Fish claims US Clay Court title

Tennis

It's been a long comeback for Mardy Fish. Two wrist surgeries last year kept him from competing much, but he proved yesterday he's finding his form, rallying from a set down to beat Jurgen Melzer, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, to win the US Clay Court Championship in Houston. Fish, who had lost six of seven tour finals, came into the clay court tournament after winning a lower-tier tour event in Tallahassee last week. He said he plans to play four more of those before Wimbledon to gain enough ATP points to get directly into the Grand Slam draw. Yesterday, after Melzer netted a high, easy backhand volley on match point, Fish fell to the ground along the baseline and lay on his back in jubilation following his second tour victory. Fish got to the final when fifth-seeded Tommy Haas retired after five games Saturday night because of pain in his right wrist. Earlier in the week, he got into the quarterfinals when Ranier Schuettler defaulted with a stomach ailment. Fish, who started the week ranked No. 212, was projected to jump to No. 120 today.

Nadia Petrova battled stifling heat, sore legs, and the temptation to retire to defeat Patty Schnyder, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, and win the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C., for her second straight tournament victory. Petrova, who also won last week at Amelia Island, now has four tour victories, all in the last six months. Her first came last October at Linz, Austria, where she also defeated Schnyder. Petrova won last month at Doha but yesterday was her first top-tier tournament win. By making the final at the Family Circle, Petrova will improve two spots to her highest ranking at No. 5 in the world . . . Qualifier Nicolas Almagro won his first ATP title, beating Gilles Simon, 6-3, 6-2, at the Valencia Open in Madrid. The 20-year-old Spaniard, ranked 77th, easily won the first set and broke the 86th-ranked Simon again in the first game of the second set.

Baseball

The first money drop promotion for the West Michigan Whitecaps likely will be the last. Two children were injured in a scramble to grab cash being dropped from a helicopter after a game of the Class A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers in Comstock Park, Mich. With children lined up along the outfield fence, about $1,000 in cash was dropped Saturday from the helicopter. When the children started scrambling, a 7-year-old boy, Tino Rodriguez of Grant, Mich., was trampled and taken to a hospital, while a 7-year-old girl got a bloody lip after being pushed onto the ground . . . Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay threw in the bullpen and felt fine after missing Saturday's start with a sore forearm, Toronto manager John Gibbons said. Halladay, who is 1-1 with a 4.20 ERA, is scheduled to throw again Wednesday and pitch Saturday against the Red Sox . . . The Kansas City Royals reinstated lefthander Mark Redman, who had been out with a left knee injury, from the 15-day disabled list and placed Denny Bautista on the 15-day DL with a sore right pectoral muscle . . . The Milwaukee Brewers placed righthanded pitcher Rick Helling on the 15-day DL with a sprained right elbow, making room on the roster for righthander Ben Sheets, on the DL since March 30 with a right posterior shoulder strain . . . Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Ryan Doumit went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 12 with a strained left hamstring, and catcher Ronny Paulino was recalled from Triple A Indianapolis, where he was hitting .241 with no homers and four RBIs in eight games . . . Chicago Cubs outfielder Angel Pagan, a rookie hitting .263 in nine games, went on the 15-day DL with a strained left hamstring and was replaced on the 25-man roster by righthander David Aardsma, 1-0 with two saves in five scoreless appearances for Triple A Iowa.

Cycling

Frank Schleck of Luxembourg won the Amstel Gold Race in Maastricht, Netherlands, breaking away from the peloton with 6 miles left in the 157-mile race to finish in 6 hours 25 minutes 39 seconds and beating Steffen Wesemann of Switzerland by 22 seconds. Tom Boonen of Belgium leads in the overall ProTour standings with 129 points . . . Maria Luisa Calle Williams of Colombia won the women's scratch race, while Theo Bos of the Netherlands clinched the men's sprint at the Track Cycling World Championships in Bordeaux, France. Gina Grain of Canada took the silver medal, and Olga Slyusareva of Russia won bronze in the scratch. At the Athens Olympics in 2004, Calle was stripped of her bronze in the points race after testing positive for a stimulant. She appealed and was later cleared. Meanwhile, the 22-year-old Bos beat veteran Craig McLean in both legs of the men's sprint. Christin Muche of Germany took gold in the women's keirin by beating two-time defending champion Clara Sanchez of France by less than half a wheel's length in an upset. Spain's Isaac Galvez Lopez and Joan Llaneras Rossello won the madison event.

Miscellany

Zhang Yimou, China's best-known filmmaker, will join director Steven Spielberg in designing the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. ''For billions of TV viewers around the world, the opening ceremony is also the first impression that the Olympic Games have to offer," said Liu Qi, the head of the Beijing organizing committee. ''We expect to leave an excellent impression on the athletes and guests from all over the world and billions of TV audiences." . . . Miami Heat coach Pat Riley will not accompany his team to Atlanta today, heading instead to upstate New York to visit his ailing mother, Mary Riley, 96 . . . Florida State forward Alexander Johnson has made himself eligible for the NBA Draft but did not hire an agent, keeping open the possibility that he could return for his senior season. The 6-foot-10-inch Johnson lost 25 pounds after a disappointing sophomore season, averaging a career-high 13.2 points and a team-high 7.4 rebounds as he helped the Seminoles reach the second round of the NIT this year.