Sports in brief: Dementieva, Safina make final at Berlin

Elena Dementieva beat second-ranked Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 7-5 on Saturday to reach the final of the upset-filled German Open in Berlin.

In today’s final, the ninth-ranked Dementieva will face fellow Russian and 17th-ranked Dinara Safina, who beat 18-year-old Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-4, 6-1.

Dementieva took advantage of Ivanovic’s forehand errors and fought off a set point at 5-4 in the second set before closing out the match when the Serb missed with a crosscourt backhand.

Dementieva, who ousted fifth-ranked Jelena Jankovic earlier this week, ran her record to 4-0 against Ivanovic.

The clay-court tournament began with six of the world’s top seven in the field – and 17 of the top 20 – before a string of upsets.

Safina erased a 3-1 first-set deficit against Azarenka to follow up on her wins against top-ranked Justine Henin and Serena Williams.

“Andy Roddick pulled out with a back problem after falling behind 3-0 in the first set against Stanislas Wawrinka in the semifinals of the Rome Masters. In the other semifinal, Radek Stepanek stopped while trailing Novak Djokovic 6-0, 1-0 after appearing affected by the heat.

The total elapsed time for the two matches was a wimpy 49 minutes.

“You don’t want to have these kind of situations at big events,” said Djokovic, who joined the chorus of players complaining that the schedule is too tough. “The players are not getting injured for nothing, you know.”

Boxing

Bradley takes welterweight title

Timothy Bradley knocked down Junior Witter in the sixth round on the way to winning the WBC light-welterweight title on a split decision in Nottingham, England.

The unbeaten American, who had never fought as a pro outside of California, will take home the belt after his big punches overcame a 10-year age gap against the experienced British fighter whose only previous loss in 39 fights was eight years ago.

Bradley’s big right hand was always a danger to the 34-year-old champion who constantly switched to his left but was unable to unload enough powerful shots to worry the American, who is 22-0. Witter, making his third defense, is 36-2-2.

Two of the judges scored the fight 114-113 and 115-113 in Bradley’s favor and the third gave it 115-112 to Witter, whose chances of a showdown with former world champion Ricky Hatton appear to have gone.

Miscellany

Casino Drive joins Belmont field

Unbeaten Casino Drive is on his way to the Belmont Stakes.

Making only his second start, Casino Drive romped to a 5 3/4 -length victory in the $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes for 3-year-old thoroughbreds at Belmont Park in New York.

The Peter Pan is the traditional prep for the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown, on June 7. Casino Drive’s previous start was an 11 1/2 -length win in Japan in February.

“Eric Staal scored four goals to help Canada rout Germany 10-1 for its fifth straight win at the hockey world championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Canada will face Finland on Monday with the top seed in the single-elimination quarterfinals at stake.

Martin St. Louis had five assists, and Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley, Patrick Sharp, Derek Roy and Mike Green scored for Canada.

In Quebec City, Alexander Ovechkin scored with 6 seconds left in the third period to lead Russia to a 3-2 comeback win over Sweden.

Russia trailed 2-1 going into the third period, but Sergei Fedorov scored at 4:57 to tie the game.