Briefly

Total Impact upset winner in Hollywood Gold Cup

Total Impact snapped a seven-race losing streak, scoring an upset in the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup at Inglewood, Calif., for his first victory in 14 months. Ridden by Mike Smith, Total Impact prevented 7-10 favorite Even the Score from becoming the second horse to sweep Hollywood Park’s three major dirt races for older horses. Eleven Stitches accomplished the feat in 1981. Total Impact won by 1 1/4 lengths over Olmodavor, with Even the Score another half-length back in third place. Rock Hard Ten, second to Smarty Jones in this year’s Preakness, was a runaway winner of the Swaps Breeders’ Cup Stakes, contested earlier in the day. Total Impact covered 1 1/4 miles in 2:00.72 and, as a 6-1 outsider, paid $15.40, $6.20 and $2.80. Yessirgeneralsir, the early pacesetter, finished fourth, followed by Royal Moro, Gift of the Eagle and Continental Red. The win was the first for Total Impact since last year’s Mervyn LeRoy Handicap, won by Even the Score this year. Total Impact was third in that race and second behind Even the Score in The Californian, contested June 12. Rock Hard Ten took the lead in the turn for home and pulled away for a 3 3/4 -length triumph over Suave in the $421,300 Swaps Stakes for 3-year-olds. Ridden by Corey Nakatani and carrying 116 pounds, Rock Hard Ten covered 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.47 and, as the 3-5 favorite in a field of six, paid $3.20, $2.40 and $2.10.

Tennis

Hall’s 50th anniversary celebrated

Fifty of the greatest players in tennis history received a royal welcome at the Hall of Fame’s 50th anniversary celebration at Newport, R.I.

Under sparkling sunny skies, Prince Albert of Monaco introduced 47 Hall of Famers and the class of 2004 — Steffi Graf, Stefan Edberg and Dorothy “Dodo” Cheney — to a sellout crowd on the grass courts.

Graf, Edberg and Cheney will be enshrined before the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships’ title match today.

Led by Guillermo Vilas walking behind the Argentinean flag, players entered the court in alphabetical order by nation. The biggest ovation of the day was for Chris Evert, owner of 18 Grand Slam titles.

“ Seventh-seeded Alexander Popp reached the finals of an ATP event for the first time, defeating Cyril Saulnier 6-4, 7-6 (5) at the Hall of Fame Championships at Newport, R.I.

Popp will face unseeded Greg Rusedski today in the grass-court tournament. Rusedski beat eighth-seeded Antony Dupuis 7-5, 7-6 (10) in Saturday’s semifinal.

“ Chanda Rubin wasted three match points before rallying to beat Barbara Schwartz, and the United States split the opening singles matches with Austria in a Fed Cup quarterfinal at Innsbruck, Austria.

Rubin beat Schwartz 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 in the first match between the teams since Austria stunned the 17-time Fed Cup champions in Charlotte, N.C., in 2002. Barbara Schett then tied the match, beating Lisa Raymond 6-2, 6-4.

In other quarterfinals Saturday, France took a 2-0 lead over Italy, Argentina and Russia split 1-1, and Belgium took a 2-0 lead over Spain.

Sports people

Miami Dolphins middle linebacker Zach Thomas may miss a couple of exhibition games but is expected to be 100 percent by the start of the regular season following arthroscopic knee surgery. Thomas hurt his left knee during drills Thursday and underwent surgery Friday to repair torn cartilage. He faces a six-week rehabilitation and is expected to be available for the final two preseason games, his agent said… . Ulysses J. “Tony” Lupien, Jr., a major league baseball player in the 1940s and coach at Dartmouth College, died after several years of declining health. He was 87. Lupien died Friday at his home in Norwich, Vt., the school said.