Sports Digest

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Broncos look to Elway

AMERICAN FOOTBALL: Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway assumed control of the Denver Broncos’ football operations yesterday in a bid to revitalise the struggling franchise.

Elway will work with general manager Brian Xanders and the team’s yet-to-be-named new head coach. He also will supervise the club’s personnel department, the Broncos said.

Elway (50), led the Broncos to two Super Bowl championships.

Sainz notches third stage win

MOTOR SPORT: Carlos Sainz made it a third stage win out of four as he took the honours on stage four of the Dakar Rally.

Defending champion Sainz was in charge once more as the race crossed the Andes into Chile’s Atacama Desert on the 207km fourth stage.

Sainz won the stage by 50 seconds from Volkswagen team-mate Nasser Al-Attiyah to lead the same driver by four minutes and 24 seconds.

Third on the stage was BMW driver Stephane Peterhansel who also lies in third in the overall standings, 5:41 behind Al-Attiyah.

GOLF: Spectators at this month’s Farmers Insurance Open on the US PGA Tour will be allowed to bring mobile phones to the course and use them in designated areas, the Tour said yesterday.

The shift in policy is part of an experiment by the Tour to enhance the overall fan experience at events on the circuit.

Roddick weathers early onslaught

TENNIS: Champion Andy Roddick weathered an early onslaught from hard-hitting Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov before beating him 6-4 6-1 to set up a quarter-final clash with Marcos Baghdatis at the Brisbane International yesterday.

The 22-year-old Dolgopolov was the early aggressor, attacking Roddick’s serve to win an early break and go up 4-2.

The American world number eight quickly broke back, however, and reeled off 10 of the final 11 games to seal the match in less than an hour.

Roddick rocketed down 15 aces in the match to raise Aus$1,146 in donations for victims of the devastating floods in northern Queensland state that have affected 200,000 people.

In the womens draw, Jelena Dokic, battling a wrist injury and a stomach virus, could not make the most of her wildcard and received a 6-0 6-1 plastering from Germany’s Andrea Petkovic before joining compatriots Stosur and Sally Peers on the sidelines.

Haye may have to wait as Klitschko opts for Chisora

BOXING: David Haye may have to put his retirement plans on hold after missing out on a spring showdown with heavyweight rival Wladimir Klitschko.

The WBA champion has been engaged in protracted negotiations with the Ukrainian, who holds the IBF and WBO titles and is regarded as the world’s best heavyweight as holder of the respected Ring belt.

However, it was announced yesterday that Klitschko will instead honour his agreement to fight Haye’s fellow Londoner Dereck Chisora, on April 30th, after a stomach injury forced the champion to pull out of their proposed clash last month.

Haye had hoped to fight Klitschko in the spring and then his brother, Vitali, the WBC champion, in late summer or early autumn before hanging up his gloves as undisputed champion.

“I’m retiring next year, so they have got to pull their socks up,” Haye said in November.

US and France have Hopman wins

TENNIS: American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, whose names entered the record books together at Wimbledon last year, helped their teams to victories in the Hopman Cup in Perth yesterday.

The two played a record-breaking, 11-hour, five-minute match at Wimbledon last year and have since become good friends.

Isner showed he had endurance to match the speed of his serve as he came from 3-1 down to beat Potito Starace 7-6 4-6 6-4 and help the US to beat Italy 2-1.

Mahut bounced back from the loss of his singles to world number four Andy Murray with an inspirational performance in the mixed doubles as France defeated Britain by the same score.

Federer advances to quarter-finals

TENNIS: Roger Federer produced a no-frills display against compatriot Marco Chiudinelli to reach the Qatar Open quarter-finals yesterday.

After thrilling the crowd on Tuesday with one of his “between the legs” trick shots, the Swiss world number two laboured to a 7-6 7-5 victory in one hour 48 minutes.

Twice-former champion Federer made little impression on his opponent’s serve during a tight first set and trailed by a break in the second before recovering to clinch victory with a smash.

Third seed Jo Wilfried Tsonga of France moved into the quarter-finals with a 6-2 6-4 defeat of Ukraine’s Sergei Bubka.