Backhand

North Carroll's team bus arrived more than a half-hour late for yesterday's softball game at Westminster. Once there, however, the No. 12 Panthers and freshman pitcher Jessica Smith made quick work of the fourth-ranked Owls in a 3-0 victory. Smith took a no-hitter into the fifth before finishing with a one-hit shutout, as North Carroll avenged a one-run loss to the defending Class 4A state champions. It was the seventh straight win for the Panthers (9-3 overall, 7-1 Central Maryland Conference, 3-1 Carroll County)

HOUSTON -- Top-seeded Monica Seles beat Mary Joe Fernandez for the fifth straight time yesterday, 6-4, 6-3, to win the Virginia Slims of Houston.It was the second victory in Houston for Seles, who had won her first career tournament here in 1989.Fernandez of Miami played aggressively, but it wasn't enough to overpower the world's No. 1-ranked player. Fernandez, seeded second, is ranked fifth.Seles struggled through much of the first set, but finally broke Fernandez in the sixth game and moved ahead, 5-2. Fernandez broke back two games later, but Seles served out the set.The Yugoslav, who handled 84 percent of Fernandez's first serves, broke twice more in the second set.Fernandez lost the match with a backhand net error on her return of serve.

Tennis often served up frustration for Marco Fuggitti when he began playing at age 11.His shots usually flew high, long or wide. His two-handed backhand packed little power. He did not love the game.Times have changed.Fuggitti stayed with tennis, made the Westminster varsity as a freshman and has become a dominant player in Carroll County. He won the county boys' singles championship last year and is aiming for a repeat in 1993.Fuggitti started his high school career by playing some at No. 3 varsity doubles at the end of his freshman year.

WIMBLEDON, England - There was a time when American men dominated Wimbledon, turning the Fourth of July into a star-spangled serve-and-volley fest. But not anymore. Yesterday, the decline and fall of American men's tennis was on display as Andy Roddick and Taylor Dent were sent packing in the third round. Roddick, the No. 11 seed, was thrashed by No. 23 Greg Rusedski of Britain, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Unseeded Dent was beaten in a big-serving clash by Australia's Wayne Arthurs, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3)

Laura DuPont, an international tennis champion and former manager of the Orchard Indoor Tennis Club, died Wednesday at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., of cancer. She was 52. Ms. DuPont, who lived in Lutherville from about 1980 to 1997, was once the ninth-ranked women's tennis player in the world. She was the U.S. clay court women's singles champion in 1977 and winner of the German Open in 1976, the Argentine Open in 1977 and the Canadian Open in 1979. On the tennis court "she was unflappable," said retired tennis star Pam Shriver, a Baltimore native who was DuPont's doubles partner on the professional tour.

NEW YORK -- When another of Pete Sampras' usually brilliant forehands landed squarely in the net to send his match with No. 15 seed Petr Korda into a fifth-set tiebreaker, Sampras looked at his racket as if it had betrayed him.It was not the first time on this long, rain-interrupted day that Sampras found himself beset with questions, nor would it be the last, as Korda burst to a 4-0 lead in the tiebreaker and went on to upset the world's top player, 6-7...

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Again dominating most of the game's 60 minutes, the Baltimore Skipjacks again fell victim to their most dangerous two minutes: the power play.Scoring twice on power plays and once short-handed, the Rochester Americans turned a 2-2 tie into a 5-3 lead and went on to a 6-3 victory last night.The loss extended Baltimore's winless streak to 10 games (0-9-1), and the short-handed goal was the fourth in the past two games against the Jacks, who were playing their first of six consecutive road games.

WASHINGTON -- Ivan Lendl received an American flag and a ticket into the quarterfinals of the NationsBank Classic last night at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center.Lendl, who became a U.S. citizen on July 7, dispensed with Jim Grabb, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), and then walked off the court with the flag in hand.Lendl, seeded third, took control of the match early when he broke Grabb in the third game of the first set. Then, up 4-1, Lendl hit a rocketing forehand cross-court passing shot off a Grabb second serve and Grabb double faulted, giving Lendl his second break of the set."

WIMBLEDON, England -- Jennifer Capriati said she didn't do anything unsportsmanlike, but Brenda Schultz had to wonder.Just when Schultz, the 31st-ranked player in the world, seemed poised to upset Capriati, Wimbledon's No. 7 seed, and put a little life in the women's draw, Capriati slowed Schultz's momentum.She called a five-minute injury timeout.Schultz had just won the second set, 6-4, and the first game of the third to go up 5-7, 6-4, 1-0, when Capriati asked for time so a trainer could look at her left foot.

Meghan Cornwall was in a hurry to keep an appointment to get her nails done for tonight's prom, and Andrew Carlson was going no where in particular but was in a rush to reach the finals of the Anne Arundel County tennis tournament.Both top seeds wasted little time on the court last night in the girls and boys singles semifinals at Chesapeake, with Cornwall of Annapolis storming past fourth-seeded Camilla Rasmussen of Broadneck, 6-0, 6-0, in 35 minutes and Carlson of Arundel needing just 45 minutes to oust Meade's fourth-seeded Bill Fox, 6-0, 6-0.Cornwall can win her fourth straight county girls singles title today with a victory over Broadneck's second-seeded Jennifer Hellier in a 2 o'clock match at Chesapeake.