the way they both hit the ball is scary Their pace is hellacious and they have powerful serves No wonder: Steffi Graf decided to retire She saw the future of tennis and it was a heat-seeking missile Everybody knows Williams can hit the fuzz off the ball On Sunday we saw ham-die Williams' serves more deftly than most and return her lethal ground strokes in kind "We were both playing pretty powerful" said Williams and with players like that who needs No 1 playing No If nothing else the ousters in the semifinals of top-ranked Hingis and second-rardeed Lindsay Davenport freed us to celebrate the depth of the women's game In Williams' lifetime women's tennis has come a long way: from Chris Evert who made it OK to perspire to Martina Navratilova who made it OK to have muscles to Steffi Graf who made it OK 0 talk trash Williams is the resulting hybrid In at least one I respect though she is refreshingly original Home-schooled by her mother Oracene Williams speaks with a diction as crisp as her forehand passing shot Her speech is sprinided with words such as "ameliorate" and she talks enthusiastically of enrolling in an art school in Fort Lauderdale Ha in the fall and being out of tennis by the time she's 23 1 because "there's so much more I can do" With a perspective as broad as her shoulders how can Williams lose? ranking is within my reach" So do we mainly because her reach encompasses every inch of the tennis surface and probably the adjacent food court as well Williams is so quick on her feet balls seem to bounce more slowly in her court In the semifinals Hingis tied Williams up at the baseline then tried dinldng the ball over the net with little success In the final Halard-Decugis ran Williams from side to side and up and down which made for breathtaldng rallies but just one service break for the Frenchwoman in the eighth game of the second set We don't want to say Williams' athleticism had Halard-Decugis hearing footsteps but even when she hit a clean winner Halard-Decugis could be seen glancing nervously over her shoulder on her way back to the baseline as if she half-expected to see the ball flying off Williams' racket Halard-Decugis' first serve might have failed her far too often but words didn't "She was too good for me today" said Halard-Decugis who is ranked No 11 in the world two spots behind Williams Only one place separates them in the rankings but there is a world of difference between the two players Halard-Decugis is 28 and married to her coach She has short spiked hair a lean build and on Sunday she wore a pleated skirt an oversized polo shirt and no jewelry Williams is 17 and single She has cornrows and a muscular build and showed up for the kill in a snug-fitting dress with gold jewelry dangling from her ears neck and wrist Upon hearing it Williams who was standing at midcourt straightened her posture and gushed to nobody in particular and everybody in general "Yes No 1" A few minutes later she made it clear she hadn't simply gotten swept up in the moment "1 wasn't joking at all" she said "1 definitely feel the No 1 Karen Crouse is a columnist for the Las Angeles Daily News 114 A site for the new Texas Motor Speedway dirt track has been selected TMS general manager Eddie Gossage said yesterday The four-tenths-mile clay track will be located between the backstretch of the larger 15-mile superspeedway and Interstate-35W near the Lir Texas Motor Speedway on the east side of the property The track will play host to two Pennzoil World of Outlaws multi-day events next year with the first scheduled for March 30-31 "That site had a little more sizzle as far as location" Gossage said "It will be easier to see from the interLstate and it was a better location in a lot of respects" The track will seat 15000 initially could be oxpanded to between 20000 and 25000 to meet Aemand Gossage said Len Hayward itV BASKETBALL Tamika Whitmore scored a season-high 20 points as the New York Liberty clinched the WNBA's Eastern Conference championship with a 66-54 victory against Washington It was New York's first victory this season over rookie Chamique Holdsclaw the Mystics New York earned a one-game bye and homecourt advantage in the playoffs by winning the conference championship for the first time Jennifer Gillom scored 28 points to lead the Phoenix Mercury to a 71-59 victory against the Sacra mento Monarchs the Mercury's WNBA-record 10th consecutive home victory Gillom also became the second player in the VVNBA's three-year history to score 1500 points Gillom has 1518 second to Hous ton's Cynthia Cooper who has scored 1950 points A day after having a kidney transplant San Antonio Spurs forward Sean Elliott was moved from an intensive care unit and appeared headed toward "a recovery" his doctor said "He has done just well" said Dr Francis Wright Elliott underwent the transplant Monday with his brother Noel donating a kidney for the procedure The Spurs agreed to pay Bexar County $285 million as their part of a tax-financed $175 million arena officials said The agreement also guarantees be Spurs will sign a 25-year lease but provides the team with a buyout clause after 20 years The Spurs would make annual lease payments of $13 million Joe Smith who signed with the Minnesota Tim: berwolves as a free agent last year signed a one-year $22 million deal with the team Smith said he didn't seek a long-term deal in case things don't work out Nell Fortner coach of the US women's bas- ketball team was hired to coach the new Indianapolis WNBA franchise starting in its second season The former Purdue coach will miss the team's first season next summer because of the 2000 Olympic Games An undetermined interim coach will guide the still unnamed team through its inaugural season 1101101S PRO SPORTS CALENDAR ALL TALK MIA I TOINIRROWSIBIDATAIRATARDATINAINDAYIEMONBATINITUESDATI 4 1 4 tt f' 4 Afkitt' 1 '0-- A-ItO'L'i i -dm i If o' A i I at Indians at Indians vs Red Sox vs Red Sox vs Red Sox vs Yankees vs Yankeis ti)--11 1 6:35 pm 6:05 pm 7:35 pm 7:35 pm 7:05 pm 7:35 pm 7:35 prn Fox SW 10MCCh 39 KKIXCh 39 KXTXCh 39 KXTXCh 39 KXDUCh 39 laTXCh 39 (817) 273-5100 i at Patriots 7 pm KIVTCh 11 't (972) 579-5000 VA Dave Reid Brent Doug Lidster Darryl Sydor Brad Lukowich 4 KEEPING UP Toronto Severyn 31 IWITIIT11! VeAglbeervailale ri "I' Kamloops Kamloops Cranbrook CoBlruitmisbhia Columbia Columbia Blruitmisbhia 1 l--AN141711Q vs Brazil 'wt'' Indoor Team (214) 653-0200 7:05 pm at Colorado vs Chicago 8 pm Noon KINN23 (214) 979-0303 "I don't think it will last long People live on that mouth" Denver Broncos running back Terrell Davis on teammate Shannon Sharp above who is no longer speaking to the media ON TV CONTACT TZE 111 EVENT 411TILUILEACUE WORLD SERIES ESPN2 Regional Final 7 pm SPORTS PEOPLE Hole-in-one wins a Cadillac but organizers err want it back MANAGING EDITOR Ellen Altana (817) 390-7093 fitAtMAJOR-LEAGUEBAISEBALev" HOCKEY i Dmitri Khristich became a free agent as the Boston Bruins exercised their option to "walk away" from an arbitrator's award that would pay him $28 million next season Bruins general manager Harry Sinden said Khristich the team's second-leading 1 scorer last season with 29 goals and 42 assists wasn't Worth that much money The Fort Worth Brahmas of the Western Professional Hockey League acquired center Mike Sander- son from the New Mexico Scorpions for future con- siderations Sanderson returns to the Brahmas after spending the past two seasons with the Scorpions He played for the Fort Worth Fire in 1996-97 when they captured the Central Hockey League championship Rick Mauch FoxSW ESPN ESPN FoxSW 6 pm 6:30 pm 9:30 pm 2 am Ranger at Indians Athletics at Red Sox Mets at Padres Rangers at Indians (T) SPORTS EDITOR Celeste Williams (817) 390-7697 cwilliamsstar-telegramcom US Amateur US Amateur 2 pm ESA RCA Championships early rounds Noon ESPN DEPUTY SPORTS EDITORS Kathy Kudravi (817) 390-7409 kudravistar-telegrancom Mitchell Krugell (817) 390-7618 mkrugegstar-telegrancom ON RADIO claimed Lewis had not won the Cadillac Lewis is suing the tournament sponsors including the South Plainfield Business Association Summit Bank and the Kemper Cadillac dealership He wants the car and legal fees His lawyer Josef Saloman said the contest had been held at the seventh hole for three consecutive years Advertisements referred to the seventh hole and the car and all the assigned judges were at that hole "It's like they unwrapped a candy bar and held it in front of his face before telling him he could not have it" Saloman said The Associated Press NEW BRUNSWICK NJ For Keith Lewis a hole-in-one turned out to be more like a shot in the rough The New Yorker scored an ace at the seventh hole at Cranbury Golf Course during a tournament in May but tournament organizers later determined he hadn't won after all After the hole-in-one the judges handed Lewis the keys to his prize a new Cadillac parked near the seventh green But the organizers citing a clerical error later said the prize actually should have been assigned to the fifth hole not the seventh They BENT TIME STATION MAJOR-LEAGUE BASEBALL400 Rangers at Indians 6 pm KRLD1080 AM KDX171067 FM ARLINGTON EXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR Steven Smith (817) 548-5450 PRO SOCCER Burn at Colorado 8 pm KESS1270 AM KXEB910 AM NORTHEAST SPORTS EDITOR Schuyler Dixon (817) 685-3860 sdixonstar-telegrancom TENNIS Martina Hingis defeated Corina Morariu 6-0 6-3 in 54 minutes in a second-round match of the $105 million du Maurier Open in Toronto She will rneet 16th-seeded Chanda Rubin in the third round Rubin was a 6-2 4-6 6-4 winner over Nathalie Dechy Martin Danun whose world ranking has meted in recent years beat 12th-seeded Byron Black 6-2 6-2 in an opening-round match of the Legg Classic in Washington Damm who was tanked No 42 on the ATP Tour in 1997 is now 105th OUTDOORS :7 Dale Resor of Lewisville and his fishing buddy caught only two fish at Lake Ray Roberts yesterday morning but one of them sent the fishing community into a buzz of excitement when it was weighed Resor's a largemouth bass weighing 1429 pounds will be a Lake Ray Roberts record if the catch is certified by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department said Buck Creek Store owner Ken Blanks The fish was weighed on certified scales at the Buck Creek Store Resor caught the fish on a Red Shad plastic worm about 10 feet down in water 25 deep while fishing with Jeff Washer The record is a 1406-pounder caught by Thomas Duncan of Sherman in July 1993 First Team IN THE BLEACHERS 11 i WE'LL TAkE MEI CI-ill-WM-WA I' kJ' -c I'M kiLL I'M kiLL GOING To THEM ALL GOING To THEM ALL :1 0 i- (to- l'tt 9) o' i c' 1 4 4 40 i -by I' i 1 '14 i- 04 a if 1' -As I i sht A 1 1 Si "VA a 9 1 1 9 Bob Hood COLUMNISTS Randy Galloway (817) 390-7760 rgallowaystar-telegramcom Gil LeBreton (817) 390-7760 Jim Reeves (817) 390-7760 revostar-telegranconl HIGH SCHOOL RESULTS (817) 390-7300 telegrancom 1 INFORMATION Phone: (817) 390-776S Fax: (817) 390-7210 e-mail: it 1 --tD-' 0 0 rt124 i 9-1 a II 00 i i too IA -111 -me wt 11 It te 0 Afil! 1 f' kr 7 riltWl 7 6- 40 cHe SOCCER Major League Soccer signed midfielder Lothar Matthaeus captain of Germany's national team and a former world player of the year to a one-year contract He will begin playing with the New YorkNew Metro Stars next season Matthaeus 38 was the German player of the year last season with Bay em Munich in the Bundesliga Germany's top soccer league 1 he Associated PressJ Swrr APPLEWHIlt President Clinton left and Vice President Al Gore right hold up University of Tennessee jerseys presented them by Volunteers quarterback Tee Kirin yesterday Members of last season's riational championship football team were guests at the White House Cats are always the last ones ptcked when choosing sides Results 100.