U.S. Victory Powered by Seles, Gambill

Monica Seles returned to the Hopman Cup after a 10-year absence Monday, leading the United States to a 3-0 victory over Slovakia in the mixed-teams tournament at Perth, Australia.

Seles played for Yugoslavia in 1991 and is the first player to represent two countries in this tuneup for the Australian Open.

She defeated Karina Habsudova, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, and teammate Jan-Michael Gambill defeated Dominik Hrbaty, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. In mixed doubles, Seles-Gambill downed Habsudova-Hrbaty, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4).

The Americans, seeded third, are in Group B with Slovakia, Russia and Belgium.

Seles had a more successful day than Marat Safin of Russia, who is ranked No. 2 in the world. The U.S. Open champion was upset by little-known Olivier Rochus of Belgium, 6-2, 1-6, 6-3.

That gave Belgium the decision over Russia in the round-robin event after Kim Clijsters’ 6-1, 6-4 victory over Elena Likhovtseva.

*

With temperatures reaching 102 degrees, Andrei Pavel of Romania defeated Justin Gimelstob, 6-2, 6-2, in the first round of the AAPT Championship at Adelaide, Australia.

Christophe Rochus of Belgium defeated Andrew Ilie of Australia, 1-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5, and Jason Stoltenberg of Australia defeated fourth-seeded Sebastien Grosjean of France, 6-3, 6-2.

*

Defending champion Fabrice Santoro of France lost in the first round of the $1-million Qatar Open, falling to 35-year-old Gianluca Pozzi of Italy, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), at Doha, Qatar.

*

Marlene Weingartner of Germany upset third-seeded Nathalie Dechy of France, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-0, in the first round of the ASB Bank Classic at Auckland, New Zealand. Second-seeded Barbara Schett of Austria was a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Leanne Baker of New Zealand, and defending champion Anne Kremer of Luxembourg, seeded fifth, advanced with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Emmanuelle Gagliardi of Switzerland.

*

Sixth-seeded Meghann Shaughnessy defeated Silvia Plischke of Austria, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, in a first-round match of the Australian women’s hardcourt championships at Gold Coast, Australia.

*

Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova have split as doubles partners. Hingis, the world’s No. 1 player, said she wants to cut back on her doubles commitments this season. The Swiss star plans to play doubles with Seles at the Australian Open and a warmup tournament in Sydney next week.

Miscellany

Golf’s Match Play Championship, already without six of the top 10 players in the world ranking, was on the verge of losing another one when Hal Sutton had to seek treatment in Australia for a lower back injury.

“It only hurts when I hit a ball,” Sutton said, lying face down as two physical therapists put huge packs of ice on his back.

L’Equipe, France’s top sports newspaper, is scheduled to feature Tiger Woods as its Champion of Champions for 2000 in today’s editions. It marks the first time the annual award has gone to a golfer since the newspaper began in 1946, said editor in chief Jerome Bureau.

Seven players and two coaches of Iran’s most popular soccer teams were suspended for up to 18 months after fist fights that sparked fan rioting, the nation’s state-run news agency reported.

Iran’s soccer federation also fined each player and coach up to $1,250.

Three players were arrested and charged with disturbing public order after Friday’s game between Pirouzi and Esteqlal. They were released on bail Monday, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Olympic boxing champion Bekzat Sattarkhanov of Kazakhstan was killed in a New Year’s Eve car accident, police said. He was 20.

Sattarkhanov was driving to Turkestan in southern Kazakhstan for a New Year’s Eve celebration when the accident occurred, police said.

Sattarkhanov, who was one of the standout boxers of the Sydney Olympics, defeated Ricardo “Rocky” Juarez of the U.S. to win the gold medal in the 125-pound class.

Janko Bensa of Flagstaff, Ariz., braved 24-degree temperature and 20-mph winds to win the New York Road Runners Club New Year’s Eve Midnight four-mile run, beating Marcus O’Sullivan.

Bensa was timed in 19 minutes 31 seconds in the race through Central Park, while O’Sullivan, a three-time world indoor champion at 1,500 meters and now Villanova’s track coach, finished second at 19:46.

Sinead Delahunty of Ireland was the women’s winner at 22:08, and Zofia Wieciorkowska of Stratford, Conn., was runner-up at 23:28.

Hundreds of vehicles bound for West Africa thundered through Paris for the start of the grueling 2001 Dakar Rally.

The rumbling convoy marked the race’s return to Paris for the first time in three years and the resumption of its traditional start from the Eiffel Tower at dawn on New Year’s Day.

Some 133 motorcycles, 113 cars, 30 race trucks and 82 support vehicles are heading to Senegal in 20 stages, covering 6,658 miles in three weeks.

Harry “Fritz” Dorish, one of the first true relief pitchers of the post-World War II era, died Sunday in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. He was 79. Dorish spent 45 years in baseball as a player, coach and scout. He pitched for 10 years in the majors.

Martina Ertl of Germany, second in the World Cup overall standings, suffered a torn knee ligament during a giant slalom in Semmering, Austria, and might sit out skiing’s world championships. She faces a layoff of four to six weeks after tearing a ligament in her right knee for the third time.

John Steadman of the Baltimore Sun, who chronicled Baltimore’s NFL teams for half a century and was one of the few sportswriters to attend every Super Bowl, died Monday at 73. Steadman, a columnist, died of cancer at the Gilchrest Center for Hospice Care in Baltimore, said Bill Marimow, editor of the Sun.