Times wires
Friday, March 4, 2011
Tennis
U.S., chile split first two davis cup matches
SANTIAGO, Chile — Tampa resident John Isner played another long match Friday. This one, however, he lost.
Isner, who last year won the longest match ever at Wimbledon, fell to Paul Capdeville 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, leaving the United States tied at 1 in its first-round Davis Cup match against Chile. Earlier, Andy Roddick beat Nicolas Massu 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Capdeville, ranked No. 165, had the only break of the 4-hour, 21-minute match, on the next-to-last game.
"I didn't play the big points well," said the No. 32 Isner, who beat Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set after 11 hours, 5 minutes over two days at Wimbledon.
Roddick, No. 8, had little trouble with the No. 241 Massu in his first Davis Cup match since 2009.
"It was fun to get out there and battle again," he said.
Wesley Chapel residents Bob and Mike Bryan face Massu and Jorge Aguilar today.
More Davis Cup: Rafael Nadal, in his first match since injuring his left thigh at the Australian Open, beat Ruben Bemelmans 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 as visiting Spain took a 2-0 lead over Belgium.
Boxing
Title fight remains on
Mexico's Saul Alvarez, 20, will fight Matthew Hatton for the vacant WBC super welterweight title tonight in Anaheim, Calif., despite not making weight. Alvarez (35-0-1, 26 knockouts) came in about 2 pounds over the 150-pound limit. Given an extra two hours, he lost only about a half-pound. But Hatton, (41-4-2, 16 knockouts), brother of former 140-pound champion Ricky Hatton, agreed to fight in exchange for an undisclosed financial penalty.
Soccer
Ronaldo out 10-15 days
Forward Cristiano Ronaldo could miss the second leg of Real Madrid's Champions League round of 16 matchup against Lyon with an unspecified leg injury sustained in a league game Thursday. The team said he's out 10-15 days. Madrid earned a 1-1 tie at Lyon in the first leg. The second is March 16.
U.S. women: Lindsay Tarpley and Carli Lloyd scored in a 2-0 win over Norway that clinched a spot in the Algarve Cup final in Portugal. Wednesday's opponent hasn't been set.
Et cetera
Swimming: Michael Phelps won his third gold in three events at the Indianapolis Grand Prix. A day after posting the world's fastest times in 2011 in the 200-meter free and 100 fly, he did the same in the 200 fly, 1 minute, 55.34 seconds. Today, he is set for the 200 individual medley and 100 free.
Bowling: Clermont's Jason Couch and hometown star Ryan Ciminelli earned the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds, respectively, for Sunday's finals of the PBA Mark Roth Plastic Ball Championship in Cheektowaga, N.Y. Parker Bohn and Tom Smallwood also qualified.
Times wires