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Cat-loving chihuahua suckles seven abandoned kittens
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Hitchens leads Zips in second-half comeback
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Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
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Holmgren expresses interest in Browns position
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Kent State blown out in second half, loses to Temple 47-13
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Gameblog: Cavs vs. Philadelphia 76ers
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OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
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Four area football teams play tonight
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Headed For Disaster
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Will Health Care Reform Pass?
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TIME TO GET YOUR COLLECTOR CARS WINTERIZED
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Silverdome Potentially SOLD!
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Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
HRLite House:
Colloquium at University of Akron
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
Next opponent is new to ATP finals
Published on Sunday, Aug 17, 2008
From Beacon Journal wire services
Juan Martin del Potro hasn't lost in more than a month, winning all three tournaments he's played since the start of July.
Viktor Troicki has never played in an ATP final, but he'll have a chance to end del Potro's 18-match winning streak today in the final of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington.
Del Potro earned a spot in the final with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Tommy Haas on Saturday. Troicki beat Igor Kunitsyn 6-4, 6-2 later in the day.
Troicki beat top-seeded Andy Roddick to get to the semifinal, but he should have an even tougher test against second-seeded del Potro. The 19-year-old has the second best winning streak on the ATP this year, behind Rafael Nadal's 32 in a row.
''I'm very, very confident,'' del Potro said. ''And I have to use that confidence tomorrow.''
In del Potro's semifinal match against fourth-seeded Haas, del Potro won eight consecutive games starting when he broke Haas for a 3-2 lead in the first set. Haas finally held serve again to make it 4-1 in the second.
''When I broke him, my coach told me 'Tommy looks more tired than you, so try to use that and play longer points,' '' del Potro said. ''That was easy, because I served very good and I didn't miss easy balls.''
Haas said the Argentine simply outmatched him.
''It seemed like I was a step slower, playing with his kind of power point after point,'' Haas said.
Del Potro has only lost two sets during his 18-match run, which includes wins in Stuttgart, Germany, the Austrian Open and the Countrywide Classic in Los Angeles. His last loss came in the second round of Wimbledon on June 25.
The Argentine is ranked No. 19 after starting the year at No. 50.
More tennis: Dechy reaches final
• Nathalie Dechy reached her first final in four years with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 upset of fifth-seeded Amelie Mauresmo in a semifinal of the Western and Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Mason, Ohio. Dechy, who won the last two U.S. Open women's doubles titles, will play in a final today for the first time since losing the championship match at the 2004 New Haven tournament. She will face second-seeded Nadia Petrova, who beat third-seeded Maria Kirilenko, 1-6, 6-2, 6-1 in the other semifinal. Dechy rode an early break to a 4-1 lead in the third set, clinching the fifth game with an ace that Mauresmo disputed, one of three calls she questioned during the set. Mauresmo held on with her own break, but Dechy came back with another break, clinching the win when Mauresmo sent a backhand into the net.
• Pat Cash and Jim Courier won round-robin matches to advance to the Hall of Fame Champions Cup final in Newport, R.I. Playing on the historic grass courts at the International Tennis Hall of Fame at the Newport Casino, Cash beat John McEnroe 6-7 (0), 6-2, 10-7 (Champions tiebreaker) and Courier edged Wayne Ferreira 7-6 (0), 6-3. Cash and Courier won their round-robin groups with 3-0 records.
Hockey: Penguins' Whitney sidelined
• Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney will be out three to five months after surgery to correct a chronic problem with his left foot. The team didn't describe the nature of the problem. Whitney told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review his left foot is misaligned and that attempts to correct it with orthopedic inserts in his skates didn't work. Dr. Robert Anderson operated Friday in Charlotte, N.C.
Other: Cunningham gets 100th goal
• Jeff Cunningham became the fourth player in MLS history to reach 100 goals when he scored in his first game for FC Dallas, but midfielders Brian Carroll and Brad Evans netted second-half goals to give the Crew a 2-1 win in Columbus. Cunningham's 35th-minute tally was his first for Dallas since being acquired from Toronto FC Aug. 8. It also was his first goal against the team for which he played eight seasons. Cunningham scored 62 times as a member of the Crew from 1998-2004, and has scored at least once against every team in MLS.
• Trailing by a run and without a hit, the boys from Hagerstown, Md., galloped to one unlikely victory. Maryland manager Bill Abeles Jr. remained in disbelief minutes after his team was no-hit by Jeffersonville, Ind., starter Drew Ellis and still won 3-2 in the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pa. Maryland scored in the first off a walk and an error, and got two runs in the fifth off a hit batsman, a walk and four wild pitches. In other early action Saturday, Matamoros, Mexico, defeated Willemstad, Curacao, 6-2; Yona, Guam, scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to beat Emilia, Italy, 7-6; Shelton, Conn., defeated Rapid City, S.D., 9-4; and Tokyo shut out Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 5-0. In the nightcap, Lake Charles, La., beat Mill Creek, Wash., 5-1.
• Austrian Nordic combined skier Alfred Rainer died Saturday from severe head injuries suffered in a paragliding accident last week, the Austrian Ski Federation said. He was 20. Rainer was kept in an artificial coma at a hospital in Innsbruck after crashing from 66 feet above ground and suffering a head injury, a bruised lung and several broken leg bones. The accident occurred Aug. 7 in his hometown of Maria Alm in the province of Salzburg, the federation said.
From Beacon Journal wire services
Get the full article here.
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