Sports 2000

Tiger Woods shot a 66 Friday to take a one-shot lead after two rounds of the National at Congressional Country Club in suburban Washington. Rod Pampling trails by one stroke. First-round leader Anthony Kim fired a 70 today and is two shots behind Woods.

Roger Federer defeated Tommy Haas in a Wimbledon semifinal Friday, 7-6 (3), 7-5, 6-3. Federer will play in his 20th Grand Slam final Sunday, including the last seven at Wimbledon. He’ll try to win a record-setting 15th major title. He currently shares the men’s record of 14 Grand Slam victories with Pete Sampras.

Federer’s opponent will be Andy Roddick. Roddick beat Britain’s hope, Andy Murray, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5). Roddick reached the Wimbledon final in 2004 and 2005, losing to Federer each time.

Clint Bowyer won the Nationwide race tonight at Daytona. Rafa Echenique leads the Open de France in Paris. Sarah Kemp and Laura Diaz share the 36-hole lead at the Jamie Farr Classic outside Toledo. The Tour de France begins Saturday with an individual time trial in Monaco.

Venus and Serena Williams will face each other in the Wimbledon final Saturday for the fourth time. Serena outlasted reigning Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva, 6-7 (4), 7-5, 8-6, in one of the best Centre Court matches in recent memory. Venus crushed number-one seed Dinara Safina, 6-1, 6-0, in the other semifinal Thursday.

Venus is the two-time defending Wimbledon champion and has won the title five times in all. Serena has won Wimbledon twice, in 2002 and 2003. Serena beat Venus in the final both of those years. Venus defeated Serena in last year’s final. The sisters will compete in a doubles semifinal Friday. Also Friday will be the men’s semifinals. Roger Federer meets Tommy Haas. Then, Andy Roddick battles Andy Murray.

Tiger Woods fired an opening round 64 today at the National outside Washington D.C. However, his six-under par was only good for a second-place tie with Lucas Glover and D.A. Points. Anthony Kim, the defending champion, carded a 62 to claim the first-round lead.

Laura Diaz, Morgan Pressel and Song-Hee Kim share the 18-hole lead at the Jamie Farr Classic near Toledo after firing 64s. Suzann Pettersen and Michelle Wie are each one shot off the pace. Martin Kaymer leads the European Tour event in Paris by three strokes.

The free agency periods in the NHL and NBA have started. NHL players may start signing contracts while NBA players may negotiate with teams but cannot officially sign deals until July 8.

Andy Murray reached his first Wimbledon semifinal after dismissing Juan Carlos Ferrero, 7-5, 6-3, 6-2. Ferrero, a former Grand Slam winner who needed a wild card from the All-England Club to play this year, simply didn’t have enough to beat Murray on Centre Court today.

Murray will face Andy Roddick in one semifinal Friday. In one of the best matches of the tournament, Roddick outlasted Lleyton Hewitt, 6-3, 6-7 (10), 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-4. The British faithful will be cheering whole-heartedly for Murray to become the first Briton since Fred Perry in 1936 to claim the Wimbledon men’s singles crown.

The other semfinal pits Roger Federer against Tommy Haas. Federer dispatched hard-serving Ivo Karlovic, 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (3). Haas upset Novak Djokovic, 7-5, 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-3.