Williams cruises; Errani implodes
Tennis: No. 1 seed Serena Williams, seeking her 17th Grand Slam title and second straight at Flushing Meadows in New York, brushed off an ungainly slide onto her backside en route to a typically easy second-round victory, 6-3, 6-0 over Galina Voskoboeva in half-full Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Earlier, No. 4 Sara Errani imploded in a 6-3, 6-1 loss to her Italian teammate, 83rd-ranked Flavia Pennetta.
• Also on Thursday: No. 2 Rafael Nadal improved to 17-0 on hard courts this season with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 victory over qualifier Rogerio Dutra Silva. … No. 4 seed David Ferrer overcame an error-filled second-set tiebreaker to top Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-2. … Second-seeded Victoria Azarenka defeated Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-3, 6-1. … Sixth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki beat Chanelle Scheepers 6-1, 6-2 to open the night session. … Bob and Mike Bryan opened their pursuit of the first men’s doubles Grand Slam of the Open era with a straight-sets win against Federico Delbonis and Leonardo Mayer of Argentina 7-6 (1), 6-2.
Storm outshine Sun
WNBA: Tina Thompson and Camille Little each scored 18 points and the Seattle Storm beat the Connecticut Sun 78-65 to tie Phoenix for third place in the Western Conference,
Seattle improved to 15-14 to reduce its magic number to clinch a WNBA-record 10th straight playoff berth to one.
Hawks coach arrested
NBA: Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer has been arrested and charged with driving under the influence in Atlanta.
Atlanta City Jail spokeswoman Ashanti Moore said that Budenholzer had been released on bond.
• Suns deal Butler to Bucks: Phoenix has traded small forward Caron Butler to the Milwaukee Bucks for point guard Ish Smith and center Viacheslav Kravstov.
U.S. volleyball falls to Serbia
Miscellany: The U.S. women’s national volleyball team lost to Serbia 25-23, 20-25, 25-18, 25-23 in the second day of the FIVB World Grand Prix in Sapporo, Japan.
Team USA, which fell to 0-2, faces China today.
• Phatlum leads Safeway Classic: Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum shot an 8-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead over Lexi Thompson after the first round of the Safeway Classic in Portland, Ore.
The 23-year-old Phatlum had 10 birdies and two bogeys.
Wendy Ward of Edwall, Wash., shot a 1-under 71.
• Morkov takes Vuelta 6th stage: Michael Morkov of Denmark won the sixth stage of the Spanish Vuelta, while Vincenzo Nibali of Italy maintained the overall lead.
The 28-year-old Morkov, riding for SaxoBank-Tinkoff, finished with a winning time of 3 hours, 54 minutes, 15 seconds in Caceres, Spain.