Thompson still up at U.S. Open
SAN FRANCISCO, June 15 (UPI) -- Michael Thompson's three-stroke lead held up through early second-round play Friday at the U.S. Open in San Francisco.
Thompson had a 4-under-par 66 Thursday but had to wait for an afternoon tee time to play his second round. Tiger Woods and David Toms, who were to start their second rounds even later than Thompson, were tied for second place at 1-under.
Jim Furyk, the 2003 U.S. Open champion, pulled into a tie for second with a birdie on his 17th hole of the second round. Before that he had two birdies -- both on par 3s -- and two bogeys.
Grahame McDowell, who won the tournament in 2010 and ended Thursday tied with Woods and Toms, was as close as two strokes to Thompson but fell back with back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 5 and 6 -- his 15th and 16th holes of the round. He had four birdies and five bogeys through 16 holes Friday.
Furyk was among only four players under par in Friday's play when Thompson began his second round.
Blake Adams was 2-under after 13 holes and even for the tournament. Nicolas Colsaerts was 1-under for the round and 1-over after 36 holes and Brian Harman was 1-under after 14 to get to 6-over for the tournament.
The cut, which will allow the top 60 scores and ties to advance to the weekend, was predicted to come in about 9-over. Rory McIlroy, who won the 2011 Open in record-setting fashion, was at 10-over after his second round.
Kohlschreiber stuns Nadal on grass court
HALLE, Germany, June 15 (UPI) -- World No. 2 Rafael Nadal was beaten and third-ranked Roger Federer needed a third-set tiebreaker to advance in Friday's play at the Gerry Weber Open in Germany.
Nadal was playing his second match in two days after his victory in the French Open title match Monday. The short turnaround time was complicated by the switch from the clay courts of Roland Garros to the grass courts in Halle, Germany, and drawing defending champion and local hero Philipp Kohlschreiber as a quarterfinal opponent.
Kohlschreiber, who entered the day 0-8 lifetime versus Nadal, beat the Spanish star 6-3, 6-4 behind eight aces. It was just Nadal's fifth loss of the year.
Kohlschreiber converted two of his eight break chances while Nadal went 0-for-3 in trying to break the German. Kohlschreiber won 75 percent of the points on serve.
Federer improved to 3-0 in his career against Milos Raonic but all have gone three sets and twice to a third-set tiebreaker. That was the case Friday before Federer emerged with a 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) win.
Raonic fired off 25 aces but suffered the only break of the day. However, he didn't even manage a break point versus Federer, who lost 17 points over 17 service games.
Federer next takes on Mikhail Youzhny, who stopped Radek Stepanek 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Federer is 12-0 lifetime against Youzhny, losing just three sets in the series.
Kohlschreiber's semifinal opponent will be fellow German Tommy Haas, who ousted third-seeded Tomas Berdych 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. Kohlschreiber and Haas are 1-1 against each other with the matches in 2008 and 2009 at the Gerry Weber.
Rain again wins at AEGON Classic
BIRMINGHAM, England, June 15 (UPI) -- Rain led to the postponement for all four quarterfinal matches Friday at the AEGON Classic in England, leaving the quarters and semis to be played Saturday.
Weather has been an issue much of the week in Birmingham and washed out singles play completely Friday.
As a result quarterfinals pitting fourth-seeded Roberta Vinci against Zheng Jie, Melanie Oudin versus Irina Falconi and eighth-seeded Ekaterina Makarova across from 13th-seeded Hsieh Su-Wei are to begin at 11 a.m. Saturday in England.
A quarterfinal between Misaki Doi and fifth-seeded Jelena Jankovic is scheduled for center court after Vinci and Zheng finish up.
The semifinals follow on the same court after that.
Minella takes upset route to semifinals
BAD GASTEIN, Austria, June 15 (UPI) -- Mandy Minella dropped just four games in the last two sets in earning a berth in the semifinals of the Nurnberger Gastein Ladies tennis tournament in Austria.
Minella got by eighth-seeded Johanna Larsson 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the lone upset in Friday's four matches. She lost her serve twice in the final set but finished off all four of her break-point chances to claim the win.
She had two breaks evening the match in the second set.
Minella's semifinal opponent will be second-seeded Yanina Wickmayer, who defeated Yvonne Meusburger 6-3, 6-2. Wickmayer, despite losing her serve twice in the first set, won nearly two-thirds of the points on serve.
Third-seeded Ksenia Pervak advanced to the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Chichi Sholl. She finished off the match by taking 65 percent of the points in the second set.
No. 7-seeded Alize Cornet had little trouble in a 6-1, 6-2 win over Estrella Cabeza Candela. Cornet piled up seven breaks in eight receiving games.
Pervak, who draws Cornet in Saturday's semifinals, beat Cornet in straight sets in the first round of the Gastein Ladies last year in their only previous meeting. Wickmayer and Minella will be playing each other for the first time.
