TENNIS
Djokovic advances
Novak Djokovic converted his fourth match point to beat Donald Young 6-2, 7-6 (9) Thursday and advance to the semifinals at the Eastbourne International in Eastbourne, England. The top-seeded Djokovic saved two set points, on Young’s serve at 5-4 and on his own serve in the tiebreaker, and clinched victory with a return winner. Djokovic will play Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals of the Wimbledon warm-up tournament on England’s south coast, after the Russian player beat fourth-seeded Steve Johnson 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. Second-seeded Gael Monfils will play seventh-seeded Richard Gasquet in the other semifinal match today. Monfils defeated Bernard Tomic 7-6 (4), 6-0 and Gasquet beat third-seeded John Isner 6-3, 6-2. In the women’s tournament, Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova — the top three seeded players — joined Johanna Konta, Caroline Wozniacki and Svetlana Kuznetsova in advancing to the quarterfinals.
Murray cancels match
Andy Murray has pulled out of another exhibition match ahead of Wimbledon because of a sore hip. The top-ranked Murray was scheduled to play at the Aspall Tennis Classic at the Hurlingham Club in London today but said he needs to rest his hip. He withdrew from an exhibition match against Lucas Pouille on Tuesday with the same problem. Wimbledon starts Monday and Murray is the defending champion. In his build-up to the grass-court major, Murray lost in the first round at Queen’s last week.
Police: Venus at fault
Florida police said tennis star Venus Williams was at fault in a car crash earlier this month that led to the death of a passenger in another vehicle. Palm Beach Gardens police released a report Thursday saying Williams was at fault in a June 9 crash that injured Jerome Barson, 79, who died two weeks later. The report said Williams was driving her 2010 Toyota Sequoia SUV when witnesses said she ran a red light into the path of a sedan driven by Barson’s wife, Linda. Maj. Paul Rogers said the crash remains under investigation. Williams has not been cited or charged. Williams’ attorney, Malcolm Cunningham, said in a statement that Williams expressed “her deepest condolences to the family who lost a loved one.” He said the light was green when she entered the intersection.
SWIMMING
King sets up showdown
Olympic gold medalist Lilly King can prepare for another showdown with Russian rival Yulia Efimova after winning the women’s 200-meter breaststroke at the U.S. National Championships in Indianapolis on Thursday. King had the second-best time in the world this year — 2 minutes, 21.83 seconds. Efimova went 2:19.83 two weeks ago. Katie Ledecky and Ryan Murphy lived up to their reputations, too. Ledecky qualified for the American world championship team with a victory in the women’s 200 freestyle. Murphy took the men’s 200 backstroke. Other winners included Kevin Cordes in the men’s 200 breast, Townley Haas in the men’s 200 free and Kathleen Baker in the women’s 200 back.
MOTOR SPORTS
Gordon back at Brickyard
Five-time Brickyard 400 winner Jeff Gordon will lead the field into the race one more time next month — as the pace-car driver. Gordon competed in each of the first 23 races on the historic 2.5-mile oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that is not far from his childhood home. Two years ago, after Gordon had announced he would retire, race officials billed the race as his “last ride.” The plan was to have Gordon in the pace car last year. Instead, Gordon came out of retirement to replace the injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. This time, Gordon, who won three poles at Indy, will drive a supercharged 2017 Camaro ZL1. The race is scheduled for July 23.
HOCKEY
Former Oiler Semenko dies
Former Edmonton Oilers tough guy Dave Semenko, who protected Wayne Gretzky in the 1980s, has died. He was 59. The Oilers said Semenko died in Edmonton after a short battle with cancer. Semenko was the body guard for “The Great One” for parts of 10 seasons with the Oilers in the World Hockey Association and NHL. He helped Edmonton win the Stanley Cup in 1984 and 1985.he had 65 goals, 88 assists and 1,175 penalty minutes in 575 regular-season NHL games and 6 goals, 6 assists and 208 PIMs in 73 playoff games.
FOOTBALL
Game officials announced
The roster of NFL officials this season will include eight rookies on the field and the league’s first female instant replay official in the booth. Terri Valenti, who has worked on instant replay for the NFL for the past five years, was promoted to the role of the officials who are part of each of the 17 crews of rules arbiters. The league announced the assignments on Thursday, with all 17 referees returning to their lead roles. Valenti has previously served as an on-field official for high school, college and minor league games. The instant replay official determines when the game should be stopped for reviews after scoring plays and the two-minute warnings, and throughout overtime. Final decisions on reviews will be determined by the NFL’s centralized operations in New York.
Modified sentence sought
Ex-Penn State athletic director Tim Curley wants a judge to modify his sentence for failing to report now-convicted sexual predator Jerry Sandusky to authorities, saying he has incurable lung cancer and liver damage. The Centre Daily Times reported Curley wants to serve his seven- to 23-month incarceration on house arrest and work release. A judge earlier this month ordered Curley, 63, to serve the three months of his sentence in jail followed by four months on house arrest after Curley and two other former Penn State administrators were convicted of child endangerment charges. State prosecutors aren’t opposing the motion. Curley’s attorneys filed the initial motion to modify his sentence a week later. They filed an addendum Wednesday citing unspecified “additional medical information” not spelled out in the motion.
FOOTBALL
American Flag Football League holds debut event
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson ran pass patterns with big smiles on their faces visible throughout the stadium.
Michael Vick was flinging touchdown passes the way he did in his peak as an NFL star.
Instead of an old-timers day, this was more of a throwback night with those three former stars headlining lineups with several former NFL players for the debut event of the American Flag Football League in hopes of showing that this sport played mostly by kids could have a future as a professional league.
The American Flag Football League played the game Tuesday in San Jose in advance of plans by founder Jeff Lewis to launch a spring league in 2018. In front of a crowd of several hundred people, Team Vick prevailed over Team Owens 64-41 behind Vick’s eight touchdown passes and 547 yards passing.
The game featured other notable former NFL players such as Justin Forsett, Kerry Rhodes, Steve Smith and Nick Collins; lesser-known players looking for a break such as game MVP Evan Rodriguez who is hoping NFL teams might give him another look after his 9 catches for 210 yards and 4 touchdowns; and former Cornell lacrosse player Max Seibald, who was the top collegiate player in the country in 2009.
Lewis knows marquee names will draw fans in initially. But Lewis wants most of the teams to be filled from a pool of scores of younger players who have been recently cut or never made NFL rosters rather than out-of-shape old-timers.
“You could trot 45- and 50-year-old football players out and it would be nice to see people you remember but it’s not going to be great,” Lewis said. “We want it to really be compellingly high quality. The players who have played previously are going to be playing because they’re world-class athletes.”