Sports briefs for May 3, 2004

Monday, May 3, 2004 | 11:04 a.m.

Venus wins again, claims Warsaw title

Venus Williams beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-4 Sunday in the J&S Cup final in Warsaw for her second consecutive WTA tournament title and 11th consecutive victory.

The streak is Williams' longest since she took 19 consecutive matches in 2002.

Henderson re-signs

Rickey Henderson, 45, re-signed with the Newark Bears of the independent Atlantic League, where he played last season.

Rebels win twice

UNLV high jumper Christine Spence tied her career best and triple jumper Tiffan y Smith was a winner as the Rebels took two first places at the 2004 Steve Scot t Invitational at Cal Irvine. Spence, whose winning jump was 5-10, added a sixth-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles. Smith's winning jump was 40-02.25. It was UNLV's last meet before the Mountain West Conference championships.

Hamilton a winner

American Tyler Hamilton won the Tour de Romandie for the second consecutive year after taking the final stage. Hamilton completed the 12.8-mile time trial through Lausanne in 26 minutes, 29 seconds.

Russia concedes

Russia withdrew its protest Sunday against two goals the United States scored in a 3-2 win at the world hockey championship at Ostrava, Czech Republic.