TENNIS
Sock upset at Atlanta
Ukrainian qualifier Denis Kudla upset third-seeded Jack Sock 7-6 (6), 6-3 on Thursday in the Atlanta Open, and No. 6 Steve Johnson and No. 8 Benjamin Becker also tumbled out. Sock, an American ranked No. 35 in the world, battled in the first set before falling quickly in the second when his service game all but abandoned him on the super-heated court at Atlantic Station. In the final second set, Kudla won 7 of 14 points on Sock's first serve was 5 of 12 on second serves while breaking the American's service game twice. Sock entered the match 17-8 in ATP matches this season, but struggled in the high heat and humidity. The 94th-ranked Kudla reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon a month ago. Israel's Dudi Sela, who fell in the 2014 final to John Isner, beat Becker, from Germany, 7-5, 6-3, and Ricardis Berankis of Lithuania rolled past Johnson 6-4, 6-2. Isner, the top seed and a local favorite after playing at the University of Georgia, opened his title defense Thursday night against Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.
• Top-seeded Rafael Nadal toiled to beat Jiri Vesely 6-4, 7-6 (2) to reach the Hamburg Open quarterfinals on Thursday. Nadal's quarterfinal opponent will be fifth-seeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, who outlasted Jerzy Janowicz of Poland 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. Nadal appeared in trouble when he dropped his serve for 4-4 in the second set. But he broke right back and served for the match, only to commit a double fault at match point. He served another double fault to drop the game, but Vesely could not take advantage and Nadal cruised through the tiebreaker, winning the match when Vesely netted a backhand. Nadal is playing in Hamburg for the first time since he won the clay-court event in 2008. This is his first tournament since losing to Dustin Brown in the second round of Wimbledon. Once No. 1 in the world, Nadal has dropped to No. 10. Andreas Seppi of Italy also reached the quarterfinals by beating Florian Mayer of Germany 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. He will play countryman Simone Bolelli, who defeated Spanish qualifier Jaume Munar 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-4.
• All eight seeds have reached the Swiss Open quarterfinals, making the clay-court tournament in Gstaad the first on the ATP circuit to achieve that feat in six years. Sixth-seeded Joao Sousa of Portugal saved three match points to preserve the record on Thursday, going on to beat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-7 (6), 6-3, 7-6 (4). The last tournament where the quarterfinals bracket went with seeding was in Montreal in August 2009, according to the ATP. Top-seeded David Goffin of Belgium needed only 45 minutes to win 6-1, 6-1 against Horacio Zeballos of Argentina. Third-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria also beat an Argentine opponent in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4 against Federico Delbonis. Thiem next faces seventh-seeded Pablo Carreno of Spain, who won 7-6 (3), 6-4 against Robin Haase of the Netherlands.
• Former No. 1 and two-time major champion Victoria Azarenka has pulled out of next week's Citi Open hard-court tournament in Washington, D.C., because of an injured right shoulder. The tournament announced Azarenka's withdrawal on Thursday, saying that CoCo Vandeweghe will get a wild-card entry for the main draw. Vandeweghe, an American ranked 32nd, reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon last month, before losing to Maria Sharapova in three sets. Others out of the Citi Open, which begins Monday, include Daniela Hantuchova and Sara Errani from the women's field, and Thanasi Kokkinakis from the men's. The tournament is a tuneup for the U.S. Open, which begins Aug. 31 in New York.
MOTOR SPORTS
IndyCar's Walker resigns
IndyCar president of competition Derrick Walker has resigned, effective at the end of the season. Walker will stay on for the final three races, which ends Aug. 30 in Sonoma, Calif. Walker says the timing is right to move on to other opportunities after 2½ seasons on the job. He helped IndyCar land Boston as a new race in 2016, helped introduce a road course race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and made contributions in race control and aero kits. Walker has been in involved in racing for more than 40 years in several series, including team ownership. However, Walker had come under fire for problems this year with the aero kits after three Chevrolet cars went airborne before the Indianapolis 500. IndyCar then changed the qualifying rules to help Chevy, which angered rival manufacturer Honda.
• Michael Waltrip Racing co-owner Rob Kauffman has agreed to buy an interest in the race team owned by Chip Ganassi. Kauffman's defection to Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates means he could bring driver Clint Bowyer with him to the organization. CGR already fields cars for Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson. MWR fields Sprint Cup teams for Bowyer and David Ragan. Kauffman retired at the end of 2012 from Fortress Investment Group, where he was one of three founders. The billionaire also is the chairman of the NASCAR team ownership group, the Race Team Alliance.
HORSE RACING
Song takes Morrissey
Making his first start in nine months, Moonlight Song broke fast and held on, splashing home to a 1 1/4-length victory in the $100,000 John Morrissey on Thursday at Saratoga Race Course. An 8-year-old gelding trained by Charlton Baker and ridden by Jose Ortiz for owner Albert Fried Jr., Moonlight Song ran the 6 1/2-furlong sprint for New York-breds in 1:17.69 over a main track made sloppy by afternoon storms. It was the second consecutive victory for Moonlight Song, unraced since taking the Hudson Handicap for state-breds last October at Belmont Park. Second choice in a field of six at 2-1, he paid $6.80, $4.30 and $3. John's Island came flying late and returned $8.10 and $3.80 for second, three-quarters of a length ahead of 7-5 favorite and multiple Grade 1 winner Palace, who paid $2.30. Thursday's co-feature, the $75,000 Jonathan Kiser Novice Stakes steeplechase, was scheduled to open the card but was postponed by rain.
HOCKEY
Flyers, Voracek agree
The Philadelphia Flyers and right wing Jakub Voracek have agreed to a multiyear contract extension. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed Thursday, although The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the deal was for eight years and $66 million. Voracek, 25, had 22 goals and career highs of 59 assists and 81 points last season. The 6-foot-2, 214-pound Czech right wing joined Philadelphia in June 2011 in a trade that sent Jeff Carter to Columbus. Voracek has 124 goals and 248 assists in 531 career games in seven seasons with Columbus and Philadelphia. He has four goals and 11 assists in 22 playoff games. The deal comes two days after the Flyers signed 22-year-old forward Sean Couturier to a reported six-year extension worth $26 million. The Flyers also have 27-year-old forward Claude Giroux signed through 2022, meaning General Manager Ron Hextall has presumably secured his offensive nucleus for the next seven seasons.
SOCCER
Referees under review
CONCACAF's referee department will be reviewed following controversial decisions in the Gold Cup. "The foundation of our game is fair play, and we must take the required steps to reinforce the importance of this principle," CONCACAF President Alfredo Hawit said on Thursday. Panama and Costa Rica made requests to CONCACAF after each lost to Mexico in the Gold Cup knockout rounds with the help of a questionable penalty kick. Panama players posed with a banner after their semifinal loss calling CONCACAF "corruptos ladrones" (corrupt thieves), and Panamanian federation President Pedro Chaluja said "we feel that that game was fixed." The next day, Hawit announced American referee Mark Geiger had admitted he made mistakes in the match.
Sports on 07/31/2015