Federer wins to cap chaotic day at Open

Tennis: Roger Federer got another crack at Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a Grand Slam quarterfinal – and beat him. Now Novak Djokovic gets another shot at Federer.

Federer reached his eighth consecutive semifinal at the U.S. Open by beating Tsonga 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday night in a match delayed about 11/2 hours by rain in the first set.

Now Federer will face top-seeded Djokovic, who beat No. 20 Janko Tipsarevic 7-6, 6-7, 6-0, 3-0, at the U.S. Open for the fifth straight year; Federer is 3-1 so far. They met in the semifinals at this year’s French Open, where Federer ended Djokovic’s 43-match winning streak.

In other matches Thursday, No. 2 Rafael Nadal beat Gilles Muller in straight sets, No. 4 Andy Murray beat Donald Young and No. 21 Andy Roddick beat David Ferrer 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Roddick will play Nadal today and Murray will play No. 28 John Isner, who beat Gilles Simon in four sets.

For the women, top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki beat No. 10 Andrea Petkovic in straight sets and No. 28 Serena Williams beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets.

Because of postponements during the tournament, the women’s singles final will be played Sunday and the men’s on Monday.

NBA owners, union meet at critical time

Basketball: NBA Commissioner David Stern, union president Derek Fisher and their top advisers are spending more time talking about a new labor deal.

Next week, they’ll find out if they can make progress in a bigger group.

With negotiations at what Stern said is “getting to be an important time,” the two sides met for the second consecutive day, again for about 51/2 hours. They’ll return to the bargaining table Tuesday, this time with more players and owners, to try and find a way to end the league’s lockout and save the 2011-12 season.

Though Stern and leaders from the players’ association have said they like working in small numbers, the commissioner said they think it’s “a good idea to have larger group meetings at this point.”

“At some point, before you can try and make any attempt at any large progress, you have to involve all the respective members that are ultimately going to make the decisions, so we felt it was best to try to do that at this time and Tuesday we’ll give (it) a shot,” Fisher said.

• Sacramento issues arena financing plan: A task force established by Sacramento, Calif., Mayor Kevin Johnson recommended a rough plan to raise $400 million to build a downtown arena, a key step in the city’s efforts to keep the NBA’s Kings.

The plan announced by the Think Big Sacramento committee gives a menu of financing options to build an entertainment and sports complex near downtown, with the NBA franchise as the primary tenant.

The group proposes a three-way plan combining user fees with public money and private investment to generate $400 million without broad tax increases. The proposal also includes ideas about leasing city parking spaces to a private company, which could generate millions more.

The NBA has given Sacramento until March to come up with an arena financing plan or it will consider allowing the Kings to relocate, perhaps to Anaheim.

• Matchups set for Olympic qualifying semifinals: Brazil and Argentina won their final games in the second round of the Olympic basketball qualifying tournament for the Americas in Mar Del Plata, Argentina, setting the matchups for the deciding semifinals.

Brazil defeated Puerto Rico 94-72, while Argentina beat the Dominican Republic 84-58.

That set up Saturday’s semifinals where the winners secure berths for the London Olympics.

Brazil (6-1) faces the Dominican Republic (4-3) in one semifinal, while Argentina (6-1) meets Puerto Rico (5-2). The winners move to Sunday’s finals.

The United States won the world championship last year and has already qualified for the London Games.

Diaz and Penn to fight at UFC 137

MMA: A day after Nick Diaz got dropped from his UFC title shot against Georges St. Pierre, he’s getting another chance to fight at UFC 137.

UFC President Dana White said Diaz will fight B.J. Penn on the undercard at Mandalay Bay Events Center on Oct. 29.

Diaz was scheduled to fight St. Pierre for the UFC welterweight title, but White replaced him with Carlos Condit on Wednesday after Diaz refused to attend promotional news conferences in Toronto and Las Vegas this week.

Gavazzi wins 18th stage of Vuelta

Cycling: Francesco Gavazzi of Italy swept past his lone challenger to win the 18th stage of the Spanish Vuelta, and Juan Jose Cobo kept the overall lead in Noja, Spain.

Gavazzi hung close to the wheel of Kristof Vandewalle before going inside on the final stretch of a sprint finish, passing his Belgian opponent to win the 108.5-mile stage in 4 hours, 24 minutes, 42 seconds for Lampre-ISD.

The next seven cyclists all crossed seconds behind while the main group that included Cobo and his closest challenger, Christopher Froome of Britain, finished 7:42 back.

Cobo remained 13 seconds ahead of Froome.