Off the wire

TENNIS

Goffin rallies in France

Eighth-seeded David Goffin of Belgium rallied to beat top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 1-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 Friday to reach the Moselle Open semifinals in Metz, France. Goffin next plays Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff who advanced after third-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber retired when trailing 5-0 after just 20 minutes. Looking to win the Moselle title for the third time, Tsonga dominated the first set, hitting five aces and converting both of his break points. Kohlschreiber was clearly in difficulty and had already dropped serve three times when he stopped. In later quarterfinal matches, second-seeded Gael Monfils of France faced No. 7 Jerzy Janowicz of Poland for the first time; and No. 6 Joao Sousa of Portugal played Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu in their first meeting.

• Fifth-seeded Varvara Lepchenko of the United States upset defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-2 in the Korea Open quarterfinals on Friday at Seoul. Lepchenko converted three of four break points in the third set to oust the top seed. Lepchenko has beaten Radwanska twice this year, after losing five consecutive. Resurgent Maria Kirilenko of Russia also reached the semifinals with a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-3 victory over sixth-seeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia. Kirilenko, a top-10 player last year, fell out of the top 100 this year after a knee injury kept her out of the first three months of the season. She needed a wild card to enter the Korea Open which she won in 2008. Her first semifinal in 17 months will be against second-seeded Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic, who beat qualifier Nicole Gibbs of the United States 6-3, 6-4. Another American, Christina McHale, advanced when fourth-seeded Magadalena Rybarikova of Slovakia retired while trailing 6-2, 2-0. McHale will meet countryman Lepchenko for a place in the final. Lepchenko leads their head-to-head 3-1. Neither has won a WTA singles title.

Alize Cornet of France will play for her second title of the year in the Guangzhou Open final in China after beating Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 6-1, 7-6 (5) on Friday. The second-seeded Cornet, the only seed of eight to get out of the first round, fought her way back from 4-1 down in the second set to beat Bacsinszky in just over two hours. Monica Niculescu of Romania reached her fourth career final when she ended Chinese wild card Wang Yafan's superb run in the tournament, 6-0, 6-2. Niculescu, yet to drop a set in the event, has a 1-1 record against Cornet. She won her only title at Florianopolis, Brazil, last year.

BASKETBALL

U.S. tops Australia

Breanna Stewart scored nine points to lead a balanced offense and the U.S. women's national team beat Australia 72-66 in an exhibition game Friday in Paris. Maya Moore and Nneka Ogwumike each added seven points for the Americans. The U.S. trailed 18-11 after the first quarter before rallying to take a one-point lead at halftime. The Americans extended that advantage to 11 after the third quarter before holding on. Belinda Snell scored 13 points to lead Australia while Liz Cambage added 9 points and 9 rebounds in 9 minutes. "We're kind of in a little bit of a quandary," USA Coach Geno Auriemma said. "We obviously want to win the game, which is priority No. 1. But it's a little unusual that priority No. 1-A is trying to get 15 players somewhat significant playing time." The Americans are still trying to figure out their roster for the world championship which begins Sept. 27. They have 15 players in camp with the possible addition of Brittney Griner, who is still waiting for a doctor's clearance to play after suffering a retinal injury in the WNBA Finals.

FOOTBALL

Drone delivery halted

The University of Michigan has dropped plans to use a drone to deliver the game ball to Michigan Stadium at Ann Arbor in its game today against Utah. The Detroit News reported Friday that the Federal Aviation Administration told the university there is a temporary flight restriction over NCAA Division I stadiums seating at least 30,000 fans on game days. The Ann Arbor News said the school informed the agency that the unmanned aerial flight would not take place as planned today. The university said in a statement Friday evening that the drone delivery had been arranged with a hobbyist as part of the 100th anniversary of the university's aerospace program, the nation's first. The school will proceed with a pregame 15-aircraft flyover that has been approved by the FAA.

BASEBALL

Bianco's contract extended

Mississippi Coach Mike Bianco has received a contract extension through the 2018 season after leading the Rebels to the College World Series. The school announced the extension, which starts with a base salary of $640,000 per season, on Friday. It includes incentives for academic and on-field accomplishments and will increase the salary pool for assistant coaches by 15 percent. Bianco has a 557-323-1 record at Ole Miss over 14 seasons, including 12 seasons with a .500 or better record in SEC play. He's led the Rebels to 12 NCAA tournaments, but they advanced to the CWS for the first time in his tenure in 2014. Ole Miss Athletic Director Ross Bjork said in a statement that Bianco "has set the tone for ultimate success for Ole Miss baseball."

MOTOR SPORTS

Hamilton fastest in practice

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in practice for the Singapore Grand Prix on Friday, while teammate and title rival Nico Rosberg and defending champion Sebastian Vettel both had setbacks. Hamilton's best time of 1 minute, 47.490 seconds at the Marina Bay circuit was a tenth of a second faster than Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who was fastest in the morning session. Rosberg's hopes of surpassing his teammate were ruined when his lap on fresh super-soft tires had to be aborted due to a red flag caused by Pastor Maldonado's heavy collision with a barrier. Rosberg was only 13th fastest. Vettel came out for only the last eight minutes of the second session after an engine failure in his Red Bull at the end of the first. The German, who has won the past three Singapore races, still had enough time to vault up to fifth on the timesheets. While the Renault engine that failed was one that was earmarked for Friday practice sessions rather than in qualifying and the race, it did reduce the team's options to juggle its power-plants over the final races of the season. Having already used up his allowed five race engines this season, Vettel's next change will trigger a 10-place grid penalty. His teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who is the only realistic challenger to the Mercedes pair for the drivers' championship, was third fastest. The Australian has won two of the past three races and has 166 points compared to 238 for Rosberg and 216 for Hamilton. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was fourth fastest. Neither Ferrari driver has qualified better than fourth this season.

BOXING

Fights spur questions

Nevada boxing regulators have ordered Floyd Mayweather Jr. to appear before them next week to answer questions about scenes aired on the Showtime network prior to his fight against Marcos Maidana. Specifically, they want to ask Mayweather about two lengthy fights in his gym where neither fighter got a rest break, and another scene showing marijuana being used at his Las Vegas mansion. Mayweather is shown on the All Access show promoting his fight cheering on two fighters at his gym who fought 31 consecutive minutes without taking a break. Mayweather explained on camera that the fighters would go until one of them quit, much like fights used to be in the early days of boxing a century ago.

SOCCER

Gifts controversial

UEFA President Michel Platini denounced FIFA's handling over a luxury gifts controversy on Friday and world football's governing body then disclosed it spent at least $140,000 on watches for officials at the World Cup. Platini was angered by FIFA publicly rebuking football officials who accepted gifts at the World Cup, saying he will donate about $27,000 to charity rather than return the Parmigiani watch given to him by the Brazilian federation. On Thursday, FIFA told officials they had until next month to return the Brazilian football confederation watch or face ethics proceedings for accepting a gift that had more than a "symbolic or trivial value." Platini, one of FIFA President Sepp Blatter's biggest critics, questioned why the governing body is only now making an issue out of the Parmigiani watches. In response to questions from The Associated Press on Friday, FIFA said it had spent around $143,200 on Longines watches for delegates attending its congress in June on the eve of the World Cup. FIFA hasn't detailed spending on other gifts in Brazil.

Sports on 09/20/2014

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