Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Off the wire
TENNIS Wawrinka rallies
On a tough day for seeded players in the Swiss Indoors first round, Stan Wawrinka rallied to beat 119th-ranked fellow Swiss Marco Chiudinelli 6-7 (1), 6-1, 6-4 on Tuesday at Basel, Switzerland. Top-seeded Wawrinka advanced after second-seeded Milos Raonic and sixth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov both let one-set leads slip and exited early. Wawrinka ended his own streak of four consecutive first-round losses in the hometown tournament of Roger Federer, whose season-ending injury ruled him out for the first time since 2005. World No. 3 Wawrinka clinched victory with his 16th ace on his fifth match point chance against his Davis Cup teammate Chiudinelli. He next plays qualifier Donald Young of the United States. The bottom half of the draw opened up Tuesday after Canada’s Raonic lost to Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania, a player ranked 87 places below him. The fourth-ranked Raonic took the first set against his 91stranked opponent before falling to a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 loss. Berankis, 26, now has two career victories against top 10 players, after also beating Raonic indoors in Moscow two years ago. Dimitrov of Bulgaria let 37th-ranked Gilles Muller of Luxembourg fight back for a 6-7 (9), 6-4, 6-4 victory after taking only one of his 10 break point chances against the 33-year- old left-hander.
Two-time former champion Jurgen Melzer upset fourth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 7-5 in the first round of the Erste Bank Open on Tuesday in Vienna. The Austrian, who has dropped to 417th after a five-month layoff following shoulder surgery, played only his sixth match of the season at ATP level. In front of a home crowd of 7,500, Melzer broke the 14th-ranked Bautista Agut when the Spaniard served for the second set at 5-4, and added another break to close out the victory. Melzer, who won the event in 2009 and 2010, joined fellow Austrian Dominic Thiem in the second round. The third-seeded Thiem defeated Jurgen’s younger brother, Gerald Melzer, 6-0, 6-3. Thiem next plays Viktor Troicki of Serbia, who converted the only break point in the final set to complete a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 comeback victory over Kevin Anderson of South Africa. Defending champion David Ferrer had to play only five games to advance to the second round after Kyle Edmund pulled out with a hip injury. Ferrer next plays Joao Sousa of Portugal, who led Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 3-0 when the Uruguayan pulled out with an apparent knee injury. Also, 2011 champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had 11 aces and avoided break points while beating German qualifier Benjamin Becker 6-3, 6-4.
GOLF Senators seek move
Three Democratic U.S. senators are increasing the pressure on the U.S. Golf Association to move next year’s U.S. Women’s Open away from a New Jersey course owned by Donald Trump. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania made the request to move next July’s event away from Trump National in Bedminster, N.J., in a letter sent Monday. The senators called on USGA executive director Mike Davis to consider suspending further events at properties owned by the Republican presidential candidate because of what they describe as a “pattern of degrading and dehumanizing women” over decades. The Trump Organization declined comment.
HOCKEY Crosby debuts
Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby made his season debut Tuesday against the Florida Panthers after missing six games with a concussion. The two-time MVP and reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner hasn’t played since sustaining a concussion in practice earlier this month. Crosby participated in a full-contact practice Monday for the first time since suffering his third concussion in six years. He called his participation in practice a major milestone in his recovery. “Ultimately to get to that step yesterday of having contact, you have to be symptom-free and that’s been the case,” Crosby said. Crosby described himself Tuesday morning as a gametime decision, but Coach Mike Sullivan said the Penguins’ captain would likely make his season debut barring a setback after participating in the game-day skate. Crosby, who captained Team Canada to a World Cup of Hockey championship last month, missed the better part of two seasons after sustaining a concussion in January 2011.
BASEBALL
2 assistant GMs
The Boston Red Sox plan to operate without a full-time general manager for now. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski announced that intention Tuesday in naming Eddie Romero the team’s new senior vice president and assistant general manager. It is the latest move to take place inside Boston’s baseball operations department since former general manager Mike Hazen left the team earlier this month to become vice president and general manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The team said both Romero and senior vice president and assistant general manager Brian O’Halloran will report directly to Dombrowski and assist in all aspects of baseball operations going forward. Romero, 37, is being promoted after being previously elevated to vice president of international scouting at the start of the 2016 season.
HORSE RACING Monarchos dies
Monarchos, whose Kentucky Derby-winning time in 2001 was second only to Secretariat, has died. He was 18. Nuckols Farm owner Charles Nuckols III confirmed Tuesday that Monarchos died early Saturday after emergency surgery the day before to repair a ruptured intestine. The grey son of Maria’s Mon and Regal Band by Dixieland Band won four races with a second and three thirds in 10 starts from 2000-2002 and earned more than $1.72 million. Monarchos’ greatest triumph came in the 2001 Derby at Churchill Downs, where he was bumped by Point Given at the start and came from the outside at the stretch to catch Congaree and win by 43/4 lengths over Invisible Ink with Congaree third. His time of 1:59.97 with Jorge Chavez aboard was just behind the 1973 Triple Crown champion’s record 1:59.40.
NCAA Argument has no merit
The NCAA said North Carolina’s argument that the governing body lacks jurisdiction in the school’s multi-year academic case is “without merit.” In a Sept. 19 filing released by the school on Tuesday, the NCAA enforcement staff pushed back against the school’s procedural arguments in response to five serious charges. UNC had argued that an expired four-year statute of limitations and a March 2012 ruling in an earlier case should have precluded some of the current charges. UNC had also argued that some material from an outside investigator’s report into academic irregularities on the Chapel Hill campus shouldn’t be used because interviews weren’t performed to NCAA protocols. The school is scheduled to appear before an infractions committee panel in Indianapolis on Friday in what amounts to a pretrial hearing.
FANTASY SPORTS NY legal fight ends
DraftKings and FanDuel will pay $6 million apiece to New York state to resolve lawsuits alleging the daily fantasy sports companies engaged in false advertising. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the agreement Tuesday. It ends a long legal fight between Schneiderman, a Democrat, and the two companies. FanDuel and DraftKings briefly halted operations in New York earlier this year after Schneiderman said their business amounted to illegal gambling. Legislation regulating daily fantasy sports signed in August allowed them to re-enter the market. Tuesday’s settlement resolves the state’s allegations that the two companies misled players about winnings. Under the agreement, the companies agreed to change the terms and conditions disclosed to players. New Yorkbased FanDuel and Boston-based DraftKings confirmed the settlement. A FanDuel spokesman said negotiations were “tough but fair.”