Querrey moves into 2nd round
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Third-seeded Sam Querrey moved into the second round of the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships when fellow American Michael Russell retired with a left leg injury with Querrey leading 6-2, 2-2 Monday night.
Russell, trailing 5-2 in the first set, had the trainer on the court to work on his leg.
Besides having to save one break point in the fourth game of the first set, Querrey played confident tennis throughout the 44 minutes he was on the court.
The biggest upset came from 62nd-ranked Ivan Dodig of Croatia, who beat fifth-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of the Ukraine 6-3, 6-3. Dolgopolov, who reached the Memphis quarterfinals last week, initially led 3-0 in the match.
From there, Dodig, a quarterfinalist here in 2011, reeled off nine straight games for a 6-3, 3-0 lead in the 57-minute match.
Eighth-seeded Xavier Malisse of Belgium, a two-time past champion here, won his first-round match over Alejandro Falla of Colombia 6-3, 6-3.
The 109th-ranked Ernests Gulbis of Latvia is the 2010 Delray Beach champion. This year, Gulbis has had to come through qualifying to reach the main draw this year.
Gulbis defeated Denys Molchanov of the Ukraine 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-4 to qualify on Monday.
Federer advances to 2nd round in Dubai
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Roger Federer rallied past Tunisian wild card Malek Jaziri 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 Tuesday to reach the second round of the Dubai Championships.
The second-ranked Federer is looking for his sixth title in Dubai. He next faces Albert Montanes or Marcel Granollers.
Seventh-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy swept aside Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 6-3, 7-5, and eighth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia came from behind to beat Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia 1-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Eagles release veteran DTs Jenkins, Patterson
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Eagles have released veteran defensive tackles Cullen Jenkins and Mike Patterson.
Jenkins signed a five-year, $30 million contract with the Eagles in 2011 and started every game the last two seasons. He was due to make $5.5 million this season, but rebuilding Philadelphia cut the 32-year-old Jenkins on Monday.
After spending the first seven seasons of his NFL career with Green Bay, Jenkins left for Philadelphia. He had 5 1/2 sacks in 2011 and four in 2012.
Patterson, the team’s longest-tenured player, spent eight seasons with the Eagles. A first-round draft pick in 2005 out of Southern California, the 29-year-old Patterson played in 115 games with 99 starts. He made 551 tackles and 16 1/2 sacks, and he had four forced fumbles and seven fumble recoveries.
ESPN selling British channels to BT Group
LONDON — ESPN is withdrawing from British and Irish television, announcing Monday that its channels are being sold to the BT Group.
The U.S. sports network increased operations in Britain in 2009 after capturing some domestic rights to show English Premier League matches.
But ESPN lost those rights, which were vital to attracting subscribers, for next season as BT joined BSkyB in showing Premier League games for the first time.
The sports rights currently held by ESPN will transfer to BT, with the deal expected to be completed by July 31. Financial details were not disclosed.
FIFA extends bans to 58 in Chinese fixing cases
ZURICH — FIFA has given worldwide bans to 58 soccer players and officials found guilty in Chinese match-fixing cases.
FIFA says it expelled 33 people from the game for life and 25 others will serve five-year bans for involvement in “domestic match-fixing and bribery.”
All those banned were previously sanctioned by the Chinese soccer association.
Life bans were imposed on referee Lu Jun, who officiated two 2002 World Cup matches, and four former Chinese national team players: Shen Si, Qi Hong, Jiang Jin and Li Ming.
FIFA says the sanctions follow investigations and trials conducted by law enforcement and soccer authorities from 2010-12.
FIFA says the fixed matches were played “in the 1990s and early 2000s.”
Maradona returns to Italy after 8-year tax exile
NAPLES, Italy — Diego Maradona returned to Italy on Monday in a bid to clear his name in a tax evasion case.
The 1986 World Cup winner with Argentina landed in Rome dressed in black and wearing dark glasses before heading straight to Naples, where he will hold a news conference Tuesday morning.
Maradona’s Italian debts of more than $50 million stem from alleged unpaid taxes during the time he played for Napoli from 1984-91, a period in which he helped the club win its only two Serie A titles.
His lawyer, Angelo Pisani, recently said his client won the dispute. But the collection agency issued a statement earlier this month saying it had not “annulled, declared extinct, nor modified” Maradona’s debts.
By wire sources
