TENNIS
Nadal advances; Serena out
Defending champion Rafael Nadal gave his clay court doldrums a boost by reaching the Madrid Open semifinals Friday with a dominant performance against Thomas Berdych. In the women’s tournament, two-time defending champion Serena Williams withdrew with a leg injury, while Maria Sharapova ousted Li Na in the quarterfinals. The topranked Nadal had lost his previous two quarterfinal matches on clay for his worst run on the surface in a decade. Buoyed on by a partisan crowd, Nadal overpowered Berdych 6-4, 6-2 to advance at the Magic Box. Berdych, who dropped to 3-18 against Nadal, couldn’t keep up in the hot sun beating down on center court. Nadal faces countryman Roberto Bautista Agut after the 45th-ranked player beat Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo 6-3, 6-4. David Ferrer followed Bautista Agut’s victory with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 victory over Ernests Gulbis to become the third Spaniard in the semis. The top-ranked Williams has had her left thigh heavily bandaged this week and said she injured it during a first-round victory over Belinda Bencic on Sunday. The withdrawal gave 2011 champion Petra Kvitova a walkover and a spot in the semifinals. Williams, 32, said the injury would not keep her out of the French Open, with the defending champion tweeting she would play in Rome next week before the second Grand Slam of the season starts May 25.
GOLF
Henry ahead in fog
Scott Henry shot a 5-under 67 on Friday to take a two-shot clubhouse lead in the first round of the fog-affected Madeira Islands Open. The heavy fog that forced Thursday’s first day to be abandoned returned mid-morning Friday and caused a four-hour delay, forcing organizers to shorten the event to 54 holes. Only half of the 144-player field managed to complete their first round. Henry had eight birdies in his round, including three in succession from the 12th, as the Scottish golfer seeks his first European Tour title. However, his round could have been even better had he not finished with consecutive bogeys. England’s Andrew Marshall, Spain’s Pedro Oriol and Austria’s Martin Wiegele were tied for second. Finland’s Tapio Pulkannen hit a hole-in-one at the par-3 17th but finished with an 80.
FOOTBALL
Manziel’s wait helps ratings
Johnny Football may not have appreciated the excruciating wait until he was drafted by the Cleveland Browns with the 22nd pick, but ESPN did. The Nielsen company said Friday that the first round of the NFL Draft drew 9.9 million viewers to ESPN on Thursday night, shattering the previous record for the event that the network has telecast since 1980. The previous high was 7.3 million viewers in 2010. Another 2.4 million people watched the draft coverage on The NFL Network, Nielsen said. That makes for a total of about 12.4 million for the event as a whole. The drama about where former Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M would land is considered the biggest factor in the ratings’ success. Draft forecasters suggested Manziel would go much higher. Viewership Thursday was 60 percent higher than last year’s 6.2 million.
Georgia sophomore corner-back Shaq Wiggins, who started eight games in 2013, is transferring. Georgia Coach Mark Richt said Friday that Wiggins made the decision after the two talked “the last few days.” Wiggins played in 12 games and led the team with two interceptions as a freshman last season. He had 19 tackles. Georgia has a new staff of defensive coaches, including coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, who coaches the secondary. Also new to the defensive staff are former Arkansas assistant Tracy Rocker, Kevin Sherrer and Mike Ekeler.
The Hawaii Bowl has announced that this year’s game will be played on Christmas Eve. The college bowl game, in its 13th year, will pit a team from the Mountain West conference against one from Conference USA. Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, no longer the game’s title sponsor, remains its official hotel sponsor. The game will kick off at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 24, at Honolulu’s Aloha Stadium. ESPN will televise the game. The game was created after the hometown University of Hawaii squad finished 9-3 in 2001 without receiving a bowl invitation. In last year’s game, Oregon State beat Boise State before a crowd of 29,106.
BASKETBALL
Charge or block?
The NCAA men’s basketball rules committee wants a stricter interpretation on charge-block calls next season. It still must be approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel in June. The most significant change would require defenders to be set in legal guarding position before an offensive player jumps to draw a charge. If the defender moves in any direction, other than vertically to block a shot, it would be called a block. Other potential changes include expanding the restricted area in front of the basket, calling fouls for defenders who push a leg or knee into the rear end of a player of an opponent and calling a foul on the offensive player if he gained position by pushing back. Those changes would only be used on an experimental basis.
The NBA on Friday announced the appointment of Richard Parsons as interim CEO of the Los Angeles Clippers. Formerly a chairman with Citigroup and Time Warner, Parsons will represent the Clippers as the franchise goes through the process of finding a new owner, on the heels of Commissioner Adam Silver’s decision to impose a lifetime ban on team owner Donald Sterling. Parsons previously served on President Barack Obama’s economic advisory team. He sits on the board of directors for the Commission on Presidential Debates and is a senior adviser at Providence Equity Partners. Sterling was ousted by Silver after leaked audio recordings captured the team’s longtime owner making racially charged statements. Clippers President Andy Roeser began an indefinite leave of absence earlier in the week. Silver also has said he would talk to other NBA owners about forcing Sterling into selling the team. Sterling’s wife, Shelly, owns 50 percent of the Clippers and has said she wants to maintain her interest.
MOTOR SPORTS
Vettel sputters to stop
Sebastian Vettel’s practice session at the Spanish Grand Prix ended with the four-time defending Formula One champion hitching a ride on a scooter after his Red Bull car puttered out. Lewis Hamilton had no such problems, finishing Friday’s opening day of practice with the top times from both training sessions as the dominating Mercedes team showed no signs of slowing down. The British driver is looking for his fourth consecutive victory this season. Mercedes teammate and F1 leader Nico Rosberg was right behind, setting the afternoon’s second best time after his crew fixed a cooling issue. Vettel was running through his fifth lap on the sunny and dry Circuito de Barcelona-Catalunya when his car came to a halt. He then helped push his RB10 out of the path of his rivals before a group of fans gathered at the fence to take photographs of the champion using a fire extinguisher on the rear of his malfunctioning car. After Vettel was whisked back to the paddock on the back of a scooter, Hamilton clocked the fastest lap time in the opening session and then bettered that by almost 1.5 seconds in the afternoon with a mark of 1 minute, 25.524 seconds. Red Bull said an electrical problem that “damaged the wiring” of Vettel’s car meant he couldn’t return for the afternoon practice session. That left Vettel with only one session today before qualifying. “It’s a small failure, but a big consequence,” Vettel said.