Injured Roddick Forced to Retire at Key Biscayne

Defending champion Andy Roddick lost his opening match Friday in the Nasdaq-100 Open at Key Biscayne, Fla., when a sprained right wrist forced him to retire from his match against Fernando Verdasco.

Verdasco led, 7-6 (9), 4-3, when the second-seeded Roddick called it quits. He received treatment twice during the second set but struggled in the final games, especially with his second serve.

Roddick said the injury, diagnosed as a mild sprain, occurred when he hit a forehand at 5-5 in the first set. The last defending champion to lose his opening match was Andre Agassi in 1997.

In the women’s draw, third-seeded Serena Williams opened her bid for a fourth consecutive Key Biscayne title by beating Vera Douchevina, 6-3, 6-0.

Justine Henin-Hardenne, playing her first match in six months, defeated Abigail Spears, 6-4, 6-3. Henin-Hardenne, seeded 19th, had been sidelined since the U.S. Open by a virus and knee injury.

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Golf

The second round of the Players Championship at Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., was postponed until this morning after rain saturated the Stadium Course and left half the fairways unplayable.

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College Swimming

Auburn didn’t win any individual titles, but the Tigers remained in first place after two days of the NCAA Division I men’s championships at Minneapolis. They have 338 points. Stanford is second with 300.

Florida set a championship meet record by winning the 800 freestyle relay with a time of 6:16.53, breaking the mark of 6:17.35 set in 2002 by USC.

USC’s Ous Mellouli won the 400 individual medley (3:39.19) and Arizona State’s Joona Puhakka won the three-meter springboard title for the second straight year.

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Soccer

Thomas Rongen and Javier Aguirre, roommates with the L.A. Aztecs of the old North American Soccer League in the late 1970s, tonight will be coaching Chivas USA and Osasuna of Spain, respectively, in an exhibition at the Home Depot Center at 7.

Chivas USA, a Major League Soccer expansion team, opens its season April 2 at home against defending champion D.C. United.

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Cycling

Vera Carrara held off Olga Slyusareva, the four-time world champion and Athens Olympics gold medalist, to win the women’s point race world title, 31-29, at the Track Cycling World Championships at the ADT Event Center in Carson.

Olympic bronze medalist Erin Mirabella of La Habra, who chose the wrong gear, finished 13th with no points.

In the men’s keirin final, Teun Mulder defeated Barry Forde. In the first heat of the event, Christian Stahl of Bethany, Conn., broke his collarbone in a crash. He was treated at a hospital and released.

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Boxing

Fernando Vargas, the former International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Assn. 154-pound champion who was sidelined by back and thyroid injuries, returns to the ring tonight for the first time in 15 months.

Vargas (24-2, 22 knockouts), of Oxnard, meets Ray Joval (33-3, 15) of the Netherlands in a 10-round middleweight bout at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.

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Miscellany

Todd Lodwick tied Lars Haugen for the most U.S. ski jumping championships when he won his seventh, capturing the normal hill competition at Steamboat Springs, Colo., to tie the 77-year-old record. He jumped 93 and 95.5 meters for 246 points.

John Dutton threw four of his eight touchdown passes to Willis Marshall, leading the Colorado Crush to a 66-58 victory over the Dallas Desperados in an Arena League game at Dallas.... Joe Hamilton threw six touchdown passes, leading the Orlando Predators to a 51-21 victory over the visiting Austin Wranglers.

A charity hockey game that was to be played April 15 at the Forum has been canceled because of logistical problems, organizers said. Also canceled was a game in Bakersfield, leaving games in Phoenix on April 19 and Vancouver on April 21 as the only dates of the Players’ Challenge tour.