Sharapova inherits No. 1 ranking
ROME -- Maria Sharapova will assume the No. 1 ranking in women's tennis as a result of Justine Henin's retirement.Henin, who announced her retirement Wednesday at the age of 25, has asked to be removed from the rankings, the WTA Tour said Thursday. That means Sharapova will automatically become No. 1 when the next rankings are released Monday.
It will be the fourth time the Russian has become No. 1. She held the top spot for a total of 14 weeks in her career, the last time in 2007.
"The ranking has never been a big deal for me," Sharapova said late Wednesday after her second-round victory at the Italian Open. "Whether I'm No. 1 or 5, my main goal is just to keep winning tennis matches and the ranking will take care of itself if I keep winning."
After an injury-plagued 2007, Sharapova started off 2008 by winning the Australian Open for her third Grand Slam title, and has compiled a 24-2 record this year.
Three-game sweep of Twins lifts Jays out of AL East basement
MINNEAPOLIS -- For 10 innings, the pendulum barely moved. Each time one side pushed, the other shoved, and the balance was quickly restored.
It became clear that one mistake would decide this struggle. It finally came in the top of the 11th inning Thursday afternoon. Jesse Crain made it and Joe Inglett hit it.
Inglett, the last man off the Toronto Blue Jays bench, lined a two-out, pinch-hit single off Crain with the bases loaded, boosting the Jays to a 3-2 victory and a three-game series sweep of the Minnesota Twins.
Dazzling defence had turned the game into a marathon. Then a nondescript single sneaked past a diving infielder and the pendulum swung toward Toronto.
"I was just going out there looking for a fastball, and he threw me one inside, and I just happened to keep my hands inside of it and get a base hit," said Inglett, a reserve infielder on his third tour with Toronto this season.
The teams had carried a 2-2 tie through five innings when Scott Rolen led off the 11th with a double. Crain retired the next two hitters, then issued two walks, one intentional.
Pinch-hitting for Jorge Velandia, the left-handed-hitting Inglett swung at Crain's first pitch and sliced an opposite-field liner just beyond the reach of shortstop Matt Tolbert to score Rolen.
B.J. Ryan closed it out for his seventh save in seven chances. He was the sixth Toronto reliever, none of whom yielded a run behind starter Dustin McGowan.
After losing three straight to start the road trip, the Jays have won four in a row. They have also traded places with the Yankees, who fell to last place after losing to the Tampa Bay Rays 5-2 on Thursday.
Every game against the Twins was tight: 5-3, 6-5, 3-2. Which meant playing solid defence was paramount, and the Jays did that, especially Thursday, when they cut down two runners at the plate to keep the score tied.
Rolen made a couple of stunning plays at third, including an acrobatic catch of a shot down the line in the ninth.
Then there was Inglett, pressed into service at shortstop in the 11th for just the third time in his sporadic big-league career. Of course, the first man up shot a grounder his way. He knocked it down, picked it up, threw high and exhaled as Lyle Overbay pulled it down.
"Any time you have those situations you have butterflies the whole time," Inglett said. "I'm just glad I got that ground ball -- a little bobble, but I got it done and that calmed me down a lot."
-- Canwest News Service
Sorenstam starts her goodbye tour with gusto
CLIFTON, N.J. -- The Annika Sorenstam goodbye tour is off to a great start.
Two days after announcing this would be her final season on the LPGA Tour, Sorenstam shot a 5-under 67 on Thursday for a share of the first-round lead in the Sybase Classic. Two-time defending champion Lorena Ochoa was a stroke back.
The 37-year-old Hall of Famer came into the US$2-million tournament off a dominating seven-stroke victory in the Michelob Ultra Open last weekend.
Song-Hee Kim, a second-year player from South Korea who has two top-10 finishes this year, also was at 67 along with Australia's Rachel Hetherington, who has missed three of eight cuts and finished no better than a tie for 24th this year.
-- The Associated Press
Eric Staal hurries back from bereavement leave
QUEBEC -- Eric Staal never thought for a second about bowing out of the world hockey championship.
Instead, Staal rushed home to Thunder Bay, Ont., from Halifax on Tuesday to attend the funeral of his late grandfather, John, on Wednesday. He arrived here late Wednesday night to rejoin his Team Canada mates, who had chartered in from Nova Scotia after beating Norway in the quarter-finals.
John was the biggest hockey fan in the family, said Eric, who knows exactly what the Staal brothers should do to honour the memory of their grandfather.
"He'd want us back as soon as we could. He was one of our biggest fans. He'd want me here to get it done for Canada."
Jordan returned to the Penguins' lineup in time to play against the Flyers Thursday as well.
Eric, who skated on a line with Martin St. Louis and Chris Kunitz in an afternoon practice at Le Colisee, made sure to thank his teammates and Hockey Canada officials for their support this week.
"It means a lot, no question. The people with Hockey Canada are very supportive. Everyone was right there for me and my family, to do whatever they could to get us back home for the funeral.
"That's what makes Hockey Canada so good. That's why guys want to play."
-- Canwest News Service
Trio of women inducted into IIHF Hall of Fame
QUEBEC -- Geraldine Heaney, Angela James and Cammie Granato made women's hockey history on Thursday.
The trio of pioneers became the first women players inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame, along with former superstar Mario Lemieux, Russian great Igor Larionov and the first French player ever to skate in the NHL, Philippe Bozon.
Longtime U.S. hockey boss Art Berglund, a native of Fort Francis, Ont., also entered as a builder, while former referee Juraj Okolicany of Slovakia earned the Paul Loicq Award for his contributions to the game.
It was especially moving for the three women, who helped grow their game from their first world championship in 1990 into the new century. It comes as the IIHF is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
"It's great because now we're finally being recognized not only in our own country, but worldwide," added Heaney, 40, now coach of the women's team at the University of Waterloo. "There are so many young girls playing hockey now, it's amazing.
"I feel we need to promote the game worldwide, not just in Canada, and inducting women now should help that."
Heaney, a defenceman, was on seven consecutive world championship teams in the 1990s.
-- The Canadian Press
Golf tourney will cost $200K just to enter
LAS VEGAS -- For the golfer who thinks a 15-foot putt with 10 grand on the line isn't enough action, how's US$200,000 sound?
No, not the prize, just the fee to tee off. The World Series of Golf next year in Las Vegas will cost $200,000 to enter and offer a $1.5 million payout for the winner.
Organizers think they can find 25 players willing to ante up the $200,000 entry fee. Five more players would technically get in for free -- free meaning drawn randomly from a list of 125 players expected to play in the $10,000 buy-in World Series of Golf tournament a week earlier.
Players are not eligible if they have competed as a professional in two or more events on any professional tour, or earned more than $50,000 in their career in golf competitions. Members of any globally recognized professional golf associations, PGA of America members for example, also are barred.
Play would follow the format of the World Series of Golf, which awarded its $250,000 top prize Thursday to Andy Johnson, a 36-year-old auto wholesaler from Davison, Mich.
Rules for the tournament, first played last year, are loosely based on poker, with players betting on their strokes with poker chips. Players can go all-in after their tee shot, or fold and move on to the next hole if they hit a lousy shot. The player with the fewest strokes each hole wins the pot for that hole. Automatic bets, or antes, increase every three holes, driving up betting and the pots.
"I had an all-in on the ninth hole and I turned to my caddie and I said, 'My hands have never shaked like this before,"' said Stuart Tidd of Toronto, who was eliminated Wednesday.
-- The Associated Press
PREVIOUS
