Americans Keep Poise With Gimelstob, Rubin

Justin Gimelstob and Chanda Rubin scored a dramatic mixed doubles victory to lift the United States to a 2-1 triumph over defending champion Croatia in a Hopman Cup tennis match that ended early Thursday in Perth, Australia.

Rubin beat Iva Majoli, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), in the women’s singles match, before Goran Ivanisevic, ranked No. 4 in the world, downed Gimelstob, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 7-5.

Then, the 19-year-old Gimelstob teamed with Rubin to win the decisive doubles, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (9-7).

The victory gave the United States a 2-0 record in the round-robin tournament. Top-seeded Croatia is 1-1. The Americans can earn a spot in the final by beating Australia tonight.

“The way Justin has been playing is great,” Rubin said. “I didn’t know much about him, but I’m impressed.”

Gimelstob was a late replacement for Richey Reneberg, who withdrew.

Marc Rosset, leading Wayne Ferreira in a match that would have sealed the victory for the Swiss, suffered a painful back injury and withdrew.

The victory lifted third-seeded South Africa’s record to 2-0, while second-seeded Switzerland is 1-1.

*

Britain’s Tim Henman, ranked 29th in the world, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Qatar Open with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Egyptian qualifier Tamer El Sawy in Doha.

Henman will face No. 5 seed Magnus Gustafsson of Sweden, who defeated Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia in a second-round match, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Also reaching the final eight were Morocco’s Hicham Arazi, who beat Patrick McEnroe, 2-6, 7-5, 7-5, and Magnus Larsson, who defeated fellow Swede Patrik Fredriksson, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).

Russia’s Andrei Cherkasov, given a controversial wild-card berth, beat Australia’s Patrick Rafter, 6-2, 7-6 (15-13), in the second round of the Australian Hardcourt championship in Adelaide. Fourth-seeded Todd Woodbridge of Australia beat Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) and No. 5 American Alex O’Brien also advanced, beating Sweden’s Thomas Johannson, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

Defending champion Sandra Cacic of the United States advanced to the quarterfinals of the New Zealand Classic, beating third-seeded compatriot Linda-Harvey-Wild, 6-4, 7-5, in Auckland, New Zealand. Top-seeded Anke Huber of Germany also advanced , beating Ann Grossman of the United States, 6-4, 6-2. Second-seeded Judith Wiesner of Austria routed Sarah Pitkowski of France, 6-2, 6-1.

*

Top-seeded Brenda Schultz-McCarthy of the Netherlands beat compatriot Miriam Oremans, 7-6 (7-5), 6-0, in the second round of the Gold Coast Classic in Australia. Third-seeded Elena Likhovtseva of Russia also advanced, beating Romanian qualifier Catalina Cristea, 6-3, 6-4.

Miscellany

Larry Walker, who founded Basketball Congress International in 1970 to help young players showcase their ability, died Monday of heart failure in Phoenix. He was 82.

Walker, who suffered a stroke in 1992, was admitted to St. Joseph’s Hospital on Dec. 21 because of fatigue. He had a heat attack Saturday.

Walker founded BCI to provide the basketball equivalent of Little League baseball and Pop Warner football. About 63,000 players take part in BCI leagues or tournaments throughout the United States.

Shaquille O’Neal, Karl Malone and Kevin Johnson are among the pro players who took part in BCI.

Christian Dube and Brad Isbister each contributed a goal and an assist to lead four-time defending champion Canada to a 7-2 victory over Slovakia in the World Junior Hockey Championships in Geneva.

Canada will play Russia next in one semifinal while the United States takes on the Czech Republic in the other.

Primoz Peterka, a 17-year-old Slovenian, outclassed the competition with 241.9 points to win the traditional New Year’s Day World Cup ski jumping event in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

The win also gave Peterka 475.6 points, forging a tie for the lead in the overall World Cup standings with Andreas Goldberger of Austria, who finished second with 228.9 points.