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■ TENNIS
Sequera seals final spot
Venezuelan Milagros Sequera rallied from a first-set rout to beat Romania's Ioana Raluca Olaru, 0-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5) on Saturday and reach the final of the Grand Prix SAR Lalla Meryem in Fez, Morocco. It will be only the second WTA Tour final and first since 2003 for Sequera, who will face Aleksandra Wozniak. The Canadian beat Maria Emilia Salerni of Argentina in the other semifinal, 6-3, 4-4. Sequera, a 27-year-old resident of San Diego, California, last reached the finals of a WTA Tour event at Quebec City, where she retired in the second set against Maria Sharapova.

■ BOXING
Taylor defends his title
Jermain Taylor outpointed Cory Spinks in a split decision on Saturday night in Memphis, Tennessee for a fourth straight defense of his middleweight championship -- but this one did little to satisfy his critics. Taylor had winning scores of 117-111 and 115-113 from two of the judges, and the third had it 117-111 for Spinks. Spinks and Taylor spent most of the early rounds sizing each other up. Spinks is 6cm shorter than the 1.83m Taylor, but he did a good job staying out of the champion's reach. The two combined to throw 211 punches in the first three rounds and drew scattered boos from the crowd.

■ ATHLETICS
Mutua wins Aussie marathon
Kenyan David Mutua, the 2004 Honolulu Marathon runner-up, won his first international race over the distance yesterday in the Great Ocean Road Marathon. Mutua, 28, dueled with last year's winner James Kariuki, also of Kenya, before breaking away over the last 2km to win the race between the southeastern Australian tourist towns of Lorne and Apollo Bay in 2:36.35. Australian Helen Stanton won the women's marathon in 2:58.15. The race followed one of the most popular tourist drives in Australia, featuring numerous steep grades and tight turns but spectacular, sweeping views of Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean.

■ SOCCER
Valencia close on leaders
Joaquin Sanchez scored in the 89th minute and Valencia won 1-0 at Mallorca on Saturday to climb within a point of Spanish league leaders Real Madrid and Barcelona. Joaquin's fourth goal of the season off an assist by midfielder Jorge Lopez improved Valencia to 65 points, moving it into third place, one point ahead of Sevilla. Real Madrid and Barcelona, which were due to play their 35th-round matches yesterday, lead with 66 points. Sevilla were also due to play yesterday. Mallorca's Serbian midfielder Bosko Jankovic hit the crossbar in the 79th minute. In another game on Saturday, Real Betis drew 1-1 with Gimnastic Tarragona.

■ BOXING
Pavlik stakes his claim
American Kelly Pavlik stopped Edison Miranda of Colombia with a blistering combination in the seventh round in Memphis, Tennessee on Saturday to stake his claim for a bout with middleweight champion Jermain Taylor. Miranda drew Taylor's ire earlier in the week when he taunted the champion and asked for a chance to fight him -- but he was soundly beaten by Pavlik on the undercard of Taylor's successful middleweight title defense against Cory Spinks. "Jermain Taylor is a great champion," Pavlik said. "I definitely want to fight him." Taylor seemed amenable to that possibility after beating Spinks in a split decision. "If Kelly Pavlik is the best out there, for the most money, I'll do it," Taylor said.


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