BASKETBALL
Source: Hawks buying out Ferry
The Atlanta Hawks have agreed to a buyout of the final two years of General Manager Danny Ferry’s contract, a person with knowledge of the agreement told The Associated Press on Friday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement has not been announced. The person said the buyout will be paid by the current ownership group, which has a deal to sell the team for $850 million to a group led by billionaire businessman Antony Ressler. Ferry was the lead architect of the Hawks’ most successful season. Atlanta won a franchise-record 60 games before losing to Cleveland in its first Eastern Conference final. Ferry had to watch the successful season from a distance. He has been on an indefinite leave of absence following racially derogatory comments he made last year. More basketball operations responsibilities shifted to Coach Mike Budenholzer and Wes Wilcox, an assistant GM under Ferry. With the buyout, first reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Budenholzer and Wilcox could assume additional responsibilities on a full-time basis. Ferry, 48, hasn’t commented publicly since going on indefinite leave last September. He could not be reached for comment on Friday. Ferry signed a $18 million, six-year contract when he was hired from San Antonio in 2012. He hired Budenholzer, a former Spurs assistant, two years ago. The buyout is expected to be announced by the Hawks before next week’s NBA draft. Ferry landed in trouble for making inflammatory comments about forward Luol Deng, who was then a free agent, in a conference call with the Hawks’ ownership group.
MOTOR SPORTS
Teen wins at Iowa
Erik Jones’ domination off pit road Friday helped him capture his first trophy of 2015. He cruised to victory in the NASCAR Trucks race at Iowa Speedway, leading 112 of 200 laps for his first victory of the season. The 19-year-old Jones had finished third or better four times without a victory this year for Kyle Busch Motorsports. But Jones turned his fifth pole in 26 trucks starts into the fifth victory of his career — and second consecutive on Iowa’s short oval. Brandon Jones was a career-best second, followed by Tyler Reddick and points leader Matt Crafton. Christopher Bell was fifth in his first career trucks series start. Bell won the Short Track Nationals sprint car event at Little Rock’s I-30 Speedway last fall. Erik Jones led the way among drivers who took four new tires on the final pit stop of the race, and a caution-free finish allowed him to beat the field by more than five seconds.
TENNIS
Murray moves up
Top-seeded Andy Murray stayed on course for a fourth title at Queen’s Club in London by overcoming Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 on Friday to reach the semifinals. Like in previous matches this week, Murray struggled early against a solid opponent. Muller broke to lead 3-1, and Murray failed to convert two break points in the next game. The second set then went with serve until Murray finally raised his game and was able to dominate the tiebreaker. He then broke early in the third, which was enough to decide the match. Murray next faces Serbia’s Viktor Troicki, who defeated American John Isner 7-6 (5), 6-3. Earlier, Gilles Simon reached his third semifinal of the year by eliminating third-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. The seventh-seeded Frenchman surrendered the opening set on a single break of serve at 1-1, but in a 12-minute game at 2-2 in the second set he fought off three break points before breaking for a 4-2 lead. Simon will next play South Africa’s Kevin Anderson, who beat Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6 (7), 7-5.
Top-seeded Simona Halep lost 2-6, 6-0, 7-6 (4) Friday in a backand-forth match against Krisytina Mladenovic of France in the quarterfinals of the Aegon Classic in Birmingham, England. Mladenovic was outplayed in the first set but then won the second in only 20 minutes as Halep imploded with five double-faults. She failed to serve out the match at 5-3 in the third, but clinched the tiebreaker when Halep netted a backhand. It was Mladenovic’s third upset of the week at the grass-court tournament, having previously ousted No. 5 Eugenie Bouchard, last year’s Wimbledon runner-up, and No. 10 Barbora Strycova. She will next play sixth-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, who beat third-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-2, 6-2. The other semifinal will be an all-German match between Sabine Lisicki and Angelique Kerber. Lisicki beat Daniela Hantuchova by 7-6 (2), 6-2, while Kerber ousted Katerina Siniakova 6-2, 6-4.
Ivo Karlovic served an ATP record 45 aces in beating third-seeded Tomas Berdych on Friday, while Roger Federer, Kei Nishikori and Andreas Seppi also progressed to the Gerry Weber Open semifinals in Halle, Germany. Karlovic defeated Berdych 7-5, 6-7 (8), 6-3, finishing it off with an ace on match point as the big-serving Croat eclipsed the previous ATP record of 44 for a best-of-three-sets match, which he shared with Mark Philippoussis. Karlovic will next play the top-seeded Federer, who won 6-0, 7-6 (1) against Germany’s Florian Mayer as he moved closer to a record eighth title. The second-seeded Nishikori beat Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 in 2 ½ hours and next meets Seppi, who advanced after No. 4 Gael Monfils pulled out of their quarterfinal with a right knee injury as the Italian was leading 6-1, 1-0.
SOCCER
MLS suspends Dempsey
Seattle forward Clint Dempsey was suspended three games by Major League Soccer on Friday and fined for confronting a referee during a U.S. Open Cup game this week. MLS Commissioner Don Garber concluded the former Fulham and Tottenham forward’s behavior was “referee abuse,” which requires a minimum three-game suspension, and not “referee assault,” which has a minimum sixgame ban. During the Sounders’ fourth-round loss to rival Portland, he grabbed a notebook from the official and tore it after a teammate was given a red card. Dempsey could face further discipline from a panel established by the U.S. Soccer Federation, but any additional suspension would be limited to U.S. Open Cup matches. He will miss league games against San Jose today, Philadelphia on Wednesday and Portland on June 28. While Dempsey would have had to sit out U.S. national team games during the suspension, the Americans do not play until a July 3 exhibition against Guatemala, four days before the Americans start the Gold Cup against Honduras.
Brazilian star Neymar has been banned for the rest of the Copa America, depriving the tournament of one of its biggest stars. A disciplinary panel of the South American confederation ruled Friday that he must sit out four games for violent conduct in a match against Colombia, when he was sent off. Brazil has the right to appeal. He was also fined $10,000. The Barcelona forward picked up a red card after kicking Colombia’s Pablo Armero after the final whistle in Colombia’s 1-0 victory over Brazil on Wednesday. He also appeared to head butt another player. Brazil plays its final group game on Sunday against Venezuela. If it advances to the knockout rounds it could play three more.
HORSE RACING
Pharoah at Saratoga?
American Pharoah’s next race could be the Travers Stakes at Saratoga. The Triple Crown winner’s owner, Ahmed Zayat, tweeted Thursday that “Right now Saratoga is in the lead. Ahead of Haskell.” This comes as a surprise after Zayat indicated that his superstar would run next in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park last Saturday, saying, “The handwriting is on the wall.” Apparently, it’s in pencil because now the 1 ¼ -mile Travers on Aug. 29 is in the picture. A New York Racing Association source said that NYRA CEO and President Chris Kay and director of racing Martin Panza made their pitch for the $1.25 million Travers to Zayat and trainer Bob Baffert on the evening of June 6, shortly after the colt’s 5 ½ -length triumph in the Belmont Stakes. Zayat has said Baffert would make the final decision. The trainer has said he would “go with his gut” and not make any long-range plans until he sees how American Pharoah rebounds from racing four times in only eight weeks. If he didn’t return until the Travers, it would give the first Triple Crown hero in 37 years an extra four weeks of rest. A Monmouth Park spokesman would not comment on the situation, other than to say the Jersey Shore track is “happy to be in the mix.”