SUNDAY, MAY 30, 2010
KLMNO
TENNIS
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D3
Ginepri suddenly last American man standing at French Open
Roddick, Bryan twins fall in straight sets at Roland Garros
Associated Press
paris — Saturday did not get off to a particularly auspicious start for Americans in Paris.
Playing simultaneously across the Roland Garros grounds in the morning, Andy Roddick lost in straight sets, the top-seeded Bry- an twins did the same in doubles, and Serena Williams felt so dizzy and weak while dropping five consecutive games that she sought a doctor’s attention before eventually turning things around.
And then, as daylight gave way
to dusk amid an intermittent drizzle, Robby Ginepri, of Kenne- saw, Ga., pulled off quite a victory, upsetting 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, 7-5, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4, to give the United States one man in the fourth round.
“Obviously you want as many Americans in the tournament as you can,” Ginepri said. “But if I’m the last man standing, you know,
so be it.” His run at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament is really rather unlikely, and not just because he had to beat two seeded players along the way. Consider: Ginepri doesn’t have a coach, is ranked 98th, and hadn’t won a main- draw match on clay this year be- fore arriving at the French Open. Indeed, before his 3-0 streak over the past week, Ginepri boasted a
SOCCER
United’s scoreless drought ends at last
Three-goal outburst
snaps three-game losing streak
by Matt Brooks
Through 90 minutes of Sat-
JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST
Jozy Altidore, right, fights for possession with Turkey’s Servet Cetin. Altidore scored in the 58th minute to tie the score.
U.S. team shakes off bad start to win
soccer from D1
“The type of game we were in
today pushed the players really hard, and that’s what you want,” said U.S. Coach Bob Bradley, whose squad will play its last tuneup next Saturday against Australia in Roodepoort, South Africa. “The response in the second half was a strong one. . . . When you consider everything that has gone on in the last few weeks [at training camp and in these friendlies], it pushes us into a good position, and now we are ready to move on to South Afri- ca.” They’re in a good position, not
a great one. Questions remain about the back line personnel. Jonathan Spector, the projected starter at right back against Eng- land, was left behind against swift counterattacks and asser- tive runs. His troubles came four days after the Americans were exposed on the left side, albeit with reserves. Bradley’s lineup was at almost full strength against Turkey, which didn’t qualify for the
World Cup. And in the first half, the Americans were outpaced and outclassed. Arda Turan scored in the 27th minute and the United States didn’t threaten until the closing minutes. The introduction of Torres and
Findley helped turned the match. Torres, an enigma since join- ing the national team two years ago, distributed the ball with pre- cision and purpose from central midfield, and, for a change, pro- vided defensive assistance. “We knew we had to change
the rhythm of the game,” said Torres, who started Tuesday and, admittedly, was “a little stiff” against the Czechs. Findley, the most controversial choice to the final roster, pres- sured the Turkish defenders with his speed and helped initiate the second goal. His pace “opened them up,” Clint Dempsey said. “They were a little bit more scared, they dropped back and we were able to get into those pockets.” Not so much in the first half.
Turkey dictated play and went ahead when no one covered for Spector, who had made an ambi-
tious run and was left behind on the counterattack. Turan gath- ered Colin Kazim-Richards’s long through ball in stride on the left flank and beat Howard. Said Bradley, “We actually put
a little bit of initial pressure [af- ter losing possession], but the next level of reactions was not that good.” After the personnel moves at
halftime, the Americans seized control. Donovan, so quiet in the first half, was active and en- gaged, creating on the right side — a position he rarely plays for the U.S. team but excelled in while on loan with English club Everton this past winter. In the 58th minute, the Amer- icans drew even on a perfectly crafted sequence. It began with Jay DeMerit launching a long ball to Findley, who served an outstanding chip over a defender to Donovan. With goalkeeper Volkan Demi- rel charging, Donovan used a quick touch to continue his run and then cross to Jozy Altidore for a simple finish from six yards. Maintaining their rhythm and shape, the Americans dictated
play and, in the 75th minute, went ahead. Donovan gathered Steve Cherundolo’s throw-in and sent the ball through to Demp- sey, who won a battle with Sabri Sarioglu deep in the box and stabbed a shot past Demirel. Said Donovan, “To know that we can be down against a good team and have the ability — in a really intelligent way — to push the game and make it faster and be more aggressive without giv- ing up things in the back, is really good for us.”
goffs@washpost.com
Turkey........................................ 1 0 — 1 United States ........................... 0 2 — 2
First half: 1, Turkey, Turan (Kazim-Richards), 27th minute.
Second half: 2, United States, Altidore (Donovan), 58th minute. 3, United States, Dempsey (Dono- van), 75th minute. Yellow Cards: Clark, US, 42nd; Topal, Tur, 56th; Zan, Tur, 90th.
Lineups
Turkey: Volkan Demirel (GK), Servet Cetin, Gok- han Zan, Caglar Birinci, Emre Belozoglu, Hamit Al- tintop (Semih Senturk, 73rd), Arda Turan (Ozan Ipek, 90th), Selcuk Inan (Mehmet Topal, 52nd) Sa- bri Sarioglu, Tuncay Sanli (Nihat Kahvechi, 77th), Colin Kazim-Richards (Sercan Yildirim, 59th) United States: Tim Howard (GK), Jonathan Spec- tor (Steve Cherundolo, 46th), Jay Demerit, Clar- ence Goodson (Oguchi Onyewu, 46th), Carlos Bo- canegra (Jonathan Bornstein, 75th); Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark (Jose Torres, 46th), Landon Donovan, Benny Feilhaber (Robbie Findley, 46th); Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore (Stuart Holden, 81st) A: 55,407.
urday’s match with Chivas USA, D.C. United dominated posses- sion and created chance after chance in front of the goal only to watch Chivas goalkeeper Zach Thornton fend off shot af- ter shot to keep his team in a thoroughly one-sided contest. But when the game seemed destined for a frustrating draw, United found a way around Thornton. After drawing contact in the box on several first-half runs, Santino Quaranta chased a loose ball in the box in stoppage time, forcing Thornton to charge. The keeper’s hands-first slide tripped Quaranta, draw- ing a red card and leaving de- fender Dario Delgado in net for the ensuing penalty shot. Unit- ed defender Carey Talley’s shot found the open left side of the net to snap a three-game losing streak in MLS play and cap an offensive explosion in a 3-2 vic- tory at RFK Stadium. Fresh off a 3-2 victory over AC
Milan on Wednesday, United returned to league play looking to carry the offensive spark that has been lacking all season be- fore a crowd of 13,043. From the outset, United looked nothing like the team that came into the match with only four goals on the season and riding a 326- minute scoreless drought in league play, creating chances with fast play on the flanks and balance up top. With three for- wards in the starting lineup, United found a number of clean looks at the goal in the opening minutes, forcing Thornton to react quickly and often in tight space.
Despite United’s possession dominance, Chivas converted its best early chance against the flow of play as Justin Braun charged down the right side, fended off Talley and slotted a shot underneath a charging Bill Hamid to give the visitors a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute. But United continued to press forward and ten minutes later, 19-year-old midfielder An- dy Najar — whose pace and creativity on the right side near- ly gave United a goal in the sec- ond minute — found himself
record of 1-7 in tour-level matches this season.
Also winning Saturday: No. 3- seeded Novak Djokovic, Ginepri’s next opponent; No. 7 Fernando Verdasco, No. 11 Mikhail Youzh- ny, and No. 19 Nicolas Almagro. No. 6 Roddick, though, lost 6-4,
6-4, 6-2 to 114th-ranked qualifier Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia, and acknowledged: “I got out- played from the first ball.”
There were no significant sur- prises in the women’s matches that were completed, with the No. 1-seeded Williams, No. 4 Jele- na Jankovic and No. 7 Sam Stosur reaching the fourth round. The last two Frenchwomen in the draw were eliminated by other seeded players: No. 13 Marion Bartoli lost to No. 18 Shahar Peer, and No. 15 Aravane Rezai lost to No. 19 Nadia Petrova.
unmarked at the back of the box when Rodney Wallace’s cross came in from the left side. With plenty of time and space to receive, Najar headed the ball past Thornton into the left side of the net to record his first career goal and snap the team’s scoreless drought in MLS play at 351 minutes. Thornton made a pair of stel-
lar saves on Danny Allsopp, with the first coming on a one- timer from Najar’s cross in the second minute. Early in the sec- ond half, Allsopp again found a lane up the middle as he fended off a pair of defenders and forced Thornton to make a slid- ing left-footed save to keep the scored knotted at 1. After watching the opposing
goalie fend off shot after shot with nearly all of his appendag- es, United (2-8-0) finally caught a break in the 75th minute when Delgado slid in front of a diving Thornton, deflecting the ball off the left post and onto the foot of United substitute Adam Cristman, who tapped the ball into the open net to give United a 2-1 lead. But again, Chivas (3-7-1) responded when Maykel Galindo beat a pair of United defenders and slid a shot through Hamid’s legs to tie the score again at 2. United returns to action Sat-
urday when it hosts Real Salt Lake before a stretch of four straight road matches.
matt.brooks@
wpost.com
GALAXY 2, CREW 0: In Co-
lumbus, Ohio, Michael Ste- phens scored his first career goal and Los Angeles extended its shutout streak to 456 min- utes, leaving the Galaxy as the only unbeaten team in Major League Soccer.
Stephens, a rookie from
UCLA, was unmarked on the left side of the penalty area when he took a pass from Chris Birchall and shot the ball into the lower left corner in the 10th minute. Tristan Bowen added his first MLS goal in the 87th minute. It was the latest two unbeat- en teams have met in MLS his- tory. In 2000, Los Angeles and Kansas City had not lost when they met in the eighth game and played to a scoreless draw. The Galaxy (9-0-2) have al- lowed two goals overall and none while going 5-0-1 on the road. They haven’t lost in 14 regular-season games (11-0-3) since September, while the Crew (6-1-2) saw its four-game home winning streak snapped.
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