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Conner, Victory through to repechage
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (CNN) -- Swedish team Victory and U.S. Team Dennis Conner have sailed through to the next round of the Louis Vuitton Cup after wining their best-of-seven series. Conner defeated Britain's GBR 4-1, while Victory won 4-1 against the French Le Defi Areva on Sunday, eliminating their opponents from the competition to find a challenger for the America's Cup in February 2003. The two races heralded the end of the round to decide who would go through to the semifinals and the quarterfinal repechage, where the winners of the bottom four teams meet the losers of the top four teams. Italian team Prada and American team OneWorld will also compete in the repechage, while top-ranked Alinghi and Oracle BMW Racing already have places in the semifinals. The repechage pairings are due to be announced on Tuesday, when OneWorld, as highest seeded boat in the repechage, chooses its opponent . Light winds early on Monday forced a 55-minute postponement and then a procedural error by the race committee delayed it another 20 minutes. When racing finally began the breeze was 15 knots, ranging up to 20 knots by the end of the day. Both Victory and Team Dennis Conner handled the shifting conditions well, leading around the first windward mark. However, Team Dennis Conner broke a genoa sheet during the race and GBR Challenge had troubles setting the spinnaker at the second windward mark. Le Défi also had gear problems. Victory beat Le Defi Areva by 2 minutes 34 minutes, after taking the lead on the first leg despite Le Défi Areva having control during the pre-start. Team Dennis Conner sailing Stars & Stripes beat GBR in Wight Lightning by 1 minute 42 seconds. GBR seemed to have problems manoeuvring in the pre-start, as evidenced by the frightened look in skipper Ian Walker's face. Louis Vuitton Cup quarterfinals fifth race • Team Dennis Conner beat GBR Challenge by 1 minute 42 seconds • Victory Challenge beat Le Defi Areva by 2 minutes 34 seconds
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