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Roddick Serves Himself a Victory

From Staff and Wire Reports

Andy Roddick hit 16 aces with a serve that reached 135 mph and beat Paradorn Srichaphan, 7-6 (2), 6-4, to win the RCA Championships on Sunday at Indianapolis.

The top-seeded Roddick won his third title this season, each on a different surface -- on clay at St. Poelten, Austria, in May; on grass at Queen’s Club in England in June, and on hard courts at Indianapolis.

Roddick improved to 15-1 under coach Brad Gilbert, who used to work with Andre Agassi. They teamed up after Roddick lost in the first round of the French Open.

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Roddick lost only one point in his final four service games. That point was a double-fault in the last game, but he quickly recovered with an ace and a service winner to end it.

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Second-seeded Kim Clijsters rallied to beat third-seeded Jennifer Capriati, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, in the final of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford for her fourth singles title this year. Capriati double-faulted on match point in her first final in four months. She has not won a singles title in 1 1/2 years.

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Motor Racing

Late caution flags helped Ryan Newman stretch his gas supply to the end, allowing him to barely hold off hard-charging Kurt Busch and win the NASCAR Winston Cup Series Pennsylvania 500 at Long Pond.

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Newman, who started on the pole in a Dodge, would not have been able to make the final 46 laps without stopping. But crashes involving rookie Casey Mears and Bobby Labonte slowed the field for 12 laps in the Pennsylvania 500.

Newman beat Busch, in a Ford, by .307 seconds -- about six car lengths -- to win the $4.2-million event.

Alex Barron, driving a Panoz G Force-Toyota, passed Sam Hornish Jr. coming out of the final turn to win the Firestone 400 at Michigan International Speedway with the fastest average speed in Indy Racing League history, 180.916 mph

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Barron beat Hornish’s Dallara Chevrolet by 0.0121 seconds, the fourth-closest race in the league’s eight years.

Paul Tracy easily won the Championship Auto Racing Teams Molson Indy at Vancouver, Canada -- his fifth victory this season -- to extend his lead from 15 points to 20 over Bruno Junqueira in the series standings.

Tracy built leads of nearly 20 seconds in his Ford-Cosworth/Lola and crossed the finish line 17.82 seconds -- nearly a third of the track -- ahead of Junqueira’s Ford-Cosworth/Lola.

John Force beat Whit Bazemore in the Funny Car final at the NHRA CarQuest Auto Parts Nationals at Kent, Wash., for his 108th career victory, covering the quarter of a mile in 5.036 seconds at 300.80 mph in his Ford Mustang. Bazemore recorded a 5.215 at 272.28 mph in his Dodge Stratus.

Larry Dixon clocked 4.672 at 316.82 mph to defeat Doug Kalitta, who ran 4.739 at 306.95 mph, in the Top Fuel division.

Greg Anderson drove his Pontiac Grand Am to a run of 6.858 seconds at 202.09 mph to beat Larry Morgan’s Dodge Stratus, which clocked a 6.910 at 200.14.

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Pro Football

The Detroit Lions lashed out at the NFL in response to the league’s $200,000 fine against club President Matt Millen for failing to interview minorities before hiring Coach Steve Mariucci.

After Marty Mornhinweg was fired in January, Mariucci was the only person interviewed for the job.

On Friday, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue informed Millen that he received the first fine levied under the league’s diversity program.

“It’s the height of hypocrisy,” team vice chairman Bill Ford Jr. said, adding that the team might appeal.

The Lions said five minority candidates turned down interviews because it appeared inevitable Mariucci would be hired.

Defensive lineman Larry Smith of the Jacksonville Jaguars collapsed during practice but was recovering in a hospital at Jacksonville, Fla.

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The 6-foot-5, 310-pound Smith fell while the team was taking a water break during the morning practice session.

The temperature was 87 degrees at the time he collapsed, and with the humidity factored in, it felt like 95 degrees, according to National Weather Service data.

Pro Basketball

Swin Cash scored 25 points to help the Detroit Shock defeat the Washington Mystics, 81-71, in a WNBA game in front of 6,964 at Auburn Hills, Mich.... Adrienne Goodson scored 14 points to lead the San Antonio Silver Stars over the Cleveland Rockers, 64-59, in front of 8,628 at San Antonio.

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