Originally created 07/26/04

Overtime

By From Wire Reports

Tennis

Davenport keeps rolling vs. Williams

In Carson, Calif., another week, another tournament title over a Williams sister for Lindsay Davenport.

Davenport defeated top-seeded Serena Williams, 6-1, 6-3 in just over an hour to win the JPMorgan Chase Open, her fourth career title in eight finals appearances of her hometown tournament.

A week ago, Davenport beat Venus Williams in a riveting three-set match to win the Bank of the West title at Stanford. It was her first win over the older Williams sister in four years.

Davenport was on her game from the start of the match at Home Depot Center. She broke Williams in the third game on a backhand winner to go up 2-1. She held for 3-1 on a smash off Williams' short ball. Then Davenport broke again when Williams hit a forehand wide for a 4-1 lead.

Davenport served a love game to go up 5-1. She closed out the set with another service break on Williams' forehand error - one of her 29 in the match.

In Indianapolis, back on hard courts, Andy Roddick is back at his best.

Roddick used his trademark blistering serve and powerful groundstrokes to overwhelm Nicolas Kiefer 6-2, 6-3 and win a second straight RCA Championships title.

Roddick hit 10 aces routinely topping 140 mph, and Kiefer couldn't keep up.

The second-ranked American became the first player to repeat as the tournament's champion since Pete Sampras in 1991-92. Boris Becker is the only other player to win the hard-court event consecutively.

In Umag, Croatia, Guillermo Canas of Argentina beat Filippo Volandri of Italy, 7-5, 6-3 to win the Croatia Open.

The sixth-seeded Canas won his fifth career title and second in two weeks, following Stuttgart. But he had to come from behind, trailing 5-2 in the first set against the fourth-seeded Volandri.

Basketball

Former Suns coach honored after death

In Phoenix, former Phoenix Suns coach Lowell "Cotton" Fitzsimmons was remembered Sunday as a straight-shooting, feisty fixture of the franchise for more than 30 years.

Fitzsimmons, 72, the three-time Suns coach and two-time NBA Coach of the Year, died Saturday due to complications from lung cancer.

"He has always been a great friend and I appreciate him bringing me to Phoenix. It changed my basketball career forever," said Charles Barkley, who went to Phoenix last week to visit Fitzsimmons in the hospital. "I'm glad I got a chance to tell him that before he passed away."

Fitzsimmons left the sidelines in 1992 after guiding Phoenix to four straight 50-win seasons and two trips to the Western Conference finals.

In Denver, the judge and prosecutors in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case have failed to show why the media should be barred from publishing material the court accidentally gave them, media attorneys argued Sunday.

In a filing with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, attorneys for seven media organizations that received transcripts of a closed court hearing said District Judge Terry Ruckriegle's order barring the groups from publishing the information is unconstitutional.

The attorneys asked Breyer to put Ruckriegle's order on hold while they prepare a petition asking the full U.S. Supreme Court to review it.

None of the media that received the documents has published information from them.