FRENCH OPEN-DAY 2
Sharapova advances
PARIS (AP) β Former French Open champion Maria Sharapova (shah-rah-POH’-vah) has won her opening 2014 match. The 2012 winner was first on the court in the main stadium and defeated Ksenia Pervak 6-1, 6-2. The match started more than an hour late because of rain. The forecast calls for more rain today as well as the rest of the week.
A check of today’s schedule shows eight-time champion Rafael Nadal (rah-fay-ehl nah-DAHL’), the top seed, in action, as well as second-seeded Novak Djokovic (NOH’-vak JOH’-kuh-vich) and Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka (vah-VINK’-ah), weather permitting.
NBA PLAYOFFS-WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Ibaka contributes as Thunder beat Spurs
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) β The Oklahoma City Thunder were able to get off the mat the moment Serge Ibaka (ih-BAH’-kah) was able to get into uniform.
Ibaka shot 6-for-7 from the field and finished with 15 points and seven rebounds in 29 Β½ minutes as the Thunder beat San Antonio 106-97 to pull within two games to one in the NBA’s Western Conference finals. The forward started the game after missing the first two of the series with a left calf strain. The Thunder originally had said he likely would miss the rest of the playoffs, but changed course Friday.
Ibaka pointed to the sky as he left the game to cheers with 3:17 remaining and the Thunder ahead by 20 points. He helped the Thunder outrebound the Spurs 52-36 after losing the battle of the boards in the first two games.
Russell Westbrook had 26 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and Kevin Durant added 25 points and 10 rebounds. Reggie Jackson finished with 15 points after starting in place of Thabo Sefolosha (TAH’-boh she-feh-LOH’-shah).
Manu Ginobili (MAN’-oo-zhih-NOH’-blee) scored 23 points for the Spurs, who will take on the Thunder again Tuesday at Oklahoma City.
NHL-EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS
Rangers beat Habs in OT to take commanding series lead
NEW YORK (AP) β Martin St. Louis (mahr-TAN san loo-EE’) has the New York Rangers within one victory of their first trip to the Stanley Cup finals since 1994.
St. Louis scored his third goal of the series at 6:02 of overtime to give the Rangers a 3-2 win over the Canadiens and a three-games-to-one lead in the NHL’s Eastern Conference finals. The Blueshirts blew a pair of one-goal leads and were repeatedly robbed by Dustin Tokarski, who made a sensational glove save on St. Louis during regulation. But in OT, St. Louis fired a snap shot over Tokarski’s shoulder to keep the Rangers in control of the series.
Henrik Lundqvist stopped 27 shots and got the secondary assist on Derick Brassard’s go-ahead goal with 56 seconds left in the second period. Carl Hagelin opened the scoring with a short-handed tally 7:18 into the contest.
P.K. Subban (SOO’-ban) scored a power-play goal early in the third period to tie the game. Montreal had a great scoring chance late in regulation, but Alex Galchenyuk (gahl-CHEHN’-yuhk) rang a shot off the crossbar after it hit Lundqvist.
The Rangers have won their last 12 playoffs series when taking a 3-1 lead in games.
New York can close out the series Tuesday in Montreal.
MLB-SCHEDULE
Beckett of the Dodgers pitches a no hitter
UNDATED (AP) β Josh Beckett’s major league career appeared in jeopardy just a few months ago, but he’s thriving right now.
The Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander struck out Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Chase Utley with his career-high 128th pitch to complete the first no-hitter of the season and the 21st in team history. Beckett struck out six and walked three as the Dodgers whipped the Phils 6-0.
Beckett’s career was almost derailed last year by a nerve condition that left him unable to feel his fingertips. He began this season on the disabled list before tossing his first career no-hitter, and the first by a Dodger since Hideo Nomo (hih-DAY’-oh NO’-moh) in 1996.
Beckett outpitched former teammate A.J. Burnett, 11 years after the two helped the Marlins win the World Series.
Justin Turner hit a solo homer and Adrian Gonzalez went 3-for-4 with two RBIs to support Beckett’s third win of the season.
Elsewhere in the majors:
β Adam Wainwright became the National League’s first eight-game winner by allowing only five hits and matching a career high with 12 strikeouts over eight innings of the Cardinals’ 4-0 shutout at Cincinnati. Kolton Wong and Tony Cruz each had two hits and an RBI as St. Louis won for the ninth time in 11 games to stay within 1 1/2 games of first-place Milwaukee in the NL Central.
β The Brewers beat the Marlins 7-1 as Jimmy Nelson pitched 5 2-3 scoreless innings in his season debut for Milwaukee. Ryan Braun had four hits, including a double and triple for the Brewers.
β San Francisco completed a three-game sweep as Michael Morse doubled three times and drove in four runs to lead the Giants to an 8-1 rout of Minnesota. Madison Bumgarner struck out 10 and surrendered just three hits in seven innings to help the Giants improve to a major league-leading 32-18.
β Julio Teheran lowered his ERA to 1.77 by giving up just four hits while striking out seven in six scoreless innings of Atlanta’s 7-0 rout of Colorado. All the runs came via the long ball as Evan Gattis collected three RBIs with a pair of homers before Justin Upton and Chris Johnson added two-run blasts.
β Daniel Murphy dropped a throw on a force play at second with two outs in the ninth, allowing the Diamondbacks went on to beat the New Yorkers 2-1 in Game 1 of a doubleheader. Chris Owings homered for the Diamondbacks, who turned five double plays.
β The Mets earned a split and ended a three-game skid as Daisuke Matsuzaka (DYS’-kay maht-soo-ZAH’-kah) hit an RBI single and allowed three hits in six innings of a 4-2 triumph over Arizona in the nightcap. Daniel Murphy atoned for his ninth-inning error in the opener by going 3-for-4 with an RBI single in Game 2.
β Ian Desmond hit a pair of run-scoring singles and Washington halted a four-game skid by topping the Pirates 5-2 in Pittsburgh. Doug Fister allowed one run in 5 1/3 innings to outpitch Francisco Liriano, who is winless in 14 consecutive regular-season starts since last Sept. 10.
β J.A. Happ won his third straight start and Edwin Encarnacion (ehn-kahr-nah-see-OHN’) homered as Toronto downed Oakland 3-1 to complete a three-game sweep. The Blue Jays picked up their sixth consecutive win and sent the A’s to their season-high fourth straight loss.
β Baltimore earned a four-game split with Cleveland as Manny Machado and Nelson Cruz homered in the Orioles’ 4-2 triumph against the Indians. Steve Pearce had three hits and Miguel Gonzalez held the Indians to two runs and four hits in six innings.
β Alex Rios tripled and drove in three runs as the Rangers beat up on the Tigers again for a 12-4 win. The Rangers scored 35 runs in taking three of four in Detroit.
β Pinch-hitter Sean Rodriguez smacked a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the seventh inning of Tampa Bay’s 8-5 win over Boston. The Red Sox have dropped 10 straight, their worst skid since an 11-game victory drought in 1994.
β Masahiro Tanaka rebounded nicely from his first major league loss and improved to 7-1 by working into the seventh inning of the Yankees’ 7-1 win over the White Sox in Chicago. Derek Jeter had four hits, Brett Gardner hit a two-run single and Brian Roberts added a solo homer.
β Dallas Keuchel (KY’-kul) pitched a four-hitter and allowed just an unearned run in Houston’s 4-1 verdict over the Mariners. George Springer and Marc Krauss hit two-run homers to back Keuchel’s second complete game in three starts.
β The Angels put together a three-run seventh before Chris Ianetta (eye-uh-NET’-uh) homered in the eighth inning to give Los Angeles a 4-3 win over Kansas City. Jason Vargas exited with a 3-0 lead in the seventh before Mike Trout hit an RBI double and scored on David Freese’s (FREEZ’-ehz) two-run single.
β Ian Kennedy limited the Cubs to a run and two hits in six innings of San Diego’s 4-3 win over the Cubs. The Cubs were trying to complete their first series win since last September in Cincinnati.
MLB-RED SOX
Napoli heads to DL
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) β The Boston Red Sox have put first baseman Mike Napoli (NAP’-oh-lee) on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained finger and recalled right-hander Brandon Workman from Triple-A Pawtucket. Napoli has been playing with an injured fourth finger on his left hand, along with nagging hamstring and calf issues. He also missed games Wednesday and Thursday due to flu-like symptoms. He is hitting .260 with five homers and 22 RBIs this season.
MLB-PHILLIES
Asche goes on DL
PHILADELPHIA (AP) β The Philadelphia Phillies have placed third baseman Cody Asche (ASH’-ee) on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring. He was hitting .258 with eight doubles, four home runs and 18 RBIs in 40 games. Asche injured his hamstring in Friday night’s loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
MLB-CUBS
Cubs name Ramirez player/coach
CHICAGO (AP) β Guess who is back in organized baseball? If you said Manny Ramirez, you would be correct. The Cubs have announced that Ramirez is coming back to baseball as a player-coach for the team’s Triple-A club. Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said in a statement that Ramirez “is not and will not” be on the Cubs’ major league roster, but that he will serve as a mentor to Chicago’s minor-league hitters in Des Moines, Iowa.
AUTO RACING
Johnson, Hunter-Reay and Rosberg win major races
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) βRyan Hunter-Reay (ray) and Helio Castroneves (EHL’-ee-oh kas-troh-NEH’-vehs) battled over the final few laps for the lead in the Indianapolis 500 with Hunter-Reay finishing first, barely in front of the three-time winner. Hunter-Reay won by 0.060 seconds, the second closest finish in race history and the tightest since Al Unser Jr. beat Scott Goodyear by 0.043 seconds in 1992.
Hunter-Reay is the first American to win the race since 2006. Marco Andretti was third.
NASCAR-COCA-COLA 600
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) β Defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson passed Matt Kenseth with nine laps to go and won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway for his first victory of the season.
Johnson won the pole Thursday night and led 165 of 400 laps in NASCAR’s longest race. Kevin Harvick was second, followed by Kenseth and Carl Edwards.
Kurt Busch’s attempt at motorsports history ended with 129 laps to go when he blew an engine. Busch finished sixth in the Indianapolis 500, but could not complete the 600.
Tony Stewart remains the only driver to finish both races.
FORMULA ONE
Rosberg ends Hamilton’s win streak.
MONTE CARLO, MONACO (AP) β Nico (NEE’-koh) Rosberg was the winner of the Monaco Grand Prix, with Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton second. The results pushed Rosberg past Hamilton in the overall drivers’ standings.
GOLF-COLONIAL
Scott edges Dufner
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) β Adam Scott birdied the third playoff hole to defeat Jason Dufner and win the Colonial. Scott was playing in his first tournament since taking over the No. 1 world ranking from Tiger Woods.
Scott and Dufner each closed with 4-under 66s to finish regulation at 9-under par. Both parred the first extra hole and birdied the second before Scott put it away.
GOLF-SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
Monty gets the win
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) β Colin (KAH’-lihn) Montgomerie finished first in the Senior PGA Championship. “Monty” shot a final round 6-under-65 to finish 13 shots under par, four in front of Tom Watson.
GOLF-LPGA
Kordish takes LPGA event
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) β Jessica Korda of the U.S. shot a 7-under-65 in the final round of the Airbus LPGA Classic to win it by a stroke. Winding up in second was Anna Nordqvist, who shot a final-round 66. Three players Michelle Wie (wee), Charley Hull and Catriona Matthew tied for third at 18-under.
HOCKEY-WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Russia wins again
MINSK, Belarus (AP) β Alex Ovechkin (oh-VECH’-kin) and Evgeni Malkin scored eight minutes apart to lead Russia to a 5-2 victory over Finland in the final of the ice hockey world championship. The win is Russia’s second title in three years.
