Sports briefs for June 4, 2004

Friday, June 4, 2004 | 9:34 a.m.

Gaudio advances at French Open

Gaston Gaudio briefly lost track of the score but knew when to celebrate after he reached the French Open final by beating Argentine compatriot David Nalbandian 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-0 today.

The unseeded Gaudio will play in his first Grand Slam final Sunday against the winner of the second semifinal between another Argentine, No. 3 Guillermo Coria, and No. 9 Tim Henman of Britain.

The women's title will be decided Saturday in the first all-Russian Grand Slam final. No. 6-seeded Anastasia Myskina or No. 9 Elena Dementieva will become the first female from Russia to claim a major title.

Cowboys sign Vinny

Vinny Testaverde and Bill Parcells were reunited when the quarterback signed a one-year, $1 million contract with the Dallas Cowboys.

The New York Jets released Testaverde this week, ending a six-year run for his hometown team in an expected salary-cap move.

Els, Curtis share lead

Ernie Els and Ben Curtis, the last two British Open champions, led the Memorial after the first round with 4-under 68s, the highest score to lead at the tournament in 14 years.

Eight players -- Paul Azinger, Lee Janzen, Stephen Ames, Zach Johnson, Todd Hamilton, Fred Couples, John Rollins and Arron Oberholser -- were tied at 69.

Weights on the rise?

Ever-dieting jockeys in California may be able occasionally to go back for seconds if a proposed change in weight minimums is approved.

The California Horse Racing Board approved for public notice and comment on Thursday a rule establishing a minimum weight of 118 pounds for thoroughbred and Arabian races. The minimum weight currently is as low as 103 pounds.

Parra defends title

Venezuela's Lorenzo Parra retained his WBA flyweight title today in Tokyo by outpointing Takefumi Sakata of Japan.

Parra outscored Sakata 117-111 on one judge's scorecard and 115-113 on another's. The third judge had the boxers tied 114-114 after the 12-round fight.

With the victory, the 25-year-old Parra improved to 23-0-0 with 17 knockouts. Sakata dropped to 22-2-1, including nine KOs.

Edwards wins pole

Carl Edwards, the 2003 NACAR Craftsman Truck Series rookie of the year, won the pole Thursday for the MBNA America 200 race.

The race is today at Dover International Speedway, where Edwards crashed two trucks and finished last in 2003.