Sports 2000

The first four rounds of the Wimbledon’s women’s singles draw offered a lot of upsets. However, order was restored during today’s quarterfinals. The top four seeds–Dinara Safina, Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Elena Dementieva–all won. Only Safina dropped a set Tuesday. Safina will face Venus in one semifinal Thursday while Serena battles Dementieva in the other semifinal.

The men’s quarterfinals are set for Wednesday. Andy Roddick and Andy Murray won fourth-round matches late Monday to advance to the last eight.

Yao Ming’s broken foot is not healing as quickly as expected, leading to speculation Houston’s perennial All-Star center may miss the entire 2009-10 season. The Rockets’ team doctor thinks the injury is possibly career-threatening. Houston already knew it will not have All-Star forward Tracy McGrady at the start of next season. McGrady is recovering from microfracture surgery.

Detroit fired Coach Michael Curry today after one season. The Pistons finished 39-43 last year, then were swept by Cleveland in the first round of the NBA playoffs. Detroit’s streak of six consecutive years in the Eastern Conference finals was ended. Coaches-turned-commentators Doug Collins and Avery Johnson are among the rumored candidates to replace Curry, who had never held a head coaching position before taking the Detroit job 12 months ago.

Serena and Venus Williams each stormed to the Wimbledon quarterfinals today after easy fourth-round victories. Serena defeated Daniela Hantuchova, 6-3, 6-1. Venus beat Ana Ivanovic, 6-1, 0-1, before Ivanovic retired due to injury.

There were two upsets Monday. Francesca Schiavone defeated 26th-seed Virginie Razzano, 6-2, 7-6 (1). Sabine Lisicki bounced ninth-seed Caroline Wozniacki, 6-4, 6-4.

In other matches today, Dinara Safina rallied past former Wimbledon champ Amelie Mauresmo, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Elena Dementieva humbled Elena Vesnina, 6-1, 6-3. Victoria Azarenka edged Nadia Petrova, 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-3. Agnieszka Radwanska upended American upstart Melanie Oudin, 6-4, 7-5.

In tomorrow’s quarterfinals, Safina will face Lisicki and Venus will oppose Radwanska. In the other half, Dementieva meets Schiavone and Serena plays Azarenka.

On the men’s side, Roger Federer defeated Robin Soderling, 6-4, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). Novak Djokovic crushed Dudi Sela, 6-2, 6-4, 6-1. Tommy Haas beat Igor Andreev, 7-6 (8), 6-4, 6-4.

There were three upsets. Ivo Karlovic, the 22nd seed, upended seventh-seed Fernando Verdasco 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-6 (9). Juan Carlos Ferrero dispatched eighth-seed Gilles Simon, 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2. Lleyton Hewitt rallied past 23rd seed Radek Stepanek, 4-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.

Mid-afternoon rain delayed the start of two matches. They are still playing at 8 p.m. local time. Andy Roddick leads Tomas Berdych, 7-6 (4), 6-4. Stanislas Wawrinka is ahead of Andy Murray, 6-2, 3-4.

The men’s quarterfinals will be Wednesday. The bottom half of the bracket is set. Djokovic battles Haas while Federer faces Karlovic. In the top half, Hewitt will play either Roddick or Berdych. Ferrero will meet the Murray-Wawrinka winner.

Brazil won the FIFA Confederations Cup Sunday by rallying past the United States, 3-2. Brazil overcame a 2-0 halftime deficit to emerge victorous. Spain outlasted South Africa, 3-2, in overtime to win the third-place match.

Kenny Perry won the PGA Tour event outside Hartford. Jiyai Shin won the LPGA tournament in Rochester. Nick Dougherty’s final-round 64 lifted him to a one-shot win in Munich. Lonnie Nielsen fired a 63 today to win the Champions Tour in Endicott, New York.

Joey Logano became the youngest-ever driver to win a NASCAR Cup race today in New Hampshire. Logano was leading after 273 of the scheduled 301 laps when rain ended the rain prematurely. Scott Dixon won the IndyCar race in Richmond Saturday night.