TENNIS
Wawrinka withdraws
Top-seeded Stan Wawrinka withdrew from the Open de Moselle in Metz, France, with an ankle injury on Friday while former two-time champion Gilles Simon made it to the semifinals. The French Open champion was scheduled to face Philipp Kohlschreiber in the quarterfinals at the indoor hard-court tournament but was unable to play. Wawrinka, who has already qualified for the ATP World Tour Finals from Nov. 15-22 in London, hurt his right ankle during his 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory over Dustin Brown in the second round. The second-seeded Simon, who clinched his titles in the northeastern city in 2010 and 2013, converted two of his five breakpoints and withstood 12 aces to advance past Gilles Muller 6-4, 6-4. Next up for Simon is sixth-seeded Martin Klizan, who rallied to beat fourth-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4). In the semifinals, Kohlschreiber will play third-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat fellow Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 6-7 (6), 6-3, 7-5.
Canada’s Milos Raonic took just 53 minutes to demolish Tommy Robredo 6-1, 6-2 and reach the semifinals of the St. Petersburg Open on Friday. Raonic, the second seed and top-ranked player left in the draw, won almost twice as many points as his fifth-seeded Spanish opponent, hitting 10 aces in a one-sided match. In today’s semifinal, Raonic will face fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut, who earlier Friday beat France’s Lucas Pouille 6-2, 6-3. In the other semifinal, third seed Dominic Thiem will play seventh-seeded Joao Sousa after they won their respective quarterfinals earlier Friday. Thiem beat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-2, 7-5, and Sousa won 7-6 (7), 7-6 (1) against Italy’s Simone Bolelli.
Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia beat defending champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 7-6 (5), 6-3 on Friday to reach the semifinals of the Toray Pan-Pacific Open in Tokyo. She will next face seventh-seeded Agniezka Radwanska of Poland, who beat Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-2. The other semifinal will feature top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and Belinda Bencic of Switzerland. Earlier, Wozniacki overcame No. 5 Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 after saving five break points in the fifth game of the deciding set. Bencic defeated third-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain 7-6 (1), 6-1.
FOOTBALL
Teaff hospitalized
Former Baylor football coach Grant Teaff has been hospitalized after being diagnosed with blood clots in his lungs. Teaff, 81, the executive director of the American Football Coaches Association, was recovering Friday at Providence Health Center in Waco, Texas. AFCA spokesman Vince Thompson said Teaff was resting in the intensive care unit, being treated with blood thinners, and will remain hospitalized until the clots are gone. Teaff, the winningest coach in Baylor history, said Thursday that he drove himself to the hospital after blacking out Monday while walking to his car at his office near campus. He’s led the AFCA since 1994. Teaff was 128-105-6 with the Bears from 1972-1992.
MOTOR SPORTS
Busch crew chief back
The crew chief for Kurt Busch made it to New Hampshire for this weekend’s race days after he had an emergency appendectomy. Tony Gibson had surgery Tuesday and posted on his Facebook page “Who needs an appendix anyway????” He tweeted Friday morning that Busch sent his plane to Concord, N.C., to pick up Gibson. Gibson thanked Busch for the ride and said an extra day to heal helped. Busch and Gibson are in the hunt to win a championship for Stewart-Haas Racing. Busch has two victories this season and finished third last week at Chicagoland in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship opener. Busch won the championship in 2004. Gibson watched Friday’s practice from pit road.
HOCKEY
DA: Accuser’s mom lied
The prosecutor overseeing the sexual assault investigation of Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane said the accuser’s mother lied about finding an evidence bag in her doorway. Erie County, Ill., District Attorney Frank Sedita said during a news conference Friday that the mother was given the bag at a hospital when her daughter was examined, but it never contained a rape kit. Sedita said the mother was given the bag when the examining nurse learned that the accuser changed her top before going to the hospital. Sedita said the mother was to put the top in the bag and turn it into authorities, but never did. The woman’s former attorney, Thomas Eoannou, abruptly quit the case Thursday night, saying he didn’t believe the story about how the bag was found. Kane has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in her 20s at his waterfront mansion outside of Buffalo on Aug. 2. He has not been charged.
BOXING
Klitschko injured
Wladimir Klitschko has pulled out of his heavyweight bout against Tyson Fury because of a torn tendon in his left calf. Klitschko’s management group said the Ukrainian suffered the injury in training Thursday and won’t be fit in time for next month’s fight. Klitschko said in a statement that “I’m really very sorry that I can’t fight on Oct. 24,” and that “I’ll do everything I can to be fit again as quickly as possible.” Klitschko was due to defend his IBF, IBO, WBO and WBA belts against the British fighter in Duesseldorf, Germany.
BASEBALL
Commissioner meets with Rose
NEW YORK — Pete Rose has made his case for reinstatement with Commissioner Rob Manfred, who promised a decision by the end of December.
Major League Baseball said the meeting with the career hits leader and his representatives took place Thursday at baseball’s headquarters in New York.
“Commissioner Manfred informed Mr. Rose that he will make a decision on his application by the end of the calendar year,” MLB said in a statement.
Then Cincinnati’s manager, Rose agreed in 1989 to a lifetime ban from baseball after an investigation for MLB by lawyer John Dowd concluded that Rose bet on games involving the Reds while managing and playing.
Rose applied for reinstatement in September 1997 and met with Commissioner Bud Selig in November 2002, but Selig never ruled on Rose’s application. Manfred succeeded Selig in January, and Rose again applied to end the ban.
Ray Genco, Rose’s lawyer, declined comment.
Dowd is confident Manfred will turn down the application.
“I’m glad he met with him. I’m glad he heard him out,” Dowd said. “I think Rob’s a fair commissioner, and I have no doubt that he’ll do the right thing by the game. I’m not concerned.”
Rose, 74, repeatedly denied betting on baseball until in his 2004 autobiography, Pete Rose: My Prison Without Bars, he reversed his stand and acknowledged that he bet on the Reds while managing the team.
The Hall of Fame’s board of directors voted in 1991 to ban those on the permanently ineligible list from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot. Since Rose’s last year of BBWAA ballot eligibility would have been 2006, the impact of reinstatement on his Hall chances is not clear.