FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2010 BASKETBALL
U.S. win against Russia is fulfilling
On anniversary of ’72 gold medal game,
team moves to semis ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chauncey Billupsmade the
promise. Kevin Durant made sure itwas kept. And by beating Russia on
Thursday in Istanbul, the Americans brought a little joy to one of the players who will never forget what happened against the Soviet Union ex- actly 38 years earlier. Durant scored 33 points to
lead the United States to an 89-79 victory that moved it within two wins of its first world basketball champion- shipsince 1994. The victory came on the an-
niversary of the SovietUnion’s winover theAmericans for the 1972 Olympic gold medal, a game with an ending so con- troversial the U.S. players re- fused to accept their silver medals. No player on the young
American team is old enough to remember that game — many are barely old enough to remember the Cold War. But MikeBantom, theNBA’ssenior vice president of player devel- opment, played on that U.S. teamand is in Turkeywith the Americans. “I told him today, ‘I know
nothing’s going to bring that back,man,butat leastwe’ll try to make you at least smile to- day,’ ”Billups said. “Andhewas like, ‘Yeah, that’dbenice.’ ” Durant ensured there
would be no worries at the finishof thisone,shooting11of 19 and just missing Carmelo Anthony’s world champion- ship teamrecord of 35 points, set in2006. “We’re going to go to him,”
U.S. Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “I’ve learned in coaching youshouldgetyourbestplayer the ball.” The United States will play
Saturday against Lithuania, which beat Argentina, 104-85. Host Turkey and Serbia will play inthe other semifinal. The United States and Rus-
sia havemetmany times since 1972, including a U.S. victory 16 years ago in Toronto that gave the Americans their last world championship. And there isn’t much of a rivalry anymore between the nations — the NBA even opened an office inMoscowonThursday. But thememory hasn’t fad-
ed of the clash in Munich, where the Sovietswere givena third chance after the Ameri- cans stoppedthemtwiceinthe final three seconds, and they eventually scored on the sec- ond do-over for a 51-50 victory — the Americans’ first Olym- pic loss after 63 victories. Russialookedpoisedtodeal
the Americans more heart- break, running its offensewell in the first half and capitaliz- ingonits sizeadvantageinside to frustrate theU.S. Then, leadingby only five in
the third quarter, the Ameri- cans finally began forcing the Russians intomistakes,which they turned into transition baskets that finally allowed themto shake free. Billups scored 15 points and
Russell Westbrook finished with 12, including seven in a row for the Americans when their athleticism finally turned away a Russian team that had the pace to its liking for the firsthalf. “I think some of us,we kind
of started off a little slow and then didn’t jump on themear- ly, and tonight that was a big problem for us,” Westbrook said. “Then second half, we kindof got into our rhythm.” Sergey Bykov scored 17
points for Russia, which ex- ceeded expectations in this tournament after coming to theworldswithout some of its toptalent. l LITHUANIA 104, ARGEN-
TINA 85: Lithuania advanced to the semifinals of the basket- ball world championship for thefirst time,hittingnineof its first 11 three-pointers to beat Argentina. Simas Jasaitis scored 16
points for Lithuania, which had seven players in double digits. Carlos Delfino of the Mil-
waukee Bucks scored 25 for Argentina, which missed its first 11 three-point attempts.
DON EMMERT/AGENCE-FRANCE PRESSE VIA GETTY IMAGES
Twelfth-seededMikhail Youzhny, who also made the semifinals of theU.S. Open in 2006, makes a backhand volley in his 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 triumph over StanislasWawrinka.His semifinal opponent will be top seed RafaelNadal, who beat FernandoVerdasco, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.
Nadal sweeps into U.S. Open semis
Top seed beats Verdasco; Youzhny outlasts Wawrinka
BY LIZ CLARKE
flushing meadows, n.y. — With an evil wind gusting and a hard-hitting countryman across the net, Rafael Nadal faced the most daunting challenge yet Thursday in his quest to win the 2010U.S. Open. And for the first 20 minutes of
hisquarterfinal againstFernando Verdasco, it looked as if the men’s final that tennis fans long to see on Sunday, pitting top-ranked Nadal against five-timeU.S. Open champion Roger Federer, might be derailed. Verdasco declared himself a
threat by breaking Nadal’s serve just three games into the match, achieving something no player had managed to do in Nadal’s 62 previous service games. But onceNadal found his bear-
ings, a match that started out close turned into a rout, with Nadal advancing to his third con- secutiveU.S. Open semifinal with a 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 victory. He’ll face 12th-seeded Mikhail
Youzhny, who halted Stanislas Wawrinka’s surprising run with a 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory earlier in the day. The tournament’s other men’s
semifinal will pit second-seeded Federer against third-seeded No- vak Djokovic. Both will be con- tested Saturday afternoon, fol- lowed by the women’s final that night. Of the eight men to reach the
U.S. Open quarterfinals, none la- bored longer on court than Swit- zerland’s Wawrinka, the lowest ranked and most lightly regarded among them. In toppling fourth-seeded
AndyMurray and favored Ameri- can Sam Querrey in succession to reach a Grand Slam’s final eight for the first time, the 25th-seeded
DON EMMERT/AGENCE-FRANCE PRESSE VIA GETTY IMAGES
Wawrinka, theNo. 25 seed, reacts with dismay during thematch, which ended his notable run that included marathon wins over fourth-seeded AndyMurray and rising American star Sam Querrey.
Wawrinka scored a victory for overachievers everywhere and, for a moment, shared the spot- light with his more accomplished countryman, Federer. That moment came to an end
Thursday, but only afterWawrin- ka had given all he had to give in his in his second five-setmatch in three days. Youzhny capped his triumph
by saluting fans on each side of the cavernous venue in turn. He was humble about matching his career achievement, a semifinal appearance at the 2006 U.S. Open, during his on-court inter- viewafterward. “It was close [at] first,” said
Youzhny, 28, who fell behind, two sets to one, before mounting his comeback. “I [didn’t] do some- thing special. . . .Maybe I was just a little bit luckier than him.” Asked if he were prepared to
become the villain in the eyes of tennis fans worldwide by derail- ing a potential Nadal-Federer fi- nal, Youzhny smiled broadly and said: “Yeah, I’mready to be a bad person. I love to be a bad person in this case.” When the 2010 U.S. Open be- gan, neither Youzhny, the second-
best player in Russia, nor Wawrinka, the second-best player in Switzerland, was given much of chance of surviving beyond the tournament’s first week. But they surpassed expecta-
tions largely on stubbornness alone in the face of brutal condi- tions—first sweltering heat, then aggravating wind. Wawrinka, his left thigh heavi-
ly taped, came out the aggressor and won the opening set handily. Youzhnywona close second set
in a tiebreak, and Wawrinka stormed back to retake the lead in the third set. But as the match dragged on,
Wawrinka’s serve lost its pop and his groundstrokes lost their effec- tiveness. Youzhny said he tried hard not
to notice Wawrinka’s bandaged leg at that point or even let the thought that his opponent might be injured entered his mind. Over the match’s four-hour du-
ration, the players won exactly the same number of points (154). But in Wawrinka’s case, winning those points got more difficult down the stretch, when it mat- tered most. With the wind complicating
both players’ shot-making, Wawrinka finished with 71 un- forced errors to Youzhny’s 57. “I made some big mistakes, but
after four hours you’re really tired,” said Wawrinka, who had spent 12 hours 27 minutes on court to reach the quarterfinals compared to Federer’s low of 6:56. “I was tired. So it’s not always easy to think and to play the right drop shots or to play the good point and not to break the racket. But after the match, I just knowthat I try everything. I think he was just a little bit better today.” Nadal, 24, improved to 11-0 in
his career against Verdasco, 26. The last time the Spaniards met on hard courts, in the semifinals of the 2009 Australian Open, they played the longest men’s singles match in tournament history (5 hours 14 minutes). Thursday, however, Nadal finished matters in 2:22. Earlier Thursday, Americans
LiezelHuber and Bob Bryan won the U.S. Open’s mixed doubles title, defeating Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic and Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan, 6-4, 6-4. It was the first of two potential
U.S. Open titles for Bryan and Qureshi alike, who’ll meet Friday in the men’s doubles final. Qureshi and his doubles part-
ner Rohan Bopanna, who is from India, have earned a growing fan base because of the message of peace their pairing symbolizes. Pakistan and India have fought three wars since 1947,andtension between the neighboring coun- tries remain high because of deeply held politicalandreligious differences. Bryan addressed the broader
significance of his rivals; success during the mixed-doubles trophy presentation on Arthur Ashe Sta- dium Thursday. “What him and Bopanna are
doing for world peace is incredi- ble,” Bryan said to warm ap- plause.
clarkel@washpost.com Arlington’s Kudla advances on big stage
He overcomes nerves to make quarterfinals of U.S. Open juniors
BY LIZ CLARKE
flushing meadows, n.y.— It was a day of firsts for Arlington’s DenisKudla,who,at 18, iscompet- ing in the U.S. Open junior boys’ tournament one last time. With a spot in the quarterfinals
at stake, Kudla’s third-round match against fellow American and good friend Evan King was contested at 10,103-seat Louis Armstrong Stadium, one of the more imposing venues intennis. That meant players could use
the sport’s Hawk-Eye challenge system to contest questionable line calls—a technology that isn’t available on the smaller side courts to which juniors are typi- cally assigned. It alsomeant that a radar gun clocked the speed of each serve and displayed the re- sults for all to see. Moreover, the Tennis Channel
aired the match live, with none other than five-time U.S. Open champion Jimmy Connors and two-time champion Tracy Austin critiquing the teenagers’play. Kudla’s chief fear was that his
first serve would be measured at an anemic 50 mph — or worse,
that his second serve would be so slow it would fail to trigger the radar gunat all. The anxiety was unfounded, as
Kudla advanced to the quarterfi- nals,matchinghis achievement of last year, with a 6-7 (7-5), 7-5, 6-4 victory overKing,who earned Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors last seasonatMichigan. Later, Annandale’s Mitchell
Frank, 17, who has trained with Kudla since childhood at the Ju- nior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, fell to No. 2 seed MartonFucsovicsofHungary,6-4, 6-1. In reaching the third round, Frank improvedhis showing from last year, when he lost in the first round. In the junior girls’ tournament,
wild cardRobinAnderson ofMat- ewan, N.J., who trained this sum- mer at the College Park center, upset eighth-seeded Laura Rob- sonofBritain, 6-3, 6-2. It was the fourth time in as
manymatches that Kudla lost his opening set (in this case, despite taking a 4-0 lead in the tiebreak) but ralliedfor the victory. On this day, therewere compli-
cating factors at play: the fact that King is a good friend and team- mate on theU.S. JuniorDavis Cup team, for one, and the gusting wind. “I tried not to miss because it
was windy,” Kudla said, asked about thelongrallies,at leastuntil he started forcing the action by coming to net. “But [King] was doing the same thing and staying with[it].SoI thought, ‘Ihave todo something else! I actually have to win these points!’ The only way I could figure it out, instead of hit- ting 500 balls down the middle, was come to the net and try to finish. Luckily I volleyed well to- day, andithelpedme.” Connors praised the 5-foot-10
Kudla each time he seized the initiative and came to net and chided himwhen he hung behind the baseline and traded endless
groundstrokes. “Now that was a smart play!”
ConnorsexultedafterKudladrove an approach shot deep and fol- lowed with a crisp volley into the opencourt. Kudla, who turned pro at 17,
saidhefelthewasplayingbetterin this year’s tournament because he wasn’t putting as much pressure on himself as he had in years past. He reachedashighasNo. 3 earlier this year; in the pro rankings, he’s 611th.
clarkel@washpost.com
KLMNO TENNIS
EZ SU OLYMPICS
USOC to pay IOC nearly $20million to heal rift
BY AMY SHIPLEY The U.S. Olympic Commit-
tee has agreed to pay the International Olympic Com- mittee nearly$20million over the next two years in a deal designed to help bring an end to a longstanding and acrimo- nious financial dispute be- tween the two organizations, according to two sources briefed on the information. USOC officials, still smart-
ing over the losses of New York and Chicago in the re- cent races for the 2012 and 2016 Summer Games, respec- tively, hope the agreement helps placate international sports officials who have been angry and resentful about the USOC’s portion of overall Olympic revenue, which many claim is excessive. “This is a big step in the
right direction,” said Gerhard Heiberg, the chairman of the IOC’s marketing commission, in a phone interview from Sweden. “They are sending money back to cover parts of Games’ costs.” The deal, however, is only a
first step, and an interim one at that. Heiberg andUSOC officials
say they hope Thursday’s an- nouncement will provide a launching pad for renegotia- tion of the controversial 1996 deal that gave the USOC a 20 percent piece of the IOC’s top- tier sponsorship revenue and 12.75 percent of theU.S. televi- sion rights fees. In the past, USOC officials
have been reluctant to give back money or discuss chang- ing those percentages, saying they areowedamoresubstan- tial piece of the pie because of the heavy contributions of U.S. sponsors and television rights fees. Thursday’s deal, brokered by Heiberg and USOC Chairman Larry Prob- st, suggests a softening of that position, though it did not alter that contract. “For a long, long time,some
people in the Olympic move- ment felt like the revenue- sharing might have been un- fairly tilted in our favor,” USOC Chief Executive Scott Blackmun said in a phone interview from Colorado Springs. “We’re moving signif- icant amounts of money di- rectly within the Olympic movement.” Blackmun, however, ac- knowledged that the IOC’s July signing of Dow Chemical to one of the organization's premier sponsorship packag- es, which brought an influx of funds to the USOC through the 1996 deal, helped facili- tate the move. “Without the Dow deal, we would have had to take the money from other programs,” he said. The USOC and IOC, which
did not officially release the terms of the deal, said it rep- resented “a significant finan- cial contribution” from the USOC toward paying various administrative costs accrued staging an Olympic Games. Those costs include paying for arbitration panels for dis- putes and funding a massive drug-testing program. A deal under previous
USOC leadership that would have required the USOC to pay $12 million in cash and $12 million in value-in-kind over four years fell apart be- cause the USOC refused to send themoney directly to the IOC, according to a source familiar with those talks. It wantedto give the cash direct- ly to other national Olympic committees. “We found a solution,”
Heiberg said. “It’s as impor- tant to theUSOC as it is to the IOC.”
shipleya@washpost.com
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