Sports News
May 10, 2008Here are the sports results from Friday:
ISTANBUL, Turkey - Felipe Massa of Ferrari won pole position for the Turkish Grand Prix for the third straight year Saturday.
The two-time defending race champion will start first on the grid for Sunday's race at the Istanbul Speed Park after clocking a best lap time of 1 minute, 27.617 seconds.
PITTSBURGH - The Philadelphia Flyers took out the Montreal Canadiens in the second round the NHL playoffs with a bend-don't-break style that frustrated the Habs to no end.
Outshot and outchanced in most of that series, the Flyers still prevailed in a short, five-game set in large part because goalie Martin Biron was terrific and the Canadiens couldn't finish.
ROME - Andy Roddick and Radek Stepanek retired from semifinal matches at the Rome Masters on Saturday, setting up a final between Stanislas Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic.
Roddick pulled out with a back problem after falling behind 3-0 in the first set against Wawrinka.
BERLIN - Elena Dementieva beat second-ranked Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 7-5 on Saturday to reach the final of the upset-filled German Open.
In Sunday's final, the ninth-ranked Dementieva will face fellow Russian and 17th-ranked Dinara Safina, who beat 18-year-old Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-4, 6-1.
QUEBEC - Vitali Koval is an unknown no more at the IIHF World Hockey Championship.
The Belarusian netminder shed the "little-known" tag with a 52-save performance in which he nearly carried his upstart Belarus team to victory over a heavily favoured Russian squad before narrowly losing 4-3 in a shootout on Friday.
HALIFAX - The year was 1999 and Dany Heatley had a decision to make.
He wasn't invited to the evaluation camp for Canada's world junior team when the German federation called and tried to convince him to join their program instead. "We asked the question years ago when Dany wasn't at the U-20," German GM Franz Reindl said Friday. "He was not selected. We talked. We tried. We negotiated.
CLEVELAND - Casey Blake delivered again in the clutch for the Cleveland Indians, this time breaking up a duel between Cy Young Award winners.
Blake hit a go-ahead, two-run double in a six-run seventh inning to help C.C. Sabathia and the Indians defeat Roy Halladay and the Toronto Blue Jays 6-1 on Friday night.
It doesn't matter who is pitching for the slumping San Diego Padres - they can't catch a break.
Garrett Atkins and Brad Hawpe hit consecutive bases-loaded singles off NL Cy Young Award winner Jake Peavy in the sixth inning Friday night and the Colorado Rockies won 4-2 to send the Padres to their 18th loss in 22 games.
MIAMI - Three more Canadians booked their ticket to the Olympic Games in Beijing, with two winning medals at the Pan American judo championships.
Frazer Will of Star City, Sask., Sasha Mehmedovic of North York, Ont., and Nicholas Tritton of Perth, Ont., each qualified Friday for the Olympic Games.
OSAKA, Japan - World record holder Liu Xiang of China coasted to victory in the 110-metre hurdles on Saturday at the Osaka Grand Prix, his first outdoor race of the season.
Running in rainy and cold conditions at Nagai Stadium, reigning Olympic gold medallist and world champion Liu clocked a time of 13.19 seconds to finish well ahead of compatriot Shi Dongpeng, who had a time of 13.63.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - Kenny Perry went to the PGA Tour's weekly Bible study in the home of Fred Funk, and if the message was about storing up treasures in heaven, the 47-year-old Perry found inspiration from a more tangible prize.
Three years ago, Funk won The Players Championship at 48, making him the oldest winner of this prestigious event. Perry snooped around the house and found the crystal trophy, rubbing his hands on it.
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Lorena Ochoa started with a birdie, pulling her even with Annika Sorenstam, the playing partner she replaced as the No. 1 female golfer in the world.
Two holes later, Sorenstam answered. And then again at the par-4 16th, rolling in a birdie putt from about eight feet away after Ochoa briefly drew even with a tap-in from an inch.
SALT LAKE CITY - So much for Carlos Boozer's slump and the Lakers' unbeaten run through the playoffs.
Boozer scored 27 points and tied a career playoff-high with 20 rebounds to lead Utah to a 104-99 victory Friday night, cutting Los Angeles' lead in the Western Conference semifinals to 2-1.
ENOCH, Alta. - Edmonton welterweight Ryan (The Real Deal) Ford choked out C.J. Fernandes in the first round Friday night to improve to 6-0 at MFC 16: Anger Management at the River Cree Resort and Casino.
The win earned Ford a shot in July at the vacant Maximum Fighting Championship 170-pound title.
PITTSBURGH - Daniel Briere is making May hockey a habit. But what he'd really like is to finally play a series in June.
The Philadelphia Flyers centre is playing in the NHL's Eastern Conference final for a third straight season. This time, he's looking for a different ending after being on the losing end with the Buffalo Sabres in 2005-06 and '06-07. Several days from now, he's hoping to be shaking the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins with a smile on his face.
Canada has faced its American foe 41 times on the women's soccer pitch, and has come away with just four wins to boast.
The Canadians face a tough test once again when they battle the U.S. Saturday in an international friendly at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. But as head coach Even Pellerud points out, win or not, with his team's sights set on the Beijing Olympics, the Canadians can't lose from learning against the best.
Canadian international Paul Stalteri has been at the top of the table during his time in Germany with Werder Bremen. Now the veteran fullback is looking to help Fulham from sliding out of the English Premiership.
Fulham (33 points), Reading (33) and Birmingham (32) are all battling to avoid going down. Two of the three will join already relegated Derby (11 points) in the drop after the final round of games Sunday.
