tennis

Verdasco dedicates win to plane crash victims

Top-seeded Fernando Verdasco won his quarterfinal at the Pilot Pen on Thursday, beating Mischa Zverev 6-2, 7-6 (4) at New Haven, Conn.

The Spaniard said he was still mourning the death of the 153 people who died in the crash of a Spanair Flight at Madrid's Barajas Airport on Wednesday.

"I want to dedicate my victory today to all the victims and all the families of the victims in the flight in Madrid yesterday, and send them all of my support and everything of me that I can help for them," said Verdasco, who lives in Madrid. "It is my hometown and when this thing happened I felt so bad yesterday and today."

Verdasco, ranked No. 13 in the world, advanced to his fourth ATP Tour semifinal of the season and will face eighth-seeded Mardy Fish, a 6-3, 7-6 (4) winner over fellow American Jesse Levine.

There were two upsets in the women's draw.

Second-seeded Daniela Hantuchova lost 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Alize Cornet, who played with an injured left quadriceps muscle.

Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark defeated third-seeded Marion Bartoli 6-4, 6-0.

Querrey to face Berdych at U.S. Open: The U.S. Open announced the draws for the 2008 tournament and Thousand Oaks' Sam Querrey will face the No. 22 seed, Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, in a first-round match.

Querrey and Berdych played earlier this season at Miami in a ATP Masters Series event, with Berdych winning 6-1, 6-2.

On the women's side, Weil Academy player Gail Brodsky will face 13th-seeded Agnes Szavay of Hungary. Brodsky received a wild card into the main draw.

Head of men's tennis to step down in December: ATP president Etienne de Villiers, who introduced video replay and increased prize money on the men's tour, will step down when his contract expires in December.

De Villiers will leave the post after instigating a series of changes since taking over in June 2005, the ATP announced. He reshuffled the tour calendar, allowed byes for seeded players at Masters tournaments and introduced the Hawkeye system of judging line calls.

horse racing

Big Brown to run in Monmouth Stakes

Big Brown is heading back to the grass in preparation for the Breeders' Cup Classic.

The Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner will run in the Monmouth Stakes on Sept. 13, his first start on grass since breaking his maiden at Saratoga last year.

Big Brown co-owner Michael Iavarone said the 118-mile race will serve as the final tune-up for the 3-year-old colt before the Classic, which will be held on a synthetic surface at Santa Anita on October 25.

college football

Georgia Southern suspends eight players

Eight Georgia Southern players, including two projected starters, were suspended for the season opener against No. 1 Georgia for undisclosed violations of school rules.

Projected starting linebacker Terrione Benefield will miss one game and defensive back Ronnie Wiggins will miss two games. Coach Chris Hatcher said in a statement Wednesday that the suspensions are the result of a "violation of institutional rules."

Benefield, Raja Andrews, Charwell Brown, Brandavious Mann, and Damon Suggs will miss the Aug. 30 game against Georgia.

Wiggins, Zeke Rozier and Garryon Taylor were suspended for two games, and will miss the Sept. 6 home game against Austin Peay.

Hatcher said he is "disappointed" about the suspensions.

"When the institution's rules are not followed, then I will take immediate and appropriate action," Hatcher said.

He added that he expects the players "all to learn from not doing right and make positive contributions to our program this season."