Off the wire
Posted on Saturday, October 11, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Sports/239895/
TENNIS 18-year-old advances Japanese wild card Kei Nishikori, 18, ailing with a sore throat and aching knee, reached the Stockholm (Sweden ) Open semifinals Friday when secondseeded Mario Ancic withdrew because of fever. “I wanted to play the match somehow,” Nishikori said. “Now I’ve got a day to rest and I’m sure I can play. It’s the semifinals. It’s big for me.” Nishikori will play fourth-seeded Robin Soderling, who defeated fifth-seeded Rainer Schuettler of Germany 6-2, 7-5. Nishikori has jumped 212 spots to a No. 77 ranking since the beginning of the year. He won his first ATP title at Delray Beach, Fla., early this year to become the first Japanese singles winner on the tour since 1992. Top-seeded David Nalbandian beat seventh-seeded Albert Montanes 6-4, 6-1 and thirdseeded Jarkko Nieminen beat Oscar Hernandez 6-1, 6-4.
Top-ranked Jelena Jankovic defeated Flavia Pennetta 7-6 (6 ), 6-3 to advance to the semifinals of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Jankovic will face defending champion Elena Dementieva, who beat Nadia Petrova 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (6 ). Jankovic took the top ranking from Serena Williams on Monday after winning back-to-back titles at the China Open and Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany. Jankovic will retain her top ranking next week regardless of the results in Moscow because Williams, the runner-up in Moscow last year, pulled out because of injury. Second-seeded Dinara Safina beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 7-5 and Vera Zvonareva beat Dominika Cibulkova 7-5, 6-4.
Eighth-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils upset second-seeded Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 7-6 (2 ) to reach the semifinals of the BA Tennis Trophy in Vienna, Austria.
FOOTBALL Cardinals safety fined Arizona Cardinals strong safety Adrian Wilson has been fined $ 25, 000 by the NFL for a hit on Buffalo Bills quarterback Trent Edwards on Sunday. Wilson said that league officials also put him on notice he may face heavier fines or a suspension for future incidents. Wilson hit Edwards on the third play of the game. The hit was not helmet-tohelmet, but Edwards suffered a concussion and did not return to the game. No penalty was called on the play. League officials decided that Wilson unnecessarily drove Edwards to the ground.
Miami Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown and offensive linemen Vernon Carey and Ikechuku Ndukwe were fined $ 10, 000 each by the NFL for excessive celebrating. After Brown scored a touchdown Sunday against the San Diego Chargers, he performed a dance shuffle in the end zone with the linemen. Choreographed celebrations by two or more players aren’t permitted, league spokesman Corry Rush said.
Minnesota Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield was fined $ 10, 000 by the NFL for his celebration of a touchdown Monday night against the New Orleans Saints. Winfield returned a blocked field goal for a score, then jumped onto the goal post and slid down it like a fire pole. He was flagged for excessive celebration and then fined for using the goal post as a prop. Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway was fined $ 7, 500 for his face mask pull of Saints running back Reggie Bush even though the officials did not flag him for a penalty. The missed call resulted in a fumble by Bush recovered by Vikings safety Tyrell Johnson (Rison, Arkansas State ). Vikings receiver Robert Ferguson was fined $ 5, 000 for a late hit on a punt return in the third quarter. Cleveland Browns tight end Kellen Winslow will spend a second night in the hospital with an undisclosed illness that could keep him out of Monday night’s game against the New York Giants. Winslow was admitted to the Cleveland Clinic on Thursday. He practiced Monday but had been feeling ill for several days and the team sent him to the doctor for further tests and evaluation. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck’s sore right knee hasn’t received clearance to play against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, meaning that Charlie Frye will likely be the starter, Coach Mike Holmgren said. Frye took almost all the snaps in practice this week, while Hasselbeck rested his knee and backup Seneca Wallace nursed a sore calf.
Cincinnati Bengals Coach Marvin Lewis said quarterback Carson Palmer will not start Sunday’s game against the New York Jets because of a sore right elbow but that he could play. Backup Ryan Fitzpatrick will get his second start of the season.
Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro running back Brian Westbrook will miss his second game in three weeks against the San Francisco 49 ers on Sunday. Westbrook broke two ribs in the Eagles’ 23-17 loss to the Washington Redskins on Sunday, though he kept playing and finished the game. He sat out a 24-20 loss at Chicago on Sept. 28 because of an ankle injury.
HORSE RACING Trainer: No drug violation Kentucky racing officials plan to challenge a recommendation that there’s insufficient evidence to suspend Big Brown’s trainer, Rick Dutrow, for violating doping rules. The order by hearing officer James Robke indicated the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission was unable to prove Dutrow’s horse, Salute the Count, had an excessive amount of the legal drug Clenbuterol in his blood after finishing second May 2 in the Aegon Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. That was one day before Big Brown won the Kentucky Derby. Robke’s finding is only a recommendation to the commission. This summer, the commission found Dutrow in violation and suspended him for 15 days, under appeal pending the officer’s ruling. Jim Carroll, spokesman for the Kentucky Public Protection Cabinet, said the commission likely would take further action at its Oct. 27 meeting.
GOLF U. S. women fourth The U. S. team was fourth after the third round of the Espirito Santo women’s amateur golf tournament in Adelaide, Australia. Alison Walshe shot a 4-under-par 69, and Tiffany Joh and Amanda Blumenherst each shot a 73 for a 2-over 438, 16 shots behind leader Sweden. Spain is second, 11 shots back. TRACK & FIELD Montgomery gets 5 years Former Olympic track star Tim Montgomery, 33, was sentenced in Norfolk, Va., to five years in prison for dealing heroin to an informant. Montgomery will serve the sentence after he completes a 46-month prison term for an unrelated conviction in New York. Under an agreement with the government, he pleaded guilty in July to possession and distribution of more than 100 grams of heroin. He received the minimum term under federal sentencing guidelines. Montgomery won an Olympic gold medal in the 400-meter relay at the 2000 games and a silver in the same event four years earlier.
BASEBALL Canseco detained at border Former major leaguer Jose Canseco was held for nearly 10 hours at San Diego’s San Ysidro border crossing Thursday by immigration authorities after agents said they stopped him as he attempted to bring a fertility drug from Mexico, his lawyer, Gregory Emerson, said Friday. Agents searched his vehicle and said they found human chorionic gonadotropin, which is illegal without a prescription. Canseco was ordered to appear in federal court in San Diego on Tuesday. ODDS & ENDS Perjurer gets confinement A federal judge in San Francisco sentenced a former elite cyclist to six months of home confinement for lying to a grand jury about her steroid use. U. S. District Court Judge Susan Illston rejected a federal prosecutor’s request that Tammy Thomas be
sen-1 tenced to 2 / 2 years in prison, noting the ringleaders at the center of the BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative ) doping investigation received four months in prison or less. A jury in April convicted Thomas of three felony counts of perjury and a count of obstruction of justice. Former Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson criticized two talk show hosts Friday for accusing him of faking AIDS but said he didn’t want them to be fired. Chris Baker and Langdon Perry of KTLK in Minneapolis made the remarks during Baker’s conservative radio show Wednesday. After Johnson, 49, condemned the statements, the station said it regretted “some offhand remarks” by the two. Johnson was diagnosed with HIV in 1991 and then retired from the NBA at 32.