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Sports Log

Injured Safina pulls out; Serena is No. 1

October 29, 2009

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Tennis
Dinara Safina pulled out of the Sony Ericsson Championships after just two games with a serious back injury yesterday in Doha, Qatar, handing the year-end No. 1 ranking to Serena Williams. Safina was serving at 1-1 against Jelena Jankovic when she stopped play, walked over to her chair, and covered her face with a towel. She then told the chair umpire she could not continue. Safina said a disk in her lower back was “starting to fracture’’ and the injury has been bothering her for three months. She said doctors told her she will be sidelined for at least six weeks. Safina, mainly the No. 1 player since April, regained the top ranking this week, but her margin over Williams was so slim that the player who performed best in Doha was guaranteed to end the year as No. 1. Williams won her first match Tuesday and beat sister Venus, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), yesterday. The Australian Open and Wimbledon champion will end a year as No. 1 for the first time since 2002 . . . Fifth-seeded Julien Benneteau and Florent Serra reached the quarterfinals of the Lyon (France) Grand Prix. Serra upset No. 8 Albert Montanes, 7-5, 6-3, while Benneteau beat qualifier Kevin Anderson, 7-5, 6-2 . . . Former champions Mikhail Youzhny and Marat Safin advanced to the second round of the St. Petersburg (Russia) Open with straight-set victories. Youzhny, the 2004 winner, beat Andrey Golubev, 6-3, 6-2, and Safin, who won consecutive titles in 2000-01, ousted Richard Gasquet, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

Colleges
Schwieger, Pierce earn Gold Helmets
Dartmouth sophomore tailback Nick Schwieger of Norton and Saint Anselm freshman quarterback Michael Pierce of Andover were awarded this week’s Gridiron Club of Greater Boston Gold Helmets from the New England Football Writers. The 5-foot-10-inch, 205-pound Schwieger rushed for a school-record 242 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries as the Big Green halted a 17-game losing streak, clipping Columbia, 28-6. The 6-foot, 200-pound Pierce threw for a school-record 390 yards (on 36-of-74 passing) and three touchdowns and rushed for 106 more yards in a 31-28 Northeast-10 loss to Stonehill . . . About 1,000 people are expected to attend Tuesday night’s special tribute for Myles Brand, the late NCAA president who died of pancreatic cancer last month. The NCAA and Indiana University, where Brand served as president for eight years before taking over the governing body, invited most of the guests. Among those scheduled to speak are Brand’s son, Josh, Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt, and Georgia president Michael Adams, who chairs the NCAA’s executive committee.

Baseball
Nationals ordered to pay scout $40K
A Dominican Republic tribunal ordered the Washington Nationals to pay $40,000 in damages to scout Jose Baez, who was fired after signing a prospect who lied about his age. In 2006, Baez and special assistant to the general manager Jose Rijo signed a player who identified himself as 16-year-old Esmailyn Gonzalez. A Major League Baseball investigation determined Gonzalez was about 4 years older and lied about his name . . . A Montana jury found that Hillerich & Bradsby, maker of Louisville Slugger baseball bats, failed to adequately warn about the dangers of aluminum bats, awarding the family of Brandon Patch $850,000 for his 2003 death in an American Legion game in Helena.

Hockey
Canucks’ Luongo out with rib fracture
Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo will miss at least the next two games after sustaining a hairline fracture in one of his ribs. Luongo isn’t sure how long he’ll be out. He will skip tonight’s game in Los Angeles and tomorrow’s contest at Anaheim. Luongo was hurt during Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, when a shot from the corner caught him through a soft spot in his padding . . . The Columbus Blue Jackets assigned defenseman Mathieu Roy to Syracuse of the AHL. Roy had four assists in seven games after joining the Blue Jackets on emergency recall from Syracuse Oct. 3. He signed with Columbus as a free agent in July after five seasons in Edmonton’s organization.

Miscellany
Lehman leaves Champions final
Tom Lehman withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Championship because of an undisclosed family emergency, leaving 29 players in the season finale on the Champions Tour in Sonoma, Calif. Lehman was 22d on the money list to qualify for the tournament. Because he withdrew, the winner of this year’s tournament will receive 884 points and $442,000, meaning four players will have a chance to claim the $1 million annuity for winning the overall competition . . . The LPGA Tour picked Michael Whan as its new commissioner, turning to a former marketing executive in golf and hockey equipment. Whan previously worked for TaylorMade Golf and Wilson Sporting Goods and was president of Mission-Itech Hockey. He replaces Carolyn Bivens, who was forced out by players in July as the tour kept losing sponsors . . . Two-time champion Martin Lel of Kenya has withdrawn from Sunday’s New York City Marathon with a leg injury. Tatyana Petrova of Russia withdrew from the women’s race because of illness.

© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.