Mauresmo reaches U.S. Open semis
FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y., Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France needed just 62 minutes to beat Russian Dinara Safina Wednesday to reach the semifinals of the U.S. Open in New York.
Mauresmo, 27, ousted the 12th-seeded Safin, younger sister of two-time men's Grand Slam champion Marat Safin, 6-2, 6-3. She will play the winner of the Maria Sharapova-Tatiana Golovin quarterfinal match in the semifinals.
Mauresmo is 31-7 lifetime at the U.S. Open and lost in the quarterfinals in 2003, 2004 and 2005. This year she eliminated two-time U.S. Open champion Serena Williams in the fourth round.
Sampras is a Hall of Fame nominee
NEWPORT, R.I., Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Pete Sampras and Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario are the 2007 nominees for the Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I.
Sampras won 14 Grand Slam singles championships and was the world's top-ranked men's tennis player for a record 286 weeks. He is the career earnings leader in men's tennis with over $43 million.
Sanchez-Vicario became the first woman from Spain to win the U.S. Open in 1994, won 29 career singles titles and 67 doubles in a 16-year career, including three French Open crowns. She played for Spain's Fed Cup team 16 times, and won four Olympic medals.
Also nominated in the Master Player category were Sven Davidson, the first Swede to win a Grand Slam (the French Open in 1957), Christine Truman Janes, who won the French Open in 1959, Russ Adams, the "Dean" of tennis photography, and Dr. Robert Johnson, who helped launch the careers of Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe, the first African-American tennis champions.
Cardinal's Mulder to have shoulder surgery
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Mark Mulder will undergo arthroscopic surgery to repair his rotator cuff next week, the team announced Wednesday.
Mulder was examined by sports medicine specialist Dr. David Altchek, a Mets' team physician in New York, and his findings supported that of team doctors that Mulder needed shoulder surgery.
Mulder, 29, was 6-7 in 17 starts this season with a 7.14 ERA. The left-hander was placed on the disabled list last week for the second time this year after earlier missing two months of the season following a shoulder injury.
Over the past five seasons, Mulder has been the winningest pitcher in the major leagues with 73 wins.
NFL may tighten drug testing
NEW YORK, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. National Football League is looking at tightening drug testing to include more frequent testing and additions to the list of banned substances.
If approved, the new rules may go into effect at the start of this season, reports The New York Times.
The league said changes to its policy will be part of its regular review and not a response to a Carolina Panthers case, The Times reported.
Last month, the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer reported that two Panthers players got prescriptions for steroids and testosterone days before the team's 2004 Super Bowl appearance. The players, who are no longer with the Panthers, did not test positive for steroids at the time, said the report.
Dr. Gary I. Wadler, a New York University School of Medicine professor who serves on the World Anti-Doping Agency's prohibited lists committee, told the Times the NFL should begin blood testing or at freeze blood samples until a reliable test is developed.
Duchossois demands debt from Jockey Club
CHICAGO, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- Chicago horseracing mogul Richard Duchossois says one of his companies is demanding the National Jockey Club pay a debt estimated at more than $20 million.
Payment on the note could come as a blow to the Jockey Club, forcing it to scale back much of its racing operations in the western suburbs and moving it to Arlington racetrack in Arlington Heights, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Wednesday.
"We're saying we're calling the note and we want our payment. I haven't heard any response from them," Duchossois said.
"The note is due and payable and there's no visible means of paying it, and if this thing keeps going, they're not going to have any money for a meet. The only way that can be stopped is if we call the note."
