Celtic handle 10-man Seattle in exhibition
Soccer: Georgios Samaras’ penalty and Patrick McCourt’s second-half goal gave Celtic FC a 2-1 exhibition win over the Seattle Sounders in Seattle.
Samaras came in on a counter in the 30th minute and goalkeeper Terry Boss tried to cut down the angle. He wound up tripping Samaras, who put the ball in the net anyway.
Referee Paul Ward blew for a penalty, though, and replacement keeper Jordan Jennings came on to watch Samaras sent his kick high into the net.
McCourt made it 2-0 early in the 64th minute on a through ball from Milan Misun down the left side. McCourt dribbled into the box and, from 16 yards away beat Jennings to the back right corner.
Rookie David Estrada got one back for Seattle when he sent a 22-yard strike from the right side of the box into the upper left corner in the 66th minute, just two minutes after coming on as a sub.
Estrada hit the crossbar in the first minute of second-half stoppage time with a 15-yarder from the right of the box.
Regular Sounders goalkeeper Kasey Keller, who tweaked his ankle in Thursday’s 1-0 victory at D.C. United, didn’t play.
Samaras, Celtic’s leading scorer last season with 12 goals (10 in the Scottish Premier League), also converted a penalty Friday night in a 3-1 exhibition loss to Manchester United in Toronto.
Blaise Nkufo of Switzerland debuted for the Sounders, nodding a header wide right in the 10th minute for his best chance before he was subbed in the 60th minute.
The former star of Twente in the Dutch league is expected to play his first MLS game Sunday at home against the Colorado Rapids.
Almagro defeats Soderling in Sweden
Tennis: Fourth-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain beat defending champion Robin Soderling 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 to win the clay-court Swedish Open final in Bastad, Sweden, and claim his first title of the year.
The 20th-ranked Almagro earned his sixth career title.
After losing the opening set, the top-seeded Soderling recovered to break Almagro early in the second and establish a 3-1 lead.
The fifth-ranked Swede clinched that set to force a third, but Almagro broke the two-time French Open finalist twice in a row to ease to victory.
• Montanes takes Mercedes Cup: Albert Montanes of Spain collected his second ATP title of the season after Gael Monfils retired from the Mercedes Cup final with an ankle injury.
The fifth-seeded Montanes was leading 6-2, 1-2 when the third-seeded Frenchman withdrew. Monfils had turned his right ankle in the final game of the first set.
• Kanepi beats Pennetta in Palermo final: Fifth-seeded Kaia Kanepi has defeated defending champion Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 6-3 in the final of the Palermo Open in Palermo, Italy.
World Series of Poker final table set
Poker: Kansas auto dealer Brandon Steven was eliminated at the World Series of Poker main event, leaving nine players to play at the final table in Las Vegas for $8.94 million and poker’s richest title.
The 36-year-old from Wichita finished in 10th place, winning $635,011.
Semenya wins easily again in Finland
Miscellany: Caster Semenya resumed her low-key return to competition, winning a second straight 800-meter race at Lapinlahti, Finland, in a time far slower than her world title run last August.
The South African cruised to victory at the Savo Games in her second race since was cleared to continue competing as a woman.
• Marshall dismisses Bembry: Marshall University defensive back DeQuan Bembry has been kicked off the school’s football team, some three months after his arrest outside a West Virginia bar.
Bembry was arrested in April as police cleared several Huntington bars because of fights.
• Capps ends winless streak: Funny Car driver Ron Capps ended a one-year winless streak with his victory at the 23rd annual NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. The other winners were Larry Dixon (Top Fuel), Jeg Coughlin (Pro Stock) and Michael Phillips (Pro Stock Motorcycle).