Tennis: Swearing costs pair final

The doubles final of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow came to an abrupt end yesterday in the first set when Caroline Vis, of the Netherlands, swore at the umpire, who eliminated her and her partner, Yayuk Basuki, of Indonesia. The victory went to Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Natasha Zvereva.

Vis was serving at 3-5 and 30-30 and, believing it a net serve, volleyed Zvereva's return out of play. The Danish umpire, Christina Olhavsson, ruled the serve had been good. Via then swore at the umpire, who eliminated the pair. Vis later apologised.

Tour officials said Vis and Basuki would receive the runner-up's prize money, but would be fined.

Sanchez Vicario and Zvereva, unwilling to let the crowd go home disappointed, brought two men out of the stands and played them for 10 minutes.

In the singles final the top seed Jana Novotna beat the unseeded Ai Sugiyama 6-3, 6-4.

Novotna jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first set, but then dropped three straight games. She recovered and ran off another streak of three straight games to take the first set. In the second set, Novotna was up 5-4 and broke Sugiyama's serve to take the match.

The match was sloppy at times, with Novotna making 31 unforced errors and Sugiyama 47. It was the 18th career title for the 29-year-old Czech, who is second behind Martina Hingis in the world rankings.