They all want to be like Maria. They all want to beat Maria, too. Maria Sharapova's next match at the U.S. Open will come against yet another teenager who looks up to her -- 18-year-old Beatrice Capra, the 371st-ranked American who, with a win in that third-round match, would be one step closer to becoming the 2010 version of Melanie Oudin. […]
Novak Djokovic reached the third round at the U.S. Open with a 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (6) victory over 52nd-ranked Philipp Petzschner of Germany on Thursday. Play was delayed in the eighth game while police escorted away three fans after a fight in the upper deck in Arthur Ashe Stadium. The No. 3-seeded Djokovic has made it at least this far all six times he's p […]
Maria Sharapova has advanced to the third round of the U.S. Open with a stress-free 6-1, 6-2 victory over Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic. The 14th-seeded Sharapova had as much trouble with the wind at Arthur Ashe Stadium as with her 68th-ranked opponent Thursday night. Sharapova is looking for her second U.S. […]
A day after Victoria Azarenka collapsed on court during a singles match at the U.S. Open, she and partner Dinara Safina pulled out of women's doubles. Azarenka and Safina originally were scheduled to face the ninth-seeded pair of Cara Black and Anastasia Rodionova in the first round of doubles Thursday. […]
Qualifier Kei Nishikori of Japan has upset 11th-seeded Marin Cilic at the U.S. Open in a five-set marathon that took a minute short of five hours with temperatures in the mid-90s. Nishikori won Thursday's second-round match 5-7, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1. Two years ago, he reached the fourth round to become the first Japanese man to get that far at the […]
Striker Karim Benzema has been ruled out of France's 2012 European Championship qualifier against Belarus after failing to recover from an ankle injury. The French federation said hours before Friday's game at the Stade de France that the Real Madrid forward had been ruled out after undergoing a fitness test in the morning. […]
Ghana coach Milovan Rajevac says Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien is putting his international career on hold to regain the form he enjoyed before sustaining the injuries that ruled him out of the World Cup. Essien injured a hamstring while playing for Chelsea last December and ruptured a cruciate ligament the following month while on Ghana duty at the Afri […]