BASEL, Switzerland — Roger Federer eased to victory in the first round of his hometown Swiss Indoors event on Monday, beating Germany’s Benjamin Becker 7-5, 6-3.
Roger Federer wins in
1st round at Swiss Indoors
BASEL, Switzerland — Roger Federer eased to victory in the first round of his hometown Swiss Indoors event on Monday, beating Germany’s Benjamin Becker 7-5, 6-3.
Federer, the defending champion who is seeking his sixth Basel title in seven years, served 10 aces against the 83rd-ranked qualifier.
The top-ranked Swiss is heavily favored to claim his seventh title this year after U.S. Open champion Andy Murray pulled out with a back injury on Friday. The Briton’s withdrawal elevated Juan Martin del Porto of Argentina to No. 2 seed.
In other matches, third-seeded Richard Gasquet of France rallied past Robin Haase of the Netherlands 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Julien Benneteau of France beat Russia’s Andrey Kuznetzov 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; and Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot defeated Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 6-4, 6-4.
Hewitt beats Monaco
in 1st round at Valencia Open
VALENCIA, Spain — Former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt beat Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round of the Valencia Open on Monday, ending a 10-match losing run against top-10 opponents.
The Australian wild-card entry broke the 10th-ranked Monaco twice in the opening set and three times in the second at the indoor hard-court tournament. The loss makes it difficult for the Argentine to qualify for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Hewitt will next face Ivan Dodig after the Croatian qualifier beat Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-2, 7-6 (6).
John Isner outlasted Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-5, helping the American remain in the hunt for a spot at the World Tour Finals. The 11th-ranked Isner will face Albert Ramos of Spain, who beat Rajeev Ram of the United States 6-3, 6-3.
Fernando Verdasco beat Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-4 in an all-Spanish match and will play Marin Cilic of Croatia. David Goffin of Belgium beat Pablo Andujar of Spain 6-2, 6-2.
Azarenka looks to seal
No. 1 spot at WTA finale
Serena Williams returns to the WTA Championships with the Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles, plus the Olympic gold medal, yet with no chance of finishing the year as the No. 1 in the world.
Williams has not played since beating top-ranked Victoria Azarenka in the U.S. Open final in September, and her sparse schedule is one of the reasons she won’t have a chance of overtaking the Belarusian despite dominating the major events in the second half of the year.
Azarenka needs only two wins in the elite, eight-player WTA Championships in Istanbul to end 2012 as No. 1.
Williams and Azarenka have been drawn into the same round-robin group. Play starts today.
Panthers GM Hurney
fired after team’s 1-5 start
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Marty Hurney was fired Monday as general manager of the Carolina Panthers, who are off to a 1-5 start and have not made the playoffs since 2008.
Brandon Beane, the team’s director of football operations, will serve as interim general manager, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the move has not been announced.
The Panthers have the worst record in the NFC in a season that began with big expectations. The dismissal came a day after a 19-14 loss to Dallas.
Hurney, the GM since 2002, took responsibility for the team’s failures.
Fighting Sioux sign
coming down at North Dakota
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Workers are removing the Fighting Sioux sign from outside North Dakota’s hockey arena after a years-long fight with the NCAA.
Large white letters reading “Home of the Fighting Sioux” were being taken down Monday at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks.
It’s one of six signs that must be removed under an agreement with the NCAA in a decades-old controversy about whether the school’s nickname and logo were insensitive to local American Indian tribes. The logo depicts an American Indian warrior.
Arena spokesman Chris Semrau told The Grand Forks Herald that removing the sign will take most of the week. It’ll be replaced next month with one reading “Home of North Dakota Hockey.”
But many other harder-to-remove logos will remain, including a 10-foot sketch in the hockey arena’s granite floor.
Padres to move in
portion of Petco’s fences
SAN DIEGO — The vast outfield at Petco Park will no longer be a place where long fly balls go to die.
The San Diego Padres said Monday that work will begin this week to bring in the fences in right field and left-center, and to move the visitor’s bullpen from right-field foul territory to behind the home bullpen beyond the fence in left-center.
From the right-field porch to the right-center gap, the fence will be moved in from 402 feet to 391 feet and lowered to match the rest of the outfield wall. The out-of-town scoreboard on the right-field wall will be relocated to a new spot above right field as part of seating modifications.
In left-center, the fence will be moved in from 402 feet to 390 feet to allow for the visiting team’s bullpen to be relocated, mostly for safety issues.
By wire sources