Briefly
Roddick sticks around, Davenport beats Karatantcheva at Indian Wells
Andy Roddick survived a scare in his opening match Saturday at the Pacific Life Open, winning a third-set tiebreaker to beat Fernando Verdasco at Indian Wells, Calif.
Roddick, ranked No. 3 in the world to Verdasco’s No. 45, had difficulty both getting his first serve in and keeping his ground strokes on the court in the second set against the hard-hitting left-hander from Spain.
With the match on the line, however, Roddick dominated the tiebreaker to finish with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (2) victory.
Roddick said he just “stayed around” and was able to come up with good shots when he most needed them.
“I think that’s the biggest thing that separates the people in the top 10 and some of the guys 40 and 50 in the world, is that we kind of try to find a way to win even if we don’t have our best stuff,” Roddick said.
Jan-Michael Gambill of Colbert lost his first-round match to Mardy Fish 6-2, 6-2.
On the women’s side of the tournament, No. 1 Lindsay Davenport opened with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Sesil Karatantcheva, a 15-year-old from Bulgaria.
Davenport has been a regular in finals at Indian Wells, winning the title in 1997 and 2000.
In another second-round match, Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova defeated Angela Hayes 6-2, 6-2.
Boxing
Beyer keeps title against Green
Markus Beyer almost went down in the last round before retaining his WBC super middleweight title over Australia’s Danny Green with a narrow decision at Zwickau, Germany.
The German appeared to have the fight under control until he was suddenly caught flush in the 12th round by Green’s left uppercut, setting off a furious end.
Beyer was hit hard several times and staggered into the ropes. Green kept swinging wildly while chasing him and tangled himself in the ropes.
Beyer took a standing count, covered up, and survived the round.
The fight was ruled 114-113, 115-112 and 114-114 for the German, whose record improved to 32-2.
Cycling
Dutchman takes sixth stage of race
Joost Posthuma of the Netherlands won the sixth stage of the Paris-Nice cycling race at Cannes, France, and American Bobby Julich retained the overall lead.
Posthuma crossed the line alone after the 114-mile ride from La Crau to Cannes in 4 hours, 41 minutes, 24 seconds. Jorg Ludewig of Germany was second, 1:11 behind, and Aaron Kemps of Australia placed third, 1:43 behind.
Julich, who gained the leader’s yellow-and-white jersey Friday, finished 18th in a pack that was 4:02 behind. He holds a 19-second lead over Constantino Zaballo in the overall standings.
Hockey
Nordstrom barred from two games
Former NHL player Peter Nordstrom was suspended for two games by the Swedish Elite League on Saturday for cross-checking superstar Peter Forsberg in a playoff game.
Nordstrom, formerly of the Boston Bruins, was ejected from the game and fined $900 by the league.
Forsberg, the Most Valuable Player with the Colorado Avalanche in 2003 and a seven-time NHL All-Star, sustained a slight concussion while playing for MoDo on Thursday night. He didn’t play Saturday in Game 5 of the quarterfinal series against Farjestad, but MoDo still won 1-0.
Olympics
IOC panel wraps up Tour de Paris
Having gazed at the Eiffel Tower and dined at the presidential palace, International Olympic Committee inspectors ended their tour of Paris with a more modest day of sightseeing – a Metro subway ride and a trip to the suburbs to evaluate public transit.
Massive labor strikes earlier threatened to complicate the four-day visit, but the disruption did nothing to diminish Paris’ front-runner status to host the 2012 Summer Games.