Sports in brief: Top-ranked Safina makes early exit
Tennis: Dinara Safina is out of the Rogers Cup.
The No. 1-ranked Russian fell 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 to Aravane Rezai of France in a second-round match Wednesday at the $2 million WTA Tour event in Toronto.
Safina’s loss came one day after No. 3 seed Venus Williams was upset by Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko.
Safina opened well but fell apart in the second set with six double faults and winning fewer than half of her points on serve. Safina finished with 17 double faults.
The 23-year-old was broken three straight times in the third and deciding set, slamming her racket to the ground after the final point.
Safina fought her emotions while trying to explain how the match got away.
“It’s my brain,” said Safina, who lost an opening match for the first time since February. “I know exactly what I have to do, but if I’m not using my brain, I’m not doing the things my coach is telling me. … (I’m) too disappointed with myself.”
Second-seeded Serena Williams cruised into the third round with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova.
The tournament lost another high seed when No. 8 Caroline Wozniacki fell 7-5, 6-3 to China’s Zheng Jie.
•Roddick upset at tournament: Andy Roddick has suffered a stunning upset only two weeks from the start of the U.S. Open.
Fellow American Sam Querrey matched the fifth-ranked Roddick shot for shot and made the biggest ones in a pair of tiebreakers, setting up a 7-6 (11), 7-6 (3) victory at the Cincinnati Masters in Mason, Ohio.
Kyle Busch wins trucks race
Auto racing: Kyle Busch pulled away from Matt Crafton in the closing laps to easily win the O’Reilly 200 truck series race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
Busch passed Jason White for the lead on lap 124 and then steadily pulled away from Crafton after the race’s final caution period on lap 175.
Driving the No. 51 Toyota for Billy Ballew, it was Busch’s second straight win at the .533-mile short track and his third victory of the season. He has 12 victories overall in the three NASCAR national touring series this season.
Ron Hornaday Jr. finished third to end his series-record winning streak at five.
His five wins coming into the race were the most in one of NASCAR’s three national series since Bobby Allison and Richard Petty each won five consecutive Sprint Cup races in 1971.
Four Cuban players seek asylum
Basketball: Four members of the Cuban national basketball team have requested political asylum in Spain.
The Cuban team played a friendly against Spain on Friday in the Canary Islands, and those four players failed to show up Monday when the Cubans were scheduled to leave, according to Antonio Ortega, an official with the Interior Ministry office in the islands.
The players are Georvis Elias Sayus, Grismay Paumier, Taylor Garcia and Geofry Silvestre.
On Wednesday the players made a preliminary request for asylum and they now have 30 days to formalize it, the official said. They remain in Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria.
•Mason won’t return: Free agent Desmond Mason will not be returning to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Mason’s agent, Roger Montgomery, confirmed that talks between the nine-year NBA veteran and the Thunder had broken down and the two sides wouldn’t be agreeing on a new contract.
Mason burst onto the scene as a rookie by winning the 2001 slam dunk contest as a member of the Seattle SuperSonics.
•Whalen rallies Sun past Liberty: Lindsay Whalen scored seven of her 20 points in the fourth quarter as the Connecticut Sun rallied to a 74-69 WNBA victory against the New York Liberty at Uncasville, Conn. Amber Holt had 12 points and Whalen also had 10 rebounds for the Sun, who came back from 17 points down in the first half and moved into a tie with Atlanta for second place in the Eastern Conference.
Raiders release fullback Neal
Football: The Oakland Raiders released veteran fullback Lorenzo Neal, ending his brief stay with the team. Neal, who signed with the Raiders in May, was expected to push Oren O’Neal and Luke Lawton for the starting fullback job but became expendable when O’Neal impressed Oakland’s coaching staff with his recovery from major knee surgery. Neal, 38, was trying to latch on with his eighth NFL team.
•Veteran Green released by Dolphins: Veteran cornerback Eric Green has been released by the Miami Dolphins, leaving rookies Sean Smith and Vontae Davis to contend for a starting job. He signed with Miami as an unrestricted free agent in March after four seasons with Arizona.