Justine Henin advances at Unicef Open
Justine Henin reached the semifinals of the Unicef Open at Den Bosch, Netherlands, without dropping a set in the Wimbledon warmup tournament.
Henin defeated Kristina Barrois 7-5, 6-3 to set up a match with fifth-seeded Alexandra Dulgheru, who beat Yaroslava Shvedova, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
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Kim Clijsters lost 7-6 (6), 6-4 to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the quarterfinals of the Eastbourne grass-court tournament at Eastbourne, England.
Clijsters dropped just three games in her opening two matches but the Belgian player struggled against Azarenka, who reeled off four games in a row to close out the match.
Third-seeded Samantha Stosur beat Britain’s Elena Baltacha 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-0 to reach her fifth semifinal of the year, and eighth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France edged Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (5).
In the men’s event, eighth-seeded Michael Llodra, ended the comeback of fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-1, 6-3. Llodra will face Alexandr Dolgopolov, who defeated James Ward, 6-3, 6-4.
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez defeated fourth-seeded Julien Benneteau, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (2), and Denis Istomin beat Illya Marchenko, 6-1, 6-4.
HOCKEY
Blues aquire Jaroslav Halak from Canadiens
The St. Louis Blues have acquired goaltender Jaroslav Halak, whose stellar play helped the Montreal Canadiens reach the Eastern Conference finals, for former first-round pick Lars Eller and another prospect.
The 25-year-old Halak won a pair of Game 7s and helped Montreal bounce heavily favored Washington and Pittsburgh out of the playoffs. He won three straight games and eliminated the Capitals by stopping 131 of 134 shots.
Both Canadiens goalies, Halak and Carey Price, are due to become restricted free agents on July 1. Chris Mason, the Blues’ starting goalie the last two seasons, is due for unrestricted free agency.
The 21-year-old Eller, a center, was among of the Blues’ top prospects. St. Louis also sent forward Ian Schultz, a third-round pick in 2008, to Montreal.
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New Jersey Devils all-time leading goal scorer John MacLean was named their coach on Thursday, replacing the retired Jacques Lemaire.
MacLean, 45, spent last season coaching the Devils’ American Hockey League affiliate in Lowell, Massachusetts, and led the team to its only playoff appearance in four seasons.
MacLean played for 19 years, 14 with the Devils. He is New Jersey’s leading goal-scorer with 347. He also played for San Jose, the New York Rangers and Dallas.
PRO BASKETBALL
The Philadelphia 76ers have traded Samuel Dalembert to the Sacramento Kings for Andres Nocioni and Spencer Hawes.
Dalembert was Philadelphia’s longest-tenured player, but he never developed into a dominant force after being drafted in the first round in 2001. The 6-foot-11 center averaged 8.1 points and 8.3 rebounds over eight seasons. Nocioni, a 6-foot-7 forward, averaged 8.5 points for the Kings last season.
CYCLING
Robert Gesink of the Netherlands won the grueling sixth stage of the Tour of Switzerland and claimed the race leader’s jersey on Thursday, while Lance Armstrong showed he was returning to top form by finishing fifth.
Gesink, who trailed race leader Tony Martin of Germany by 27 seconds before Thursday’s stage, went on the attack on the third and final climb of the day to claim victory ahead of a group of eight riders led by Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran and Armstrong.
Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France winner, faced his stiffest test since last year’s Tour during the 132 1/2-mile ride between Meiringen and La Punt, Switzerland, that included three major Alpine climbs.
Armstrong, whose season has been hampered by illness and a crash, crossed the line 42 seconds back. He moved up to seventh overall, 55 seconds behind Gesink, who leads Uran by 29 seconds.
Armstrong is riding his last event before the Tour starts on July 3 in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
BASEBALL
Braves third baseman Chipper Jones said he won’t be making a decision on retirement until after the season.
After indicating for two days that he was close to announcing whether to call it a career, Jones told reporters before Thursday’s game against Tampa Bay that he won’t be discussing “the R word” anymore until the season is over.