April 5, 200(1
Page B3
(The ^lortlanh (Dbßeruer
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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»
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