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Blake on course in Stockholm tourney

By TIMES WIRES
Published October 13, 2006

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Defending champion James Blake reached the quarterfinals at the Stockholm Open, defeating Simon Greul 6-3, 6-2 Thursday.

The second seed faces Olivier Rochus, the sixth-seeded Belgian whom he beat last year.

"I have good memories of the last two times I played him," said Blake, a Tampa resident. "But he's an excellent player."

John McEnroe returned to the Royal Tennis Hall - 21 years after his fourth and last singles title in the Swedish capital - and teamed with Jonas Bjorkman to beat Andreas Vinciguerra and Johan Landsberg 6-3, 6-2 in a first-round match.

"It's nice to be back," said McEnroe, who has fond memories of the small hall that was built in the 1930s and is the oldest arena on the ATP Tour built for tennis.

BA-CA TROPHY: Andy Roddick rebounded from a tough first set to beat Richard Gasquet 6-7 (7-5), 6-1, 6-3 and advance to the quarterfinals in Vienna, Austria. Second-seeded David Nalbandian had a far easier time, defeating Oliver Marach 6-2, 6-3. Roddick looked annoyed near the end of the first set after repeated disputes with the umpire about line calls. In the tiebreaker, Roddick dropped a decisive point when a man in the crowd shouted during a second serve.

KREMLIN CUP: Top seed Amelie Mauresmo held on to beat Elena Vesnina 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in Moscow and reach the quarterfinals.

CLIJSTERS TO RETURN: Kim Clijsters has resumed practicing after a two-month wrist injury and expects to return at her home tournament in France this month.

YOUTH BASEBALL

Beaning gets parent prison

A youth coach in Uniontown, Pa., accused of offering an 8-year-old money to bean an autistic teammate so he couldn't play was sentenced to one to six years in prison.

Fayette County Judge Ralph Warman sentenced 29-year-old Mark R. Downs Jr. of Dunbar, Pa., to consecutive six- to 36-month sentences for corruption of minors and criminal solicitation to commit simple assault. A jury convicted Downs in September.

Warman revoked Downs' bond and sent him to prison.

Downs didn't speak at the sentencing but told reporters "I didn't do nothing" as he was led out of the courtroom.

Authorities said Downs offered to pay one of his players $25 to hit Harry Bowers, a mildly autistic teammate, with a ball while warming up before a June 2005 playoff game. Prosecutors said Downs wanted the 9-year-old out of the game, because the boy didn't play as well as his teammates.

Player Keith Reese Jr. said he purposely threw a ball that hit Bowers in the groin and another that hit Bowers in the ear, on Downs' instructions. Downs denied offering to pay Reese to hurt Bowers.

LITTLE LEAGUE: Pitchers in the World Series will be held to a pitch count similar to the limit used during the regular season.

ET CETERA

CYCLING: The Italian Olympic Committee recommended that doping accusations be dropped against Giro d'Italia champion Ivan Basso, one of nine riders barred from this summer's Tour de France. The committee's anti-doping commission said it will make the recommendation to the disciplinary body of the Italian Cycling Federation.

SOCCER: Despite ending his career with an infamous head-butt in the World Cup final, Zinedine Zidane was nominated for the FIFA World Player of the Year award. The world governing body of the sport released its list of 30 men in contention for the award (List, 13C).

OLYMPICS: The president of the French Olympic Committee was convicted on corruption charges and received a three-month suspended sentence. Henri Serandour, also an International Olympic Committee member, was accused of giving two lucrative jobs to a communications company that had hired his wife, former swimmer Catherine Poirot.

RUNNING: Kenya's Felix Limo, winner of the 2005 Chicago Marathon, withdrew from this month's race because of lower back pain. Limo also won the London Marathon in April and was considered a favorite for the Oct. 22 run in Chicago. He won last year in 2 hours, 7 minutes, 2 seconds.

Compiled from Times wires.

[Last modified October 13, 2006, 06:08:17]