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Knee sidelines No. 2 player

By TIMES WIRES
Published September 20, 2006

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Justine Henin-Hardenne might be sidelined until the tour's season-ending championships in November because of a knee injury that forced her to quit during the decisive match of the Fed Cup final.

Henin-Hardenne, the French Open champion who is ranked No. 2, pulled out of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, early next month and is doubtful for the Zurich Open beginning Oct. 16. The WTA Tour Championships in Madrid, Spain, start Nov. 7.

The Belgian star, who made it to the final of all four majors this year, tore a knee muscle Sunday during the third set of doubles in the title match against Italy.

SUNFEAST OPEN: Three seeded players - No. 2 Karolina Sprem of Croatia, No. 3 Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine and No. 8 Anastasia Rodionova of Russia - lost in the first round Tuesday in Calcutta, India. Abigail Spears of the U.S. was among those advancing to the second round.

CHINA OPEN: Li Na defeated Vera Dushevina 6-3, 6-4 to reach the second round in Beijing.

SLOVENIA OPEN: Top-seeded Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia lost in the first round in Portoroz, beaten 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 by Martina Sucha of Slovakia. Defending champion Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic also lost.

AUTO RACING

IRL eyes Daytona

The Indy Racing League will switch its race at Kansas Speedway from July to late April next year as a buildup to the start of practice for the Indianapolis 500.

The July slot vacated by Kansas will be used for a road race at Watkins Glen, and a feasibility test scheduled for next week could produce an IRL race at Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR's most famous track, league president Brian Barnhart said.

The IRL released a partial schedule for next season with nine races. At least seven more are expected to be announced within the next two weeks.

Barnhart said the Ganassi, Andretti, Penske and Panther teams will test at Daytona on Sept. 26-27 to determine whether the track is suitable as a permanent IRL test site. If that works out, he said, a race at the high-banked NASCAR track would get serious consideration.

"Ultimately, I don't think we want to be looking at a facility just as a test facility," Barnhart said. "If things go well in the first year of testing, then I would hope the league and the facility would have an eye toward racing there in the future."

ET CETERA

NBA: A federal agency found probable cause to believe a hostile work environment existed at Madison Square Garden, where a former Knicks executive claims she was sexually harassed by New York coach Isiah Thomas. The treatment of senior Knicks executive Anucha Browne Sanders was not an isolated incident and included "severe and pervasive verbal sexual harassment," according to the findings by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

BOXING: Laila Ali, the daughter Muhammad Ali, will make her debut 35 years after her father lost to "Smokin" Joe Frazier at Madison Square Garden. She'll be on the Nov. 11 undercard of the IBF heavyweight bout between champion Wladimir Klitschko and undefeated Calvin Brock. Ali's opponent will be determined soon.

GOLF: Paul Simson, Bill Leonard and 2004 champion Mark Bemowski each won two matches to advance to the third round of the USGA Senior Amateur at Victoria National Golf Club in Newburgh, Ind.

TRACK AND FIELD: A key organizer of the Turin Olympics urged IAAF president Lamine Diack to resign, saying track and field is "gravely ill, maybe dying" and in need of new leadership.

SOCCER: The New York Red Bulls broke ground on a $140-million stadium in Harrison, N.J., scheduled to open in July 2008.

Compiled from Times wires.

[Last modified September 20, 2006, 01:48:30]