Simon and Moya advance to Bucharest final
BUCHAREST, Romania, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- One-time runner-up Carlos Moya and reigning champion Gilles Simon both won Saturday to set up Sunday's final of the BCR Open Romania tennis.
The sixth-seeded Spaniard Moya, who finished second in Bucharest in 1996, beat top-seeded Richard Gasquet 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the final here for the first time in 12 years. Gasquet, world No. 12, failed to secure an all-French matchup in Sunday's final, while Simon encountered no such trouble with eighth-seeded Argentine Jose Acasuso.
Moya, 32, has 20 career titles, but hasn't won since Umag in 2007.
Simon, 23, beat former champ Acasuso 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. Acasuso won the title here in 2004. Simon, in search of his fifth career title, and first this year, beat Bucharest's Victor Hanescu in last year's final.
Russia leads Spain 2-0 in women's Fed Cup final
MADRID, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Russia was on its way to repeating as Fed Cup champion Saturday after sweeping two matches, both in straight sets, from host Spain.
Vera Zvonareva defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-4, and Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3, 6-1.
Russia leads the best-of-five series 2-0, and will go for the win Sunday, with reverse singles matches and a doubles match on the schedule.
Sunday's reverse singles have the former U.S. Open titlist Kuznetsova taking on Medina Garrigues and the Olympic bronze medalist Zvonareva meeting Suarez Navarro. The final rubber Sunday will be the doubles between Russians Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova and Spaniards Nuria Llagostera Vives and Virginia Ruano Pascual.
Russia is 4-1 all-time against Spain, including a 5-0 opening-round victory in Moscow last year. It marked their first Fed Cup meeting in 17 years. The Russians have won three of the last four Fed Cup titles.
Shoulder injury sidelines St. Louis pitching ace
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Chris Carpenter is out for the remainder of the season because of a sore shoulder.
The 11-year veteran has struggled with a muscle strain in the back of the shoulder for much of the season.
Carpenter made just four appearances, three of them starts, covering 15 1/3 innings and has pitched in five Major League Baseball games since the end of the 2006 World Series. He had shoulder surgery last year.
"I truly don't even know what to say," he said on the Cardinals' Web site Friday night. "I have no explanation. I can't explain it. The only feeling I had is that I'm disappointed and frustrated and everything else you can think of."
"There's a nerve issue that is a concern," said General Manager John Mozeliak. "But I don't get the feeling that in '09 it should be a huge issue."
Carpenter has a 100-70 career record in 1,537 1/3 innings.
Jenkins ties Eaks for senior golf lead
CONOVER, N.C., Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Tom Jenkins shot a 7-under 65 Saturday to tie overnight leader and defending champion R.W. Eaks after two rounds of the senior Greater Hickory Classic.
Eaks followed his Friday 61 with a 68 in the second round for a 15-under 129. The co-leaders are four strokes ahead of Gil Morgan, who had a 66 Saturday to hold third place.
Mark Wiebe (67) is fourth at 10-under 134. Tom McKnight (69) is in fifth place at 135.
Eaks is looking for his second win of the year and fourth on the Champions Tour. Jenkins has seven victories on the senior circuit, but none since 2006.
Mark McNulty (69), Gene Jones (68), Bruce Vaughan (70) and Tradition winner Fred Funk (71) are tied for sixth at 136.
Stanford shoots 67 to lead LPGA Classic
MOBILE, Ala., Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Angela Stanford made five birdies in a six-hole stretch and shot a 5-under 67 Saturday for the third-round lead at the Bell Micro LPGA Classic.
Stanford, who began the day trailing Cristie Kerr by two strokes, moved to 12 under 204 for a four-shot lead over Katherine Hull. The 30-year-old Texan is after her second LPGA Tour win.
Hull had a double-bogey six at the 18th hole to wind up at 4-under 68 for the round.
Kerr could only manage a 76, sending her to a fifth-place tie with a 211 total.
Angela Park (69) and Shanshan Feng (70) were two shots further back at 210 -- the only other players within six strokes of Stanford's lead.
