Maier eclipses Miller in GS opener
Winter sports
It wasn't Bode Miller's day in the sun yesterday. Instead, for the first time in a giant slalom in four years, it was Hermann Maier's. The Austrian edged the New Hampshire native on the Rettenbach Glacier in Soelden, Austria, to capture the season-opening giant slalom and overtake Alberto Tomba for second place on the World Cup victory list with his 51st win. Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark leads with 86, all in slalom and giant slalom. This was Maier's first World Cup giant slalom win since nearly losing a leg in a motorcycle accident four years ago, although he won the giant slalom world title last year. The former Olympic and world champion covered the two runs in 2 minutes 17.60 seconds, rallying from fifth place after the first leg. Miller, the reigning overall champion who won in Soelden the last two years, won the first leg and finished seven-hundredths of a second behind. Miller had been leading until halfway down the course, but lost a full second on the bottom section after the sun went behind the clouds for the last four races. ''A little change in the light can make a giant difference in the time," Miller said. ''I had great tactics, but today I made a couple of big mistakes." Miller's teammate Ted Ligety of Utah began in 64th but finished eighth for his best World Cup giant slalom result. He had the fastest second run . . . Marit Bjoergen won for the second time in two days, helping Norway dominate at cross-country skiing's World Cup opener in Duesseldorf, Germany. Bjoergen, last year's overall world champion, and Hilde G. Pedersen won the women's team freestyle sprint in 10 minutes 5.7 seconds. Norway's Trond Iversen and Johan Kjolstad took the men's team freestyle sprint in 18:19.5 . . . Chad Hedrick broke a nearly six-year-old track record, and Jennifer Rodriguez won her third race at the US long track speedskating competition in West Allis, Wis. Hedrick won the 5,000-meter race in 6:24.5, clipping nearly two seconds off the Pettit National Ice Center mark of 6:26.14 that Gianni Romme of the Netherlands set in 2000. Rodriguez won the 3,000 in 4:18.51.
Soccer
Donovan finds cracks in Earthquakes
The man who led the San Jose Earthquakes to two Major League Soccer titles put them on the verge of elimination. Landon Donovan scored two goals to lead the Los Angeles Galaxy to a 3-1 victory over visiting San Jose in the first game of the Western Conference semifinals. The Galaxy will advance with a tie or a loss by no more than one goal in the final game of the home-and-home aggregate series Saturday night in San Jose. Herculez Gomez gave Los Angeles a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute with a 25-yard free kick. San Jose had a chance to tie in the 23d minute but Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman deflected Brian Mullan's diving 8-yard header over the crossbar with his right hand. Donovan gave the Galaxy a 2-0 lead in the 39th minute when he poked a loose ball inside the left post from 11 yards. Ricardo Clark scored in the 68th minute on a 13-yard shot for the Earthquakes, who had the best record in the league during the regular season. Donovan ended the scoring in the 87th minute with his 12th career playoff goal, an 8-yard header . . . Abby Wambach, one of the national team's rising stars, scored on two headers as the United States improved to 16-0 against Mexico with a 3-0 exhibition victory in Charleston, S.C. Former Boston Breaker Kristine Lilly, who made her 299th international appearance, opened the scoring with an unassisted goal, the 105th of her career, in the ninth minute. Fourteen-year-old Veronica Corral played 22 minutes for Mexico . . . Chelsea's nine-game winning streak in the English Premier League ended when the defending champions were held to a 1-1 tie at last-place Everton.
Tennis
Nadal reigns in Spain, ties Federer
Rafael Nadal roared back to win the Madrid Masters before a roaring home crowd, beating Ivan Ljubicic in five sets. With his 11th title this year, Nadal matched top-ranked Roger Federer. The top-seeded Nadal won, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), for his 79th match victory this season, two more than the injured Federer. It also was the 19-year-old Spaniard's fourth Masters title, tying the Swiss star. The loss snapped a 16-match winning streak for the eighth-seeded Ljubicic, who won consecutive titles at Metz and Vienna before coming to Madrid. Nadal never trailed in the tiebreaker. He got a mini break on the first point when Ljubicic netted a passing attempt . . . Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport, who will return to the No. 1 ranking today, won the Zurich Open for the fourth time, beating Switzerland's Patty Schnyder, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, to avenge a loss to Schnyder in the 2002 Zurich final.
Miscellany
Dolphins' Jones likely out for season
The news wasn't good for a couple pros who used to play for local teams. Miami Dolphins safety Tebucky Jones, a Patriot from 1998-2002, had surgery to repair a torn right chest muscle and is expected to miss the rest of the season. Jones, injured Friday night in Miami's 30-20 loss to Kansas City, had 24 tackles and two sacks in six games this season . . . Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Bucks waived Brandon Hunter less than a month after signing the forward. Hunter, who was selected by the Celtics in the second round of the 2003 draft and played 36 games for Boston, appeared in five preseason games with the Bucks, averaging 1.2 points and 1.4 rebounds in limited action . . . San Jose Sharks starting goalie Evgeni Nabokov, injured Friday in a collision with teammate Christian Ehrhoff during a 4-1 loss at Columbus, is expected to be out until next weekend because of an undisclosed upper body injury. San Jose recalled former Providence College standout Nolan Schaefer from Cleveland (AHL) to serve as Vesa Toskala's backup . . . Ted Bonda, the former Cleveland Indians owner who hired Frank Robinson as baseball's first black manager, died Saturday of complications from Alzheimer's disease. He was 88. Obituary, Page C7 . . . The latest ''Got Milk?" commercial hit a little too close to home for Major League Baseball. Poking fun at the sport's steroid scandal, the television ad for the California Milk Processor Board talks about a player getting pulled from a game ''after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance." In the next scene, a coach pulls a carton of milk from the slugger's locker. ''There is nothing humorous about steroid abuse," said Tim Brosnan, executive vice president for business for baseball. ''I would think that the California Milk Processor Board and their advertising agency would know better regarding an issue that threatens America's youth." . . . New Zealand Olympian Kim Smith led wire-to-wire in the women's 5K at the Mayor's Cup cross-country races at Franklin Park, winning in 16:35. Jarrod Shoemaker of Sudbury won the men's 8K in 24:23.
