OSAKA, Japan — Top-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia advanced to the second round of the Japan Open by beating Erika Sema of Japan 6-4, 6-2 on Monday.
Stosur advances
to 2nd round
at Japan Open
OSAKA, Japan — Top-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia advanced to the second round of the Japan Open by beating Erika Sema of Japan 6-4, 6-2 on Monday.
The ninth-ranked Stosur reached the semifinals of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo earlier this month and is seeking her first title of the year.
Chang Kai-chen of Taiwan defeated third-seeded Christina McHale of the United States 6-3, 7-6 (5), and American Jamie Hampton beat Ayumi Morita of Japan 6-3, 6-2.
Pauline Parmentier of France, Casey Dellacqua of Australia, Heather Watson of Britain and Misaki Doi of Japan also advanced to the second round.
Cilic, Querrey
advance to 2nd
round in Shanghai
SHANGHAI — Tenth-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia reached the second round of the Shanghai Masters on Monday with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Lukasz Kubot of Poland.
American Sam Querrey also advanced with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Chinese wild-card entry Li Zhe. The 22nd-ranked Querrey jumped out to a quick 5-2 lead in the first set, then won the final five games of the second to close out the match in just 59 minutes.
Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria beat Pablo Andujar of Spain 7-5, 6-3 to set up a meeting with second-seeded Novak Djokovic in the next round.
Also Monday, Tommy Robredo of Spain defeated qualifier Alex Bogomolov Jr. of Russia 7-6 (4), 6-4; Benoit Paire of France ousted qualifier Philipp Petzschner of Germany 7-6 (2), 6-4; and ninth-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain lost to 34-year-old Tommy Haas of Germany 4-6, 7-6 (4) 6-2.
Arvidsson beats Safarova
at Generali Ladies
LINZ, Austria — Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden rallied to beat fourth-seeded Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 Monday in the opening round of the Generali Ladies.
Arvidsson failed to serve out the match at 5-3, but broke the 18th-ranked Safarova again at 6-5 in the indoor hard-court event.
The Swede will next face another Czech, Lucie Hradecka, who beat Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain 6-3, 7-6 (5).
Also, Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands defeated Mona Barthel of Germany 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-1 after winning all of her service points in the decider. She hadn’t won a set against Barthel in their three previous matches.
Lawyers: Tennis ref passed polygraph
LOS ANGELES — Lawyers for a professional tennis referee charged in her husband’s death say she has passed a lie detector test in which she said she did not kill him with a coffee cup.
The attorneys for Lois Ann Goodman submitted the results to the district attorney’s office by email suggesting that prosecutors reevaluate the case and consider dismissing charges against the 70-year-old woman.
Redskins say RG3 ‘looks good’ after concussion
ASHBURN, Va. — Robert Griffin III felt good enough to attend something called a Rookie Success Program meeting Monday morning and seemed, by all accounts, to be doing just fine on the day after suffering his first NFL concussion.
Griffin still has to complete the league’s mandated return-to-play protocol before he’s cleared for practice, but his Washington Redskins teammates and coach Mike Shanahan were optimistic the Heisman Trophy winner will be able to play in this week’s game against the Minnesota Vikings.
Jozy Altidore
off US roster for WCup qualifiers
NEW YORK — Jozy Altidore was dropped Monday from the U.S. roster for critical World Cup qualifiers, and Landon Donovan was among the 24 players selected despite injuring his left knee last weekend.
Altidore has nine goals in 10 games this season for AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands and is tied for the Dutch league lead with eight goals, but had little impact during two qualifiers against Jamaica last month.
Polamalu out, Woodley doubtful
for Steelers
PITTSBURGH — Troy Polamalu’s comeback turned out to be just a cameo, and there’s no telling when the Pittsburgh Steelers safety will be back on the field.
One thing’s for certain, it won’t be on Thursday when the Steelers (2-2) travel to reeling Tennessee (1-4).
Coach Mike Tomlin ruled Polamalu out of the lineup this week after the All-Pro aggravated his strained right calf in the first quarter of a 16-14 win over Philadelphia on Sunday.
Polamalu was in pass coverage when he pulled up at the end of the play and hobbled to the sideline. He spent the rest of the half sitting on the bench with his calf iced and watched the second half in sweats.
Tomlin pointed to the quick turnaround between games and the nature of Polamalu’s injury as the reasons behind the decision. Polamalu missed two games last month after originally straining the calf in a loss to Denver in the season opener.
The coach is a little more optimistic that linebacker LaMarr Woodley can play despite a strained right hamstring. Woodley sat out six games and missed parts of two others with a similar injury last year but Tomlin believes this time it isn’t quite as serious.
Still, with less than 100 hours to get ready, Woodley looks doubtful.
Ashley Cole cited by FA for vulgar tweet
LONDON — The Football Association has charged Ashley Cole with misconduct after the England defender criticized the governing body in a vulgar Twitter post.
The Chelsea left back reacted angrily Friday after an FA commission questioned the evidence he gave in defending teammate John Terry against a racism charge.
An FA statement Monday says the charge is “in relation to a Twitter comment which was improper and/or brought the game into disrepute.”
By wire sources