QUEBEC CITY — Third-seeded Mona Barthel of Germany advanced to the Bell Challenge semifinals Friday, beating sixth-seeded Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4.
Mona Barthel advances
to Bell Challenge semifinals
QUEBEC CITY — Third-seeded Mona Barthel of Germany advanced to the Bell Challenge semifinals Friday, beating sixth-seeded Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4.
Barthel will face Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens today. Flipkens led Anna Tatishvili 6-2, 3-0 when the Georgian player retired because of a back injury.
In the other quarterfinals, French qualifier Kristina Mladenovic routed American Melanie Oudin 6-0, 6-1, and eighth-seeded Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic beat American qualifier Lauren Davis 6-4, 6-2.
Croatian teen Vekic
makes WTA final in Tashkent
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan — Sixteen-year-old Donna Vekic of Croatia reached her first WTA final by beating Eva Birnerova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 in the Tashkent Open on Friday, becoming the youngest player in six years to play a title match.
Vekic will face Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania, who upset second-seeded Urszula Radwanska 6-3, 6-3. Radwanska was the last remaining seed in the tournament.
Joe Paterno staying
in Brown U. Hall of Fame
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Joe Paterno will remain in Brown University’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
The Ivy League university announced Friday that an independent board that oversees the hall has voted not to remove the late Penn State football coach, who graduated from Brown in 1950.
In July, Brown announced it had removed Paterno’s name from its head football coaching position and a student athletics award and that the board was examining his inclusion in the hall of fame.
NHL, union have contact,
but no talks scheduled
NEW YORK — The NHL seemed headed for another lockout Friday as neither team owners nor players showed interest in getting back to contract negotiations a day before the old labor deal was set to expire.
Brief conversations late Thursday and Friday between leaders on the two sides failed to spur more formal talks — in fact, the idea of restarting negotiations didn’t even come up.
The current collective bargaining agreement that ended the season-long lockout in 2005 expires at midnight EDT today, and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has said a lockout would kick in immediately if a new deal hasn’t been reached.
By wire sources