HOUSTON — Hawai'i's Brian Ching scored twice in the first half and the Houston Dynamo held on for a 4-3 win over D.C. United last night.

Houston (10-5-5) extended its lead in Major League Soccer's Western Conference to six points over second-place Seattle.

The game was scoreless before the Dynamo scored three goals in a three-minute span in the first half, with Brad Davis scoring in the 36th minute shortly before Ching scored twice a minute apart.

Ching is a Kamehameha Schools graduate from Hale'iwa.

Stuart Holden converted a penalty kick in the 66th minute for Houston.

Luciano Emilio scored two goals and Fred had one for United (6-4-10). Emilio's second goal provided the final margin in the 87th minute.

TENNIS

SISTERS REACH FINAL

Second-seeded Venus Williams advanced to the finals of the Bank of the West Classic, beating third-seeded Elena Dementieva, 6-0, 6-1, yesterday in a match that lasted just over an hour at Stanford, Calif.

Williams joined sister Serena less than an hour after beating Dementieva and the pair advanced to the doubles final with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Nadia Petrova.

Venus Williams has not won an outdoor U.S. hardcourt tournament since 2002, something she will try to remedy against France's Marion Bartoli, who beat Australia's Samantha Stosur, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1, in the late semifinal match.

QUERREY, BALL IN FINAL

Sam Querrey upset top seeded Tommy Haas, 6-3, 7-5, last night to reach the final of the L.A. Tennis Open at Los Angeles.

Querrey, the No. 6 seed, will play qualifier Carsten Ball, who beat Leonardo Mayer, 7-5, 7-6 (3), for the title today.

By beating Haas, the 2004 and 2006 champion, Querrey reached his third straight finals. It will be the first meeting between the two Southern California natives.

BOXING

BRADLEY STILL CHAMP

Timothy Bradley (25-0, 12 KOs) defended his WBO 140-pound title by battering Nate Campbell (33-6-1), opening a bloody cut that forced the fight to be stopped after three rounds yesterday at Rancho Mirage, Calif.

ALEXANDER WINS

Devon Alexander (19-0, 12 KOs) won the WBC 140-pound title after Junior Witter (37-3) quit before the ninth round of their bout for the vacant belt yesterday at Rancho Mirage, Calif.