Nadal rolls on; Federer wins but struggles again

Rafael Nadal extended his record winning streak on clay to 78 matches Wednesday by beating Oscar Hernandez, 7-5, 6-1, to reach the third round of the Hamburg Masters in Germany and a matchup with the last player to beat him on clay.

Earlier, Roger Federer struggled to beat Juan Monaco, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, in the second round.

Federer will next play Juan Carlos Fererro, who converted his fifth match point to beat Marat Safin, 6-3, 7-6 (15), after Safin had squandered five set points.

Nadal, seeded second behind Federer, cruised after clinching the first set. Nadal is looking for his tour-leading fifth title of the year.

He next faces Igor Andreev, who beat Nadal in the Valencia Open quarterfinals on April 8, 2005. Andreev beat Philipp Kohlschreiber, 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-4.

Also, Carlos Moya upset 10th-seeded Tomas Berdych, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (6), and James Blake, seeded eighth, defeated Arnaud Clement, 6-2, 6-3.

Top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo was upset by 29th-ranked Samantha Stosur, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (7), in the second round of the Italian Open at Rome.

Fifth-seeded Jill Craybas lost to Aleksandra Wozniak, 6-7 (2), 6-0, 6-3, and sixth-seeded Vania King lost to Ralurca Olaru, 6-4, 6-2, in the second round of the Grand Prix SAR Princess Lalla Meryem at Fez, Morocco.

Martina Hingis, a runner-up at Roland Garros in 1997 and ‘99, pulled out of the French Open because of a hip injury. On the men’s side, Marco Ancic withdrew because he’s still recovering from mononucleosis, and Nicolas Kiefer and Paradorn Srichaphan are out because of wrist injuries.

PRO FOOTBALL

Bears’ Tank Johnson meets with Goodell

Chicago Bears defensive tackle Tank Johnson met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss legal problems that landed the player in jail, but no discipline was immediately handed down by the league.

The meeting in New York came three days after Johnson was released from the Cook County (Ill.) Jail, where he served 60 days of a 120-day sentence for violating probation on a weapons charge.

NFL spokesman Randall Liu said he did not know when Goodell would make a decision on whether to suspend Johnson.

Minnesota Vikings first-round draft pick Adrian Peterson will not need surgery to repair a broken left collarbone.

Team doctors said that the injury was healing on its own and that they will not have to insert a protective plate to prevent further injury.

NFL owners next week will discuss shortening the time for each pick in the first two rounds of the draft.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

North Carolina’s Wright to remain in NBA draft

North Carolina forward Brandan Wright signed with an agent and will remain an NBA draft candidate.

It isn’t a surprise; Coach Roy Williams said last month that he was 99.99% sure the 6-foot-9 forward wouldn’t return to campus next season, even though Wright left open the possibility by not initially hiring an agent.

Huntington (W.Va.) High 6-8 power forward Patrick Patterson, whose teammate O.J. Mayo will attend USC, announced that he had chosen Kentucky over Florida.

Winthrop basketball player DeAndre Adams died Wednesday, four days after suffering head injuries in a car accident. The 20-year-old guard had been in a coma since the accident Saturday.

MISCELLANY

John Andretti to give Indy 500 another try

John Andretti is coming back to his racing roots, at least for one more try at winning the Indianapolis 500.

Andretti, who has spent the last dozen years in NASCAR, joined Panther Racing as a teammate of Vitor Meira and Kosuke Matsuura for the May 27 race.

It would be his first competition in the Indy Racing League, which began two years after his last appearance in an Indy car in 1994.

The 44-year-old nephew of former Indy winner Mario Andretti and cousin of Michael and Marco Andretti drove in seven Indy 500s from 1988 to 1994.

John Andretti, who still must take the final two phases of a refresher test, did not practice Wednesday. Meira tested Andretti’s car, though, and had a top lap of just over 215 mph.

The fastest among the 27 drivers on the track was Danica Patrick at 221.189. Scott Dixon was next at 220.556, followed by defending champion Sam Hornish Jr. at 220.484 and Marco Andretti at 220.399.

Sevilla became only the second team to successfully defend a UEFA Cup title, beating Espanyol, 3-1, in penalty kicks after finishing regulation and 30 minutes of extra time tied, 2-2, at Glasgow, Scotland.

Goalkeeper Andres Palop stopped three kicks and Frederic Kanoute, Ivica Dragutinovic and Antonio Puerta scored in the tiebreaker for Sevilla.

Pepperdine sophomore right-hander Brett Hunter has been selected to the 2007 USA Baseball national team.

Also among the first 11 players picked for the team was San Diego sophomore outfielder/left-hander Josh Romanski, a former standout at Norco High.

Encinitas surfer Damien Hobgood edged Australia’s Mick Fanning, 16.60 to 16.20, in the final of the Billabong Pro Tahiti at Teahupoo.

The triumph, in the third of 10 Foster’s ASP World Tour events, propels Hobgood into third place in the points standings. Fanning is ranked first and fellow Aussie Taj Burrow is second.

Gymnast Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs, who won a bronze medal in balance beam at the 2006 world championships, has signed a national letter of intent to attend UCLA.

Hopfner-Hibbs, of Toronto, will enroll in fall 2008 after the Beijing Olympics.