In brief: Federer turns back clock at U.S. Open
Tennis: For one match at least, Roger Federer was back to his old self.
Back to beating Robin Soderling, and back to being a Grand Slam semifinalist – two things he used to do with such regularity.
Treating the whipping wind and his familiar foe as only slight nuisances, 16-time Grand Slam champion Federer served his way to a convincing 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 victory over the fifth-seeded Soderling in the U.S. Open quarterfinals Wednesday night in New York.
Federer will meet third-seeded Novak Djokovic in the semifinals for the third U.S. Open in a row. Federer is 3-0 in those matches.
All of the day’s matches were filled with wind that gusted at up to 30 mph, sending all sorts of debris – brown napkins; plastic bags; players’ towels – rolling on the court like tumbleweed, forcing points to be stopped and repeatedly making players catch their ball tosses.
About a half-dozen lets were called during top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki’s 6-2, 7-5 victory over 45th-ranked Dominika Cibulkova in the last women’s quarterfinal.
Bush says Heisman ‘out of my hands’
Football: Reggie Bush declined to go into any detail on what he knows about the status of his 2005 Heisman Trophy.
“At this point, it’s kind of out of my hands,” Bush said after practice with the New Orleans Saints in Metairie, La.
Bush said he could not “confirm or deny” whether he has met with anyone from the Heisman Trophy Trust and deferred comment to the trust when asked about a Yahoo! report that said he could be stripped of the award by the end of the month.
• Ingram likely won’t play: Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram is unlikely to play for No. 1 Alabama against No. 18 Penn State on Saturday.
Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said Ingram’s knee was “improving every day,” but he probably won’t play against the Nittany Lions (1-0).
Defending champion Spain knocked out
Men’s basketball: Serbia knocked defending champion Spain out of the world championship when Milos Teodosic made a 3-pointer with 3.1 seconds left for a 92-89 quarterfinal win in Istanbul, Turkey.
Spain erased an eight-point deficit in the final 4 minutes to tie it on Marc Gasol’s basket with 25 seconds remaining.
Serbia will face Turkey in the semifinals Saturday.
• Turkey romps past Slovenia: Ersan Ilyasova scored 19 points and undefeated Turkey hit 10 of 17 3-pointers in its 95-68 win over Slovenia in the world championship quarterfinals in Istanbul, Turkey.
Turkey will finish in the top four for the first time at a world championship.
Homestead-Miami off 2011 Indy schedule
Auto racing: Homestead-Miami Speedway is off the 2011 Indy Racing League schedule.
IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard confirmed that Homestead is not among the venues selected to host a race next year. Homestead was IRL’s traditional opening site for much of the past decade and will be where the final race of this year takes place on Oct. 2.
The IndyCar finale is expected to move to Las Vegas for 2011.
PRCA showcase event vacates Idaho
Miscellany: The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association is moving one of its showcase events from Idaho to Oklahoma City.
The PRCA announced that the 2011 Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo will be held at the State Fair Arena in Oklahoma City beginning on March 31. Pocatello had hosted the event since 1987.
• Another group backs cheerleading as sport: A second organization announced plans to create a new sport out of competitive cheerleading in an effort to get competitions officially recognized by the NCAA.
A week after USA Gymnastics announced it will sanction meets among the six schools that have had varsity competitive cheer teams, a competing plan was introduced by USA Cheer.
The governing body for cheerleading organizations said it is teaming with 15 colleges to create the sport of “stunt.” USA Gymnastics sanctioned events will be called “team acrobatics and tumbling.”