In brief: Federer heeds advice to win in 2nd round

Tennis: Apparently, even Roger Federer, with his record 16 Grand Slam titles, was in need of some advice on a wet and windy Wednesday at the French Open in Paris.

Forced off court by two rain delays, and “pushed,” as he put it, by a player with a career record below .500, Federer turned to Swiss Davis Cup captain Severin Luthi for words of wisdom during the breaks. Told to be more aggressive early, then to use more drop shots late, Federer wound up with a 7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-4 victory over Alejandro Falla in the second round.

“Those were good things he told me,” said the top-ranked Federer, the French Open’s defending champion for the first time. “Those little details make a crucial difference.”

The defending women’s champion, sixth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, encountered quite a bit more trouble than Federer – she faced four match points in the second set against 41st-ranked Andrea Petkovic and was so distraught she whacked herself in the leg with her racket.

Petkovic made matters easier with unforced groundstroke errors on all four of those chances to win, though, and Kuznetsova eventually came all the way back for a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory – but not before wasting three match points of her own.

“I’m not really sure what happened,” Kuznetsova said. “I saw that she got tight.”

Also into the third round was No. 2 Venus Williams, who walloped one serve at 128 mph in a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Arantxa Parra Santonja, then effortlessly volleyed aside a series of questions about her lacy, black dress in the postmatch news conference.

It’s the same corset-like outfit – trimmed in bright red along the bodice – that Williams wore in her first-round match, and it’s garnered more attention than her play so far.

Other winners included No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki, No. 14 Flavia Pennetta, No. 15 Aravane Rezai, No. 19 Nadia Petrova and Williams’ next opponent, No. 26 Dominika Cibulkova, a semifinalist last year.

Men’s winners included No. 8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, No. 10 Marin Cilic, No. 11 Mikhail Youzhny, No. 15 Tomas Berdych and Federer’s next opponent, 165th-ranked qualifier Julian Reister.

Chargers’ Johnson signs 1-year tender

NFL: San Diego Chargers defensive end Travis Johnson signed his one-year contract tender for $1,226,000.

The Chargers placed a first-round tender on Johnson, a restricted free agent. Had Johnson signed an offer sheet with another team, San Diego would have the right to match the offer or receive a first-round draft pick as compensation for losing him.

The Chargers acquired Johnson on Aug. 31 from the Houston Texans for a draft pick.

Johnson was a first-round pick in 2005 but never lived up to expectations in Houston.

KU staff members accused of fraud

Miscellany: A half-dozen individuals intentionally diverted thousands of basketball and football tickets for personal profit, according to a University of Kansas report.

Five Kansas athletics staff members and a consultant sold or used at least 17,609 men’s basketball game tickets and 2,181 football game tickets as well as a number of parking passes and Arrowhead Club passes for personal purposes, the report said.

Forensic accountants calculated the value of the ticket losses at a total of about $1.03 million spread out over five years – from 2005-2010 – with indications that the diversions began years earlier.

Because the six individuals made efforts to hide their fraud, and the university’s investigators lack subpoena power, the accountants think it’s likely the losses could be as much as $3 million.

•Formula One race site obtained: Race promoters say they have secured a site and designer to build a track for the new Formula One United States Grand Prix to be run in Austin, Texas, beginning in 2012.

Tavo Hellmund, managing partner of Full Throttle Productions, wouldn’t disclose the location of the Austin-area site nor its price, but said it’s “more than 700 acres.”

Hellmund also said the German firm Tilke GmbH firm had been hired to design the venue. Tilke has built racetracks in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Shanghai and Istanbul among other cities.