Off the wire

TENNIS Ferrer tops Nadal

Rafael Nadal’s mastery of the Monte Carlo clay courts seems to be over. Nadal lost to fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 7-6 (1), 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters on Friday, his earliest exit since 2003 at a tournament that helped build his reputation as perhaps the greatest clay-court player of all time. Nadal won eight consecutive titles here in 2005-2012, before losing to Novak Djokovic in last year’s final. This was Nadal’s first loss on clay to Ferrer since 2004, and the 13-time Grand Slam champion said he is still trying to find his best form after a disappointing loss to Stanislas Wawrinka in the Australian Open final. Djokovic looked like he might follow him out, but the Serb finally got the better of the unseeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 to set up a 34th career meeting against 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer. Federer leads Djokovic 17-16 in head-to-heads and they are 1-1 this year, with Federer beating him in the Dubai Championship semifinals and Djokovic winning their final at Indian Wells. The sixth-seeded Ferrer next faces the third-seeded Wawrinka, who reached his first semifinal since the Australian Open by beating eighth-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada 7-6 (5), 6-2. Fourth-seeded Federer also reached the semifinals in an error-strewn 2-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1 victory against No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, where he was two points from defeat at 0-30 serving at 6-5 down in the second set.

Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic will face Sara Errani of defending champion Italy in the opening singles of their Fed Cup semifinal today in Ostrava, Czech Republic. The 26th-ranked Safarova and the 11th-ranked Errani have met twice at WTA tournaments and are 1-1. No. 6-ranked Petra Kvitova will play the second singles for the host against the 54th-ranked Camila Giorgi. After Sunday’s reverse singles, Klara Koukalova and doubles specialist Andrea Hlavackova are expected to team up against the Italian pair of Karin Knapp and Roberta Vinci. The winner faces Australia or Germany in November’s final. The two have won the past five Fed Cups: The Czechs in 2011 and 2012, and Italy in 2009, 2010 and last year.

Top-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia rallied to beat Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 Friday and reach the semifinals of the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur. The 10th-ranked Cibulkova saved 20 break points to prevail over her sixth-seeded opponent after more than 2 ½ hours. Cibulkova will play third-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, who defeated Cagla Buyukakcay of Turkey, 6-4, 6-4. In the other semifinal, second-seeded Shuai Zhang of China will take on Donna Vekic of Croatia. The 45th-ranked Zhang fought off 10 break points to beat Magda Linette of Poland 6-2, 2-6, 6-1. Vekic, who is yet to win a title on the circuit, hit 10 aces to overcome fourth-seeded Patricia Mayr-Achleitner of Austria 6-4, 7-5.

GYMNASTICS Three teams advance

Oklahoma, Georgia and LSU have advanced to the Super Six of the NCAA women’s gymnastics championships in Birmingham, Ala. Oklahoma, last year’s runner-up, led the way in the first semifinal Friday with 197.50 and posted the top team scores on the balance beam and floor exercise. Taylor Spears had the high score on the balance beam with a 9.925. Ten-time champion Georgia scored 197.30 and fellow SEC member LSU finished with 197.10. Stanford, Michigan and Illinois failed to advance. Sooners teammates Maileana Kanewa and Haley Scaman and Michigan’s Joanna Sampson all scored 9.95 on the floor exercise. Oklahoma will seek its fourth top-three finish since2010 today. The second semifinal Friday night featured defending champion Florida, Alabama, UCLA, Utah, Penn State and Nebraska. The top three teams advance.

BASKETBALL Jazz wins tiebreaker

The Utah Jazz have won a tiebreaker with the Boston Celtics, giving them a chance for a better pick in the NBA Draft. Both teams finished with 25-57 records. The Jazz will now be slotted fourth in the lottery, with a 10.4 percent chance at the No. 1 pick, while the Celtics will have a 10.3 percent chance. If they or no teams behind them move up, Utah will pick No. 4 and Boston at No. 5. Boston also will have the No. 17 pick after a tie was broken between Brooklyn and Washington, both 44-38. The Nets owe the pick to the Celtics from last summer’s trade that landed them Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. Chicago (48-34) won a tiebreaker with Toronto at No. 19. The ties were broken Friday through random drawings.

FOOTBALL Rules violation?

Peyton Manning’s never-ending quest to hone his game and Nick Saban’s desire to decipher fast-paced offenses led to a recent meeting that the Crimson Tide coach called mutually beneficial. It also might have violated NFL rules because, according to Saban, Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase also was in attendance. The league doesn’t allow players and their coaches to meet before the start of off-season workouts, which for the Broncos begin Monday. On-field instruction won’t start until mid-May. The Associated Press left messages with the team and the NFL on Friday seeking comment. Gase and Saban go way back. Gase worked under Saban at Michigan State in the late 1990s and followed him to LSU as a graduate assistant in 2000. Saban also has known Manning for a long time. Saban said after Thursday’s practice that Manning and Gase were “making some visits” and stopped by Tuscaloosa, Ala., a couple of weeks ago. “To be honest with you, he was just trying to learn so he could be a better player,” Saban said of the five-time MVP who led the Broncos to the Super Bowl, where they were soundly beaten by Seattle.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Haith jumps from Missouri to Tulsa

TULSA - Tulsa hired Frank Haith of Missouri as its men’s basketball coach Friday, landing a major-conference coach to lead the Golden Hurricane’s transition from Conference USA to the American Athletic Conference this summer.

Haith, 48, said the move came quickly: He was contacted Thursday and was particularly interested by Tulsa’s move to the conference of national champion Connecticut and teams like Memphis and Cincinnati.

“It’s truly a blessing,” Haith said. “There’s no question that Tulsa’s move into the American Athletic Conference was a big part of making the decision to come here. The strength of this league is phenomenal. It’s a basketball league.”

Haith was 76-28 at Missouri, which plays in the SEC. He replaces Danny Manning, who left for Wake Forest after two seasons in Tulsa.

Haith was suspended for the first five games of last season by the NCAA after it was found that he inadequately monitored his former assistants’ interactions with disgraced Miami booster Nevin Shapiro and then tried to cover up a five-figure hush money payment to keep potential violations hidden.

The Committee on Infractions report also found that Haith provided inconsistent answers during multiple interviews with investigators, including conflicting accounts of when he reported the shakedown attempt by Shapiro to Hurricanes Athletic Director Paul Dee.

Haith has said he “strongly” disagreed with the report but did not appeal the findings. He told reporters he planned to donate 18 days’ worth of his salary from his suspension to the Boys and Girls Club of Columbia. His base annual salary was $450,000, though he earned a guaranteed $1.6 million each year with the Tigers.

As successful as he was at Missouri, Haith was plagued by postseason stumbles, as the second-seeded Tigers lost in the NCAA Tournament’s first round to 15th-seeded Norfolk State following a 30-5 season in 2011-12. They lost again in the first round in 2013. Missouri went 7-8 down the stretch and failed to qualify for this year’s tournament.