Castroneves wins his 3rd Indianapolis 500
INDIANAPOLIS, May 24 (UPI) -- Pole-winner Helio Castroneves won the Indianapolis 500 auto race Sunday for the third time, nearly 2 seconds ahead of Dan Wheldon.
The 34-year-old Brazilian led the race's final 58 laps and gave team owner Roger Penske his 15th Indy 500 victory.
"This is the best month of May ever," Castroneves told reporters, referring to his acquittal in Miami on federal tax evasion charges last week.
Castroneves also won the high-profile race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2001 and '02.
He is the ninth driver to win the 500 three times.
Among the others are Al Unser Sr. and Emerson Fittipaldi.
Danica Patrick finished third, topping her previous best Indy 500 performance of fourth in 2005, with Townsend Bell and Will Power rounding out the top-five finishers.
The race, which was run on a dry track, featured several wrecks, including crashes by Tony Kanaan, Vitor Meira and Raphael Matos.
Meira was taken to Methodist Hospital and doctors said he suffered a broken back.
Murray wins easily in French opener
PARIS, May 24 (UPI) -- Scotland's Andy Murray was among the first-round winners Sunday in the French Open.
Murray, seeded No. 3 behind Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, breezed by Juan Ignacio Chela 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 in a match that lasted 101 minutes.
Fernando Verdasco of Spain, seeded eighth, advanced with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 win over France's Florent Serra 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.
Russian Marat Safin moved on to the next round, turning back Frenchman Alexandre Sidorenko 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
Gilles Simon of France survived a five-set duel with American Wayne Odesnik, winning 6-3, 5-7, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. The match lasted 3 hours, 43 minutes.
Other winners included David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro, Marin Cilic, 2004 French Open winner Gaston Gaudio and Lleyton Hewitt, who once held the world No. 1 ranking.
Defending champion Ivanovic advances
PARIS, May 24 (UPI) -- Defending champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia eliminated Italy's Sara Errani Sunday in the first round of the French Open, winning in straight sets.
Ivanovic fought to a 7-6 (7-3) win in the opening set and finished the match 6-3 in the second.
Last year's French Open title was Ivanovic's only win in a Grand Slam event. She is seeded eighth in this year's open.
Ninth-seeded Victoria Azarenka ousted Roberta Vinca 6-4, 6-2.
Eleventh-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia moved on with a 6-1, 6-2 win over American Lauren Embree.
China's China's Li Na, the 25th seed, defeated Marta Domachowska of Poland 6-4, 6-2 and No. 27 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia topped Ioana Raluca Olaru, 6-3, 6-2.
In first-round upsets, Anna-Lena Groenefeld downed No. 16 two-time major winner Amelie Mauresmo 6-4, 6-3 and Kazahstan's Yaroslava Shvedova outlasted No. 19 Kaia Kanepi 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 6-2.
Among other winners were Julie Coin, Elena Vesnina, Vitalia Diatchenko and Arantxa Rus.
Miami's Starks arrested after police stop
MIAMI BEACH, Fla., May 24 (UPI) -- Miami defensive end Randy Starks was jailed Sunday after allegedly pushing a police officer with his vehicle during a traffic stop, a police report showed.
The 25-year-old NFL player was arrested and charged with aggravated battery early Sunday after the alleged incident on Ocean Drive, The Miami Herald reported.
The police report said the officer pulled Stark's freight-liner truck over in bumper-to-bumper traffic after observing 13 people in the four-person vehicle. The report stated there was a woman on Stark's lap, the Herald said.
When the officer approached the vehicle and knocked on a side window, Starks allegedly kept driving until the officer rapped a side door. But after stopping, the truck accelerated and veered slightly left, hitting the officer and pinning him against a vehicle in the next lane, the report said.
Police also said they discovered the license plate on the truck was not registered to that vehicle.
He was jailed under $10,000 bond.
Starks played in 12 games for the Dolphins last season, starting four. He was drafted in 2004 by Tennessee playing college ball for the University of Maryland.
