U.S. Reserves Unable to Win Fed Cup Match

Barbara Schwartz defeated Lisa Raymond to clinch Austria’s upset of the United States in a Fed Cup World Group quarterfinal match Sunday at Innsbruck, Austria.

Coupled with Barbara Schett’s 6-3, 6-2 win over Chanda Rubin in the day’s opening match, Schwartz’s 7-6 (3), 4-6, 10-8 victory gave Austria a 3-1 lead in the best-of-five series.

Austria wrapped up a 4-1 victory when Schett and Patricia Wartusch beat Martina Navratilova and Jill Craybas, 6-3, 0-6, 6-3. It was Navratilova’s first loss in 41 Fed Cup matches. Her regular doubles partner this season is Raymond.

Raymond and Rubin gave the United States a third-string squad, because such stars as Venus and Serena Williams, Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati opted not to play.

The United States has won the Fed Cup 17 times and reached the semifinals in 35 of the competition’s 41 years. Austria made the final four for the third time (1990, 2002). It has never reached a final.

Also reaching the semifinals were Russia, France and Spain. A new draw will determine the semifinal pairings.

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Wimbledon champion Roger Federer defeated Igor Andreev, 6-2, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3, to win the Swiss Open at Gstaad for the first time.

It’s the ATP Tour-leading seventh title of the season for the top-ranked Federer, who has won his last nine finals. He had to play four matches in three days because of rain delays.

“I always believed that I could win in Switzerland,” said Federer, who adjusted quickly to the tournament’s red clay after beating Andy Roddick in the Wimbledon final for his 24th consecutive victory on grass.

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Greg Rusedski earned his 14th career title at the same spot he won his first, beating Alexander Popp, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2), in the Hall of Fame Championships at Newport, R.I.

Rusedski, who also won on Newport’s grass courts in 1993, struggled on and off the court for the last two years after finishing in the top 20 from 1997 to 1999.

In March, the 1997 U.S. Open runner-up was cleared by an anti-doping panel. He failed a drug test but said he took supplements supplied by ATP trainers.

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French Open champion Gaston Gaudio and Mariano Zabaleta won rain-delayed semifinals in straight sets, setting up an all-Argentine final at the Swedish Open in Bastad. Gaudio beat Robin Soderling, 6-4, 6-2, while Zabaleta defeated Fernando Gonzalez, 6-1, 6-4.

The final is scheduled for today, the first time since 1981 the clay-court tournament’s last match was pushed a day past schedule. Saturday’s singles and doubles matches were postponed because of rain.

Pro Basketball

The Detroit Pistons have offered Antonio McDyess a four-year, $23-million contract, a source told Associated Press. The NBA champion Pistons, according to a league source who spoke on the condition of anonymity, hope to sign the forward on Wednesday when the NBA’s two-week player movement moratorium expires.

Miscellany

Chris Vermeulen won both World Superbike races at Laguna Seca in Monterey. His Honda outraced Pierfrancesco Chili’s Ducati in the first event, beating him by 4.127 seconds over 28 laps.

In the second race, James Toseland finished 0.465 seconds back on a Ducati.

That result and a fourth-place finish in the first race gave Toseland the lead in the series standings. Regis Laconi fell to second with finishes of fifth and third and trails Toseland by three points -- 201-198. Vermeulen is third with 187 points.