Rubin Gets Prepared for U.S. Open With Win

American Chanda Rubin tuned up for the U.S. Open with a come-from-behind upset victory over Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria, 6-7 (6-8) 6-0 6-3, Sunday in the Pathmark Tennis Classic at Mahwah, N.J.

Rubin, 19, who is ranked No. 16 in the world, won nine consecutive games in the third set to turn the match around against Maleeva, who is ranked No. 7 in the world.

“I tried hard not make errors while trying to create some openings,” said Rubin, who finished with seven aces. “I wasn’t thinking about having won nine games in a row but I feel that it’s a good win going into the U.S. Open when you beat a Top 10 player.”

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Top-seeded Thomas Muster of Austria saved three match points and went on to defeat Carlos Costa of Spain, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, to win his third title at the Croatia Open in Umag.

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Top-seeded Yavgeny Kafelnikov successfully defended his Genovese Hamlet Cup title by defeating Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands, 7-6 (7-0), 6-2, at Commack, N.Y.

Basketball

Brazil, led by Oscar Schmidt’s 27 points, captured the last spot in the men’s field at the Atlanta Olympics, defeating Canada, 97-77, in the third-place game at the Americas qualifying tournament in Neuquen, Argentina.

Puerto Rico beat Argentina, 87-86, to take the gold medal, although both teams had already qualified.

Track

Jonathan Edwards jumped 59 feet 0 3/4 inches to easily win the triple jump and Jan Zelezny hurled the javelin a season’s best 302-3 in an IAAF Invitational track and field meet at London.

World 110-meter hurdles champion Allen Johnson defeated world-record holder Colin Jackson, and Canada’s 100-meter titlist, Donovan Bailey, again was beaten, placing third behind Jon Drummond and Linford Christie, who tied for first place in 10.11 seconds.

Mexicans Jose Duarte and Maricarmen Diaz ran past more than 16,000 runners to capture the top two places in the 13th International Marathon of Mexico City. Duarte finished first with an unofficial time of two hours, 18 minutes, 44 seconds.

Swimming

Denis Pankratov paced Russia to a European record in the men’s 400 medley relay at three minutes, 38.11 seconds with the fastest butterfly leg of 51.73 seconds to end the 22nd European Swimming Championships at Vienna.

A tired Franzi van Almsick of Germany lost the 50-meter freestyle title but still finished as the top medalist with five golds and one silver. Almsick lost the women’s sprint by .04 to Linda Olofsson of Sweden in 25.76 seconds. Van Almsick’s five golds make her the most successful swimmer in European history with 11 titles.

Miscellany

Germany finished in five minutes, 53.40 seconds and won the prestigious men’s eight class in the final race of the World Rowing Championships in Tampere, Finland.

Danny Ray Perez has stepped in as a replacement challenger to Nigel Benn for Saturday’s World Boxing Council super middleweight title fight at Wembley stadium in London. Perez, who has a record of 24-3, replaces another American challenger, Steve Little, who pulled out last week over contractual problems in his team.

Hristo Stoichkov scored on a free kick in the 76th minute as Parma tied Atalanta, 1-1, in the opening weekend of Italian first division soccer.

Josh Davis won two gold medals for the United States in World University Games aquatic competition at Fukuoka, Japan, and the Americans remained locked in a close battle with Japan for the overall medal lead.

John Mawdsley, 39, died after being stricken with a heart attack near the finish of the swimming portion of a Chicago triathlon.