Roddick Is With U.S. to the End

Andy Roddick knew he wanted to play a Davis Cup match Sunday, even though the United States already had clinched a quarterfinal berth.

That’s because he likes to put on a show for fans, he likes to play for his country and he likes to be around his teammates.

Roddick hit aces at up to 150 mph in a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Jurgen Melzer on Sunday, then rooted for Robby Ginepri during a 7-5, 6-2 win against Stefan Koubek that capped a 5-0 first-round victory over Austria at Uncasville, Conn.

The victory gives captain Patrick McEnroe reason to believe his squad could end the Americans’ longest Davis Cup title drought since the 1930s.

“It was a dominating performance for us. That gives me a lot of confidence,” McEnroe said. “It is going to get tougher from here, but I am pretty pleased.”

Next up for the Americans, trying to win the country’s 32nd Davis Cup title and first since 1995, is a quarterfinal in April at home against Sweden, which beat defending champion Australia, 4-1.

Jonas Bjorkman and Thomas Enqvist won singles matches to lift Sweden at Adelaide, Australia.

Bjorkman beat Wimbledon runner-up Mark Philippoussis, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2, and Enqvist defeated Wayne Arthurs, 7-6 (8), 3-6, 6-4.

Australia is the seventh defending champion to be eliminated in the first round since the World Group format was introduced in 1972.

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At Brno, Czech Republic, Spain got a deciding victory by 17-year-old Rafael Nadal over Radek Stepanek, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4), 6-3, to beat the Czechs, 3-2. Spain was without injured stars Juan Carlos Ferrero and Carlos Moya.... Martin Verkerk and Sjeng Schalken each won to lead the Dutch over Canada, 4-1, at Maastricht, Netherlands.... France won the last two singles matches and advanced with a 4-1 victory over Croatia at Metz, France....Top-ranked Roger Federer beat Andrei Pavel, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5, to lift Switzerland over host Romania, 3-2, at Bucharest.... At Minsk, Belarus, Vladimir Voltchkov beat Mikhail Youzhny, 7-5, 6-2, 6-4, in the final match to give the hosts a 3-2 victory over Russia.... Argentina swept host Morocco, 5-0, at Agadir. Morocco was without its top two players, Younes El Aynaoui and Hicham Arazi, who are injured.

Winter Sports

Chad Hedrick set a men’s overall points world record and led the U.S. to its first 1-2 finish in the World All-Around Speedskating Championships at Hamar, Norway.

Hedrick became the first American all-round champion since Eric Flaim in 1988.

Shani Davis finished second, and the American double ended a nine-year dominance by Dutch skaters in the world championships.

Renate Groenewold became the first Dutchwoman in 30 years to win the women’s title.

Hedrick had a four-race total of 150,478 points in the two-day meet. Davis had 150,726 points and Carl Verheijen of the Netherlands was third with 151,110.

Mark Tuitert of the Netherlands had set the old record of 151,691 points in last month’s European championships. Tuitert finished fifth at Hamar.

Groenewold finished with 162,573 points. Jennifer Rodriguez of the U.S. finished fourth.

Rainer Schoenfelder of Austria had a combined time of 1 minute 44.98 seconds to beat Bode Miller by 0.19 of a second in a World Cup slalom at Adelboden, Switzerland.

Benjamin Raich of Austria finished third and took the lead in the overall standings with 985 points. Miller is fourth with 852.

Anja Paerson won a World Cup slalom at Zwiesel, Germany, in a race in which Americans Sarah Schleper finished fourth, Resi Stiegler eighth and Kristina Koznick 10th.

Paerson fought through steady snowfall to finish her two heats in 1:29.58, beating Monika Bergmann-Schmuderer of Germany by 0.44 of a second.

Paerson leads the overall standings with 1,220 points and Renate Goetschl of Austria is second with 1,108.

Gilles Jaquet and Daniela Meuli gave Switzerland a sweep of the parallel giant slalom men’s and women’s events in World Cup snowboarding at Berchtesgaden, Germany.

Miscellany

Defending NCAA champion USC, last year’s national runner-up Pepperdine and second-ranked UCLA will participate in the Northrup Grumman Regional Challenge women’s golf tournament beginning today at the Palos Verdes Country Club.

USC, the nation’s 13th-ranked team by GolfWeek magazine, is led by sophomore Irene Cho while UCLA is led by All-American junior Charlotte Mayorkas. Pepperdine is led by fourth-ranked sophomore Carolina Llano, one of the individual favorites heading into the tournament.

Other top 10 teams competing are California, New Mexico, Oklahoma State and Florida. Play begins at 9 a.m. today and Tuesday, and 8:30 a.m. for Wednesday’s final round.

The New England Patriots did not exercise their option on running back Antowain Smith, making the team’s best runner an unrestricted free agent. Smith will turn 32 next month.

Rulon Gardner defeated Dremiel Byers, 2-1, in overtime in the 264 1/2-pound division to win a Greco-Roman championship in the Dave Schultz Memorial International wrestling tournament at Colorado Springs, Colo.

Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson may be getting ready to get back in the ring for the first time since stopping Clifford Etienne in 49 seconds in February 2003.

Shelly Finkel, the manager Tyson fired a few months ago, said they have reunited and that they are exploring a possible fight in May or June.

Showtime network executive Jay Larkin said he was in talks for a Tyson fight June 5. That is the same day Oscar De La Hoya said he would fight his next bout. De La Hoya fights on HBO.

Bob Kennedy, the 33-year-old American record-holder at 3,000 and 5,000 meters, won the U.S. cross-country championship at Indianapolis.

Kennedy, who did the 12K in 35 minutes 3 seconds, also won the title in 1992. No American runner has won in cross-country so many years apart.