Briefly

Mary Pierce’s one-two punch of big serves followed by hard groundstrokes knocked out fellow heavy hitter Lindsay Davenport.

Pierce edged the top-ranked Davenport 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6) in a semifinal matchup of the pro tennis tour’s oldest elite players in the WTA Championships on Saturday at Los Angeles.

The 30-year-old Frenchwoman advanced to today’s final against countrywoman Amelie Mauresmo, who beat mistake-prone defending champion Maria Sharapova 7-6 (1), 6-3.

No French player has ever won the championships, although Pierce was runner-up in 1997 and Mauresmo finished second in 2003. Pierce had 10 aces in a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 round-robin victory over Mauresmo on Friday.

College Basketball

No. 14 West Virginia cruises

Mike Gansey had 22 points and 14 rebounds to lead No. 14 West Virginia to an 88-69 victory over Louisiana-Monroe in the first round of the Guardians Classic at Morgantown, W.Va.

“In women’s action, Mel Thomas scored a career-high 23 points to lead No. 9 Connecticut to a season-opening 71-45 victory over Marist in the first round of the WNIT at Storrs, Conn. … At Tempe, Ariz., Nicole Jules was 8 for 8 from the field and scored 18 points to lead No. 17 Vanderbilt to an 86-49 victory over Clemson in the third-place game of the WBCA/BTI Classic. In the championship game, Kristen Kovesdy had 16 points and eight rebounds to lead No. 20 Arizona State to a 69-54 victory over Missouri. Central Valley HS grad Emily Westerberg added 12 points and six rebounds for Arizona State. … At Eugene, Ore., Candice Dupree had 21 points and 15 rebounds to lead No. 21 Temple to a 51-46 victory over Oregon in the championship game of the Women’s Sports Foundation Classic.

Soccer

World Cup playoff matches held

Spain, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Uruguay took a big step toward qualifying for next year’s World Cup finals by winning playoff games.

Spain got three goals from Luis Garcia in a 5-1 rout of Slovakia.

Vladimir Smicer scored in the Czech Republic’s 1-0 victory over Norway, while the Swiss topped 2002 semifinalist Turkey 2-0 and Uruguay edged Australia 1-0 – all in the first game of two-game playoff series.

“At Glasgow, Scotland, the United States tied Scotland 1-1 with Josh Wolff’s ninth-minute penalty kick.

Women’s Hockey

Canadians win pre-Olympic tourney

Hayley Wickenheiser had two goals and an assist in Canada’s 7-0 victory over the United States to win a pre-Olympic test tournament in women’s hockey at Turin, Italy.

Sports People

Edwards reinstated by track body

U.S. sprinter Torri Edwards was reinstated by track and field’s ruling body before the completion of her two-year doping suspension. … Americans Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick claimed the top two spots in a World Cup 1,500-meter long track speedskating event at Calgary, Alberta. … Asian skaters dominated the 500-meter races at the World Cup short track speedskating meet at Bormio, Italy, with Ahn Hyun-soo edging Eric Bedard and Apolo Anton Ohno in the men’s event. Wang Meng of China won the women’s final.