Davenport Takes No. 1 Ranking

Lindsay Davenport of Newport Beach capped a remarkable year Friday when she climbed past Martina Hingis and took over the top ranking in women’s tennis.

Davenport, 22, actually moved into the No. 1 spot when Hingis lost to Dominique Van Roost of Belgium, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, in the quarterfinals of the Porsche Grand Prix at Filderstadt, Germany. But the American would have claimed the top ranking later in the day anyway when she won her own quarterfinal, defeating seventh-seeded Nathalie Tauziat of France, 7-6 (7-1), 7-5.

“I’ve dreamed of being the best ever since I was a little kid,” Davenport said.

Davenport won the U.S. Open last month, her first Grand Slam title.

Hingis became the youngest No. 1 in history when she took over the top spot on March 31, 1997, holding it for 80 weeks. She replaced Steffi Graf, who was No. 1 for 377 weeks.

“It’s no drama that I’ll be No. 2 for a little while. It’s good for the motivation,” Hingis said. “But at the moment, Lindsay is simply the better player. She belongs at No. 1.”

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Andre Agassi advanced to the semifinals of the Swiss Indoors with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Sweden’s Magnus Gustafsson at Basel. . . . Top-seeded Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia and second-seeded Michael Chang advanced to the semifinals of the Shanghai Open. Chang, the crowd favorite in China, had no problem ousting Todd Woodbridge of Australia, 6-2, 6-2. Ivanisevic defeated Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2).

Olympics

The nine American cities hoping to play host to the 2012 Olympics--including Los Angeles--were given more time to come up with government guarantees to back their bids.

The U.S. Olympic Committee’s policymaking panel set Dec. 31 as the new deadline for the bidders to obtain city or regional government acknowledgment that tax money could be required to cover any budget shortfall a privately financed Summer Games might encounter.

That’s three months past the original deadline, which was met by only four bid committees--Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston and Orlando-Tampa, Fla.

Names in the News

Former Cal football player Mariet Ford sat stone-faced in a Sacramento courtroom as he was sentenced to 45 years to life in prison for killing his pregnant wife and toddler son.

Ford, 37, was a standout receiver and a participant in “the Play,” the last-ditch kickoff return Cal used to beat Stanford in 1982.

Ford, Cal’s 1982 most valuable player whose blind, over-the-shoulder toss to a trailing teammate was the last of five laterals in “the Play,” testified in his own defense during the trial and denied the killings. He said nothing during his sentencing.

He was convicted April 22 on three counts of second-degree murder in the bludgeon slayings of his 3-year-old son Mariet “Mo-Mo” Ford, his 31-year-old wife, Teresita Ford, and the couple’s unborn child. Teresita Ford was more than eight months pregnant when she was killed in January 1997.

Lawrence Phillips, released by the Miami Dolphins in July, could be sentenced to a year in jail if convicted on charges he struck a woman at a nightclub in Plantation, Fla., when she refused to dance with him. Michelle Black of West Palm Beach contends that on June 27 the 220-pound football player knocked her unconscious.

Ken Schrader won the pole for Sunday’s Winston 500 at Talladega, Ala., leaving the rest of the contenders in his dust with a lap of 196.153 mph.

Andrey Pestrayev and James Page will fight for the World Boxing Assn.’s vacant welterweight title as scheduled tonight in Paris after a French judge overturned a decision by a New Jersey judge that could have blocked the bout.

An arrest warrant was issued in New York for Mark Gastineau, former star defensive end for the New York Jets, for allegedly violating a court order to stay away from a woman he was accused of hitting.

Dayton rewarded basketball Coach Oliver Purnell with a 10-year contract extension after he led the Flyers to their first postseason appearance since 1990.

Miscellany

World Cup freestyle skiing will return to the Lake Tahoe area for the first time in more than 20 years next Jan. 22-24 with Olympic champion Jonny Moseley, who started skiing in the Tahoe area, headlining events at Heavenly Ski Resort.

Investigators in Toronto confirmed they found traces of a sedative in the blood of eight thoroughbreds at Woodbine Race Track in what their trainer believes was a case of deliberate drugging.

The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference will lose one of its undefeated football teams when La Verne (2-1, 2-0) and Whittier (3-1, 1-0) meet tonight at 7 at Whittier.