Associated Press
WINSTON-SALEM ó Top-seeded Andy Roddick rolled to a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Argentina’s Juan Monaco on Thursday afternoon in the Winston-Salem Open quarterfinals.
Roddick will take on fellow American John Isner in todayís semifinals. Isner rallied past eighth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 earlier Thursday.
Roddick needed just more than an hour on a hot afternoon as he dominated with his serve, getting his first serve in 81 percent of the time.
“I didn’t feel too much of the heat, to be honest,” Roddick said. “I always have done OK in it. I didn’t think about it too much out there.”
In the other quarterfinal matches, France’s Julien Bennetau, a qualifier, rallied from a set down to beat ninth-seeded Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 3-6, 7-6 (9), 6-2 and 10th-seeded Robin Haase of the Netherlands beat Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 6-4 in a match that lasted 1 hour.
NEW YORK ó Top-ranked Novak Djokovic is seeded No. 1 at the U.S. Open for the first time, followed by defending champion Rafael Nadal and five-time winner Roger Federer.
GOLF
EDISON, N.J. ó Harrison Frazar is leading The Barclays. All anyone wanted to talk about was Irene.
Whatever enthusiasm there was for start of the FedEx Cup playoffs was dampened Thursday ó first by rain that halted the first round for nearly three hours, then from the gloomy forecast of Hurricane Irene.
Of the early starters ó who didn’t finish until mid-afternoon ó Frazar led an onslaught of birdies on rain-softened Plainfield Country Club, shooting a 7-under 64.
MIRABEL, Quebec ó Ai Miyazato and Pernilla Lindberg shot 7-under 65s in wet conditions to share the lead in the Canadian Women’s Open, while Michelle Wie was two strokes back in her title defense.
NASCAR
Late Wednesday
BRISTOL, Tenn. ó Kevin Harvick extended his winning streak in the NASCAR Trucks Series, while Sprint Cup rival Kyle Busch’s winning streak at Bristol Motor Speedway came to a crashing halt.
Harvick raced to his third straight Trucks victory, holding off John Sauter. Coming off victories at Pocono and Michigan, Harvick led the final 103 laps en route to his 12th career Trucks win.
DENVER ó NASCAR driver Ronnie Hults has been suspended indefinitely after testing positive for marijuana, but Hults says he got the drug legally as a prescription for chronic pain.
NFL
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. ó Tim Tebow and Brady Quinn each took snaps with the Denver Broncos’ first-team offense Thursday after starting quarterback Kyle Orton was excused mid-practice, presumably to be with his pregnant wife.
Coach John Fox said he felt both Tebow and Quinn, who are competing for the backup quarterback job, handled the change well after a bumpy start.
Based on the workload Tebow has received this week, it appears he’ll replace Orton after the starters play about three quarters Saturday night against Seattle.
Tebow only played a handful of snaps against Buffalo last week, when Quinn played well in relief of Orton.
NAPA, Calif. ó Quarterback Terrelle Pryor agreed to a four-year contract with the Oakland Raiders on Thursday, three days after being picked in the third round of the NFL supplemental draft.
FLANAGAN DIES
BALTIMORE ó Mike Flanagan, a former Cy Young winner and part of the Baltimore Orioles’ 1983 World Series championship team, has died. He was 59.
Authorities found a body outside Flanagan’s home in Monkton, Md., on Wednesday afternoon. Hours later, the Orioles confirmed that Flanagan ó who served the team as a pitcher, front office executive and television broadcaster ó was dead.
Flanagan was a crafty left-hander who went 167-143 with a 3.90 ERA over 18 seasons with Baltimore and Toronto. He didn’t possess an overpowering fastball, but won a fair share of games by depending on a slow curve, a sinker and a changeup.
An All-Star in 1978, Flanagan received the Cy Young Award with the Orioles in 1979 after going 23-9 with a 3.08 ERA and five shutouts. The Orioles lost the World Series that year in seven games to Pittsburgh.