Red Wings take commanding 2-0 lead
DETROIT, May 31 (UPI) -- Chris Osgood stopped 31-of-32 shots Sunday to boost the Detroit Red Wings over Pittsburgh 3-1 for a 2-0 lead in the NHL's Stanley Cup Finals.
After Evgeni Malkin scored his 13th playoff goal (power play) at 16:50 of the first period, Detroit held the Penguins scoreless in the game's final 56-plus minutes.
Jonathan Ericsson and Valtteri Filppula scored Detroit goals in the second and Justin Abdelkader scored in the third for the injury-riddled defending Stanley Cup-champion Red Wings, who played without forwards Pavel Datsyuk (foot) and Kris Draper (groin). Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was beaten three times on 26 shots.
Game 3 will be played Tuesday in Pittsburgh.
Nadal upset by Soderling in French Open
PARIS, May 31 (UPI) -- World No. 1 Rafael Nadal, who had never lost at Roland Garros, was upset in four sets Sunday by Robin Soderling in a French Open fourth-round match in Paris.
Nadal was a four-time defending champion and had won his previous 31 French Open matches. He hadn't lost a set this year in Paris until the 23rd-seeded Soderling broke Nadal's serve twice in taking Sunday's first set 6-2.
Nadal won a second-set tiebreaker but Soderling was able to finish off the match 6-2, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-2). Soderling had 61 winners and overcame 59 unforced errors, suggesting a very aggressive approach in facing Nadal.
Soderling moves to the French Open quarterfinals against 10th-seeded Nikolay Davydenko, who was very solid in a 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 8-seeded Fernando Verdasco. Davydenko made just six unforced errors while getting 77 percent of his first serves in. In other fourth-round matches Sunday, world No. 3 Andy Murray defeated 13th-seeded Marin Cilic 7-5, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 and 12th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez advanced with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 win over 30th-seeded Victor Hanescu. Murray and Gonzalez will meet in the quarterfinals.
Murray piled up 10 aces and had 14 unforced errors in his match. He's lost one set in his first four French Open matches this year.
Gonzalez has yet to lose a set in Paris. He didn't face a break point against Hanescu and fired off 50 winners in the 87-minute match.
Safina rolls, Ivanovic out at French Open
PARIS, May 31 (UPI) -- Top-ranked Dinara Safina rolled to another victory but defending champion Ana Ivanovic was ousted Sunday in fourth-round action at the French Open in Paris.
Safina routed Aravane Rezai 6-1, 6-0 in 53 minutes. She's lost just five games -- one total in her second sets -- in four matches. Safina is 18-1 since taking over the world No. 1 ranking.
She faced two break points against Rezai and won two-thirds of the points in the match.
Also Sunday, ninth-seeded Victoria Azarenka took out Ivanovic 6-2, 6-3; Maria Sharapova continued her comeback from shoulder surgery with a 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 win over 25th-seeded Na Li; and No. 20-seeded Dominika Cibulkova bested Agnes Szavay 6-2, 6-4.
Azarenka had the advantage on Ivanovic, who was seeded eighth, throughout the match, breaking the defending titlist's serve six times while getting 81 percent of her first serves in. Azarenka draws Safina in the quarterfinals.
Cibulkova and Sharapova will also meet in the quarters. Cibulkova, who won 66 points on the day, was helped by Szavay's 44 unforced errors.
Sharapova, playing in her second tournament since missing about nine months of play with a shoulder injury, had her fourth consecutive three-set match and took fewer points (86-78) than Na in the match.
Stricker rallies, wins in PGA playoff
FORT WORTH, Texas, May 31 (UPI) -- Steve Stricker birdied the second playoff hole Sunday to win the Crowne Plaza Invitational in Fort Worth, Texas, over Tim Clarke and Steve Marino.
Stricker forced a playoff by chipping in for birdie on the 17th hole of regulation and then dropping his second shot four feet from the pin on the second playoff hole, which by coincidence happened to be Colonial's No. 17.
Clark also was dead on with his approach, but his ball actually struck the stick and ricocheted 22 feet away, leaving him with a long birdie putt while Stricker was able to drain his putt for his first PGA win since 2007.
"I've had a lot of close calls this year and I finally pulled one out," Stricker said after his $1.1 million win.
Stricker finished the day with an up-and-down regulation round of two-under 68, 17-under 263 for the tournament.
