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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 5, 2000)
April 5, 200(1 Page B3 (The ^lortlanh (Dbßeruer Sortimi?) (Pli, Metro/Sports Officers open year 2000 Peninsula Little league K w an wins Women’s skating title A s s o c IA I ED PRESS Top, from left T.B. Winston, Bryan Butcher, Michael Mangum. In front, from left, Sharon Maxwell-Hendricks and Sharetta Butcher are officers that opened up the 2000 Peninsula Little League season. M ic h e lle K w an a b a n d o n e d all inhibitions in the best free program o f her career and w on her third W orld Figure Skating title Saturday. She vanquished critics and tw o Russian rivals w ho w ere in better position to win the gold by pushing through all seven triple jum ps. Both K w an’s short and long program s w ere the most technically difficult she’s ever skated, and she dedicated the six w eeks since the U.S. Cham pionships to adding more challenging triplejum ps to both. D uring the free program , Kwan was the only skater to hit a triple-triple com bination. The triple toe-triple toe w as critical in lifting Kw an above Irina Slutskaya, w ho w on silver, and last y e a r’s champion, M aria Butyrskaya in third. Com ing o ff the ice, a breathless Kwan was ecstatic. “T hat felt sooo good!” Kwan exclaim ed. “ I never felt like that. Every tim e I went to jum p, I was, ‘Oh jeez! Oh, jeez! A ju m p T hen m o tio n in g to co ach Frank Carroll, she said: “ His last w ords o f encouragem ent were, ‘Let go She did. She nailed five triple jum ps within the first 1 m inute, 30 seconds, o f the four-m inute free program - including the new com bination. Still, she saved adifficult triple lutz for last. “This is the first tim e I ever pushed and pushed and pushed through the four m inutes,” Kw an said. “I never felt as fast. T here are tim es when you get a little tired in y o u r program ... I d id n ’t w ant to com e o f f the ice and say I still had som e energy left. This time I wanted to use up al 1 my energy.” K w an’s victory w as especially dear since her chances o f w inning the title depended not o n ly on a stro n g program, but lapses by Butyrskaya and Slutskaya, w ho w ere 1 -2 after the short. K w an, th e 1996 an d ’98 champion, skated first, and the judges left ample room in the scores for both Russians to place higher, giving Kwan two 5.6s, three 5.7s and four 5.8s in the technical marks. Her artistic marks were 5.8s and 5.9s, rewarding K w an’s hallmark grace, w hich provided an interesting contrast w ith the dark soundtrack to “The Red V iolin.” |<|T||ld f ° r the love of jazz Sampras edges Brazilian in Ericsson Open thriller A ssociated P ress P e te S a m p ra s e a rn e d h is firs t tournam ent title o f the year Sunday, th rillin g a b o iste ro u s cro w d by beating Brazilian G ustavo Kuerten in a dram atic four-set m arathon to win the E ricsson Open. Sampras squandered six match points before winning 6-1,6-7 (6-2), 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (8-6) in 3 hours, 18 m inutes. L ooking w eary, Sam pras took a 6-2 lead in the final tiebreaker but then m ade four consecutive errors to m ake the score 6-6. He held another m atch point at 7-6 but double-faulted, and hit a backhand return long at 8-7, Sam pras w ent ahead again, 9-8, then cam e to the net behind his serve. K u erte n ’s forehand p assin g shot clipped the net cord and sailed long. Sampras raised both arms in jubilation as Kuerten angrily sw iped at the ground w ith his racket, m angling it. The sellout crow d o f 14,145 was evenly divided in its loyalty, w ith many fans w aving Brazilian flags and singing K uerten’s nicknam e, Guga. B u t c h a n ts o f “ L e t’s go P e te ” dom inated during the final tiebreaker. “1 was choking there at the end, feeling my nerves, ’ ’ Sam pras said. “ But 1 got through it. ... It was a hard-fought match. M y conditioning wasn ’t there, but the crow d w as trem endous. They really got behind me. ” S am p ras, se ed e d seco n d b eh in d A ndre A gassi, earned his third title at Key B iscay n eb u th isfirstsin ce 1994. He received $410,000 and Kuerten earned $215,000. T he sixth-seeded K uerten, 23, b ea t A gassi in the sem ifinals and w as bidding for the first hardcourt title o f his career. Sampras, who had 20 aces, dom inated w ith his serve for m uch o f the m atch, and Kuerten converted ju st one o f six break-point opportunities. I» W EDNESDAY A P R IL 1 9 7 : 0 0 pm T IC K E T S AVAILABLE AT ROSE Q U AR TER TIC KET O FFICE & T IC K E T M A S T E R LO CATIO NS — S E R V IC E C H A R G ES A P P L Y O N LY AT T IC K E T M A ST E R LO C A T IO N S
