Davenport falters, Harkleroad saves US

The Fed Cup was supposed to be Lindsay Davenport's baby. But the veteran faltered badly yesterday in a stunning loss on the opening day of a quarterfinal against Germany in San Diego. Davenport didn't have much go her way in losing, 6-1, 7-5, to 18-year-old Sabine Lisicki. Ashley Harkleroad shook off her nerves and evened the best-of-five series at 1-1 with a brilliant Fed Cup debut, a 6-1, 6-3 win over Tatjana Malek. The 31-year-old Davenport came in with a 31-2 Fed Cup record. She had won 19 straight singles matches and 24 straight matches overall . . . In Ramat Hasharon, Israel, Maria Sharapova defeated Tzipi Obziler, 6-0, 6-4, in her first Fed Cup match, helping defending champion Russia tie Israel, 1-1. Earlier, Israel's Shahar Peer rallied to defeat Dinara Safina, 0-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Lindsey Vonn is looking on the bright side after a poor run in foggy conditions derailed her bid to tie the US record for World Cup downhill victories. "We still have four more downhills left," Vonn said after finishing tied for fifth behind winner Tina Maze of Slovenia, who took advantage of sunnier conditions to ski the Corviglia course at St. Moritz, Switzerland, in 1 minute 44.38 seconds. Vonn was attempting to match Picabo Street and Daron Rahlves with nine downhill wins. She retained her lead in the downhill standings after finishing 0.42 seconds behind Maze, who started 47th, when sunny weather had replaced the fog. Vonn tied for fifth with Elisabeth Goergl of Austria. Julia Mancuso was 2.14 seconds back in 25th with Stacey Cook 5.67 seconds behind in 36th . . . Bode Miller and the rest of the men's downhill field got a day off after the World Cup race in Val d'Isere, France, was canceled because of heavy snowfall.

So far, 2008 hasn't been Taylor Twellman's year. During last month's transfer window, Major League Soccer rejected three offers from England's Preston North End for the Revolution's prolific striker. Yesterday, Twellman was left off the US roster for Wednesday's friendly against Mexico in Houston. According to the Revolution, Twellman returned to Boston after suffering a groin injury during training. Revolution defender Michael Parkhurst was named to the 22-player US squad by coach Bob Bradley, as were former Revolution forward/midfielders Clint Dempsey (England's Fulham FC) and Pat Noonan (Norway's Aalesund FK). Bradley brought in 12 Europe-based players in all. Along with Dempsey and Noonan, he named defender Carlos Bocanegra, also of Fulham FC, Derby midfielders Eddie Lewis and Benny Feilhaber, goalkeeper Tim Howard (Everton), defenders Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock, Germany), and Ramiro Corrales (Brann, Norway), and midfielders Freddy Adu (Benfica), Michael Bradley (Heerenveen, Netherlands), and Bobby Convey (Reading). The US-based group is headed by forward Landon Donovan.

Reliever Jon Rauch and the Washington Nationals agreed to a $3.2 million, two-year contract, avoiding arbitration. The righthander will make $1.2 million in 2008 and $2 million in 2009. The deal also includes a club option for $2.9 million in 2010. Rauch had asked for a raise from $455,000 to $1.4 million while the Nationals submitted an arbitration figure of $1.1 million . . . Shortstop Khalil Greene's big 2007 season with the San Diego Padres is about to pay off with a nice contract. The sides are close on a two-year deal worth roughly $11 million, according to a person familiar with the negotiations. Greene reportedly was going to ask for $4.9 million in arbitration, while the club was expected to offer $4 million . . . Johan Santana passed his physical, finalizing the trade that sent him from Minnesota to the New York Mets for four prospects: outfielder Carlos Gomez and righthanders Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey, and Deolis Guerra.

Dwain Chambers cruised to the 60-meter qualifying time for the indoor track British trials in Birmingham, England, and headed for a battle with the national team's governing body. Chambers, who served a two-year ban for doping, won in 6.60 seconds in the final of the Birmingham Games. However, UK Athletics said he must be drug tested for a year before being considered for the British team or the UK trials at Sheffield next weekend. His lawyers said they will take legal action against UKA if he is excluded from the trials . . . Eight UMass men's lacrosse players were suspended from the team indefinitely for a violation of team rules in connection with an off-campus incident Friday morning. Freshmen Chris Casey, Jay Lucas, Ryan Marcus, and Alex Whitney, juniors Jim Connolly and Justin Kelleher, sophomore Chris Haggerty, and redshirt sophomore Jordan Hendry were suspended . . . The Providence Bruins scored four straight goals after trailing, 3-0, to defeat the host Portland Pirates, 4-3. The P-Bruins, Atlantic Division leaders with a 35-7-2-1 record, got goals from Sean Curry, Pascal Pelletier, Jeff Hoggan, and Matt Hendricks.