Surprise, Federer is in another final

TENNIS
Roger Federer beat Tommy Haas in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5, yesterday to reach his fifth straight Dubai Open final. The top-ranked Federer never lost serve. It was the Swiss star's 40th straight victory. He is six wins from Guillermo Vilas's record of 46 straight, set in 1977. Federer will face Mikhail Youzhny, who reached his second straight tournament final by beating Robin Soderling, 7-5, 6-2 . . . Top-seeded Justine Henin rallied to beat fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic, 6-7 (7-5), 6-2, 6-4, to advance to today's final of the Qatar Open in Doha. Henin will play second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, who had one break in the first set and three in the second to beat sixth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova, 6-4, 6-2 . . . Top-seeded James Blake was removed from the quarterfinals of the Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas after ATP officials reversed a ruling that had allowed him to advance due to a competitor's withdrawal during round-robin play. Evgeny Korolev took Blake's place in the quarterfinals and won, 6-4, 6-4, over Sam Querrey. Third-seeded Marat Safin also reached the semis, beating Fernando Verdasco, 6-1, 6-4. Jurgen Melzer beat Jan Hernych, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, and Lleyton Hewitt routed Feliciano Lopez, 6-3, 6-2.

WINTER SPORTS

Nicole Hosp won a super-combi at Tarvisio, Italy, and Austrian teammate Marlies Schild clinched the World Cup discipline title. Hosp skied one shortened downhill leg and one slalom run in a combined time of 2 minutes 10.15 seconds. American Julia Mancuso was next, .32 seconds behind. Schild was .33 back in third, retaining her lead in the overall World Cup standings. Schild finished with 220 points in the super-combi, with Mancuso (195) second and Hosp (190) third. Schild leads the overall with 1,112 points, with Hosp (1,089) second and Mancuso (1,039) third . . . Olympic champions Dale Begg-Smith of Australia won the moguls and Jennifer Heil of Canada topped the women's event at Voss, Norway, clinching the season World Cup titles.

MISCELLANY

College quarterbacks Troy Smith (Ohio State), Chris Leak (Florida), and Brady Quinn (Notre Dame) are among the finalists for the 2006 AAU Sullivan Award honoring the top US amateur athlete. Basketball stars Joakim Noah (Florida) and Candace Parker (Tennessee) also made the final 15 along with swimmer Michael Phelps, diver Troy Dumais, figure skater Sasha Cohen, speedskaters Joey Cheek and Apolo Ohno, former Harvard hockey player and Olympian Angela Ruggiero, snowboarder Hannah Teter of Belmont, Vt., wrestlers Joe Warren and Bill Zadick, and Paralympic swimmer Jessica Long. Who was last year's winner? Answer below . . . American Michelle Perry won the 110-meter hurdles in 12.82 seconds at the Melbourne Track Classic, the first leg of the IAAF World Athletics Tour. Olympic champion Shawn Crawford won the men's 200 meters in 20.32 ahead of fellow American LaShawn Merritt (20.38) . . . Utah basketball coach Ray Giacoletti will leave at the end of the season, the school announced. The Utes (11-17) are mired in their worst season in decades . . . Kamila Vodichkova, the starting center for the Phoenix Mercury, will miss the 2007 WNBA season because of pregnancy . . . Former US Olympic Committee director Harvey Schiller was elected president of the International Baseball Federation, defeating Reynaldo Gonzalez of Cuba, 58-29, to fill the unexpired term of Aldo Notari of Italy, who died last year . . . Kansas City defender Jimmy Conrad agreed to a four-year contract with Major League Soccer and will be the Wizards' captain . . . Duke basketball star J.J. Redick won the Sullivan Award last year.