BASEBALL

NEW YORK: Results from the MLB games on Thursday (home team in CAPS)

PITTSBURGH 5 San Francisco 4

ATLANTA 5 San Diego 4

NY YANKEES 6 Cleveland 3

CHICAGO WHITE SOX 6 Minnesota 2

COLORADO 9 St. Louis 3

ARIZONA 8 Philadelphia 3

Boston 5 DETROIT 1

Tampa Bay 8 TORONTO 3 (13 innings)

FLORIDA 7 Milwaukee 2

Washington 8 HOUSTON 3

Baltimore 4 KANSAS CITY 1

GOLF

The Players Championship

PONTE VEDRA, Florida: Leading first-round scores here on Thursday from the $9 million Players Championship (USA unless noted):

66 - Sergio Garcia (ESP)

68 - Paul Goydos, Kenny Perry

69 - Steve Elkington (AUS), Niclas Fasth (SWE), Todd Hamilton, Ian Poulter (GBR), Heath Slocum

70 - Angel Cabrera (ARG), Fred Couples, Ben Crane, Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP), Anthony Kim, Troy Matteson, John Merrick, Phil Mickelson, Jose Maria Olazabal (ESP), Brett Quigley, Kevin Stadler, Nicholas Thompson, D.J. Trahan, Boo Weekley

71 - Aaron Baddeley (AUS), Soren Hansen (DEN), Mike Weir (CAN)

Italian Open

MILAN: Collated first round scores in the EPGA Italian Open here on Thursday (GBR and IRL unless stated, par 72):

64 - Marco Ruiz (PAR), Ross McGowan

65 - Hennie Otto (RSA), Marc Warren, Mark Foster

66 - Steve Webster, Estanislao Goya (ARG), Soren Kjeldsen (DEN), Oliver Wilson, Per-Ulrik Johansson (SWE), Alexander Noren (SWE), Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR), Gregory Bourdy (FRA)

67 - Christian Nilsson (SWE), Charl Schwartzel (RSA), Raphael Jacquelin (FRA), Jose-Filipe Lima (POR), John Daly (USA), Gareth Paddison (NZL), Jean-Francois Remesy (FRA), Rafael Cabrera Bello (ESP), Marcus Fraser (AUS), Edoardo Molinari (ITA)

LPGA

WILLIAMSBURG, Virginia: Leading first-round scores here on Thursday from the $2.2 million LPGA Michelob Ultra Open (South Korea unless noted):

63 - Mhairi McKay (GBR)

64 - Annika Sorenstam (SWE), Sun Young Yoo

65 - Diana D'Alessio (USA), Lorena Ochoa (MEX)

66 - Sandra Gal (GER), Eun Hee Ji, Song-Hee Kim, Candie Kung (TPE), Janice Moodie (GBR), Hee Young Park, Stacy Prammanasudh (USA)

67 - Helen Alfredsson (SWE), Jeong Jang, Jimin Kang, Meena Lee, Becky Morgan (GBR), In-Bee Park, Mikaela Parmlid (SWE), Karen Stupples (GBR)

...

68 - Russamee Gulyanamitta (THA), Maria Hjorth (SWE), Soo-Yun Kang, Su A Kim, Jee Young Lee, Carolina Llano (COL)

69 - Kyeong Eun Bae, Marisa Baena (COL), Na Yeon Choi, Louise Friberg (SWE), Sophie Giquel (FRA), Mi Hyun Kim, Seon Hwa Lee, Yu Ping Lin (TPE), Catriona Matthew (GBR), Miriam Nagl (GER), Nicole Perrot (CHI), Sung Ah Yim

70 - Minea Blomqvist (FIN), Hye-Jung Choi, Katherine Hull (AUS), Sarah Kemp (AUS), Teresa Lu (TPE), Ji-Young Oh, Alena Sharp (CAN), Yani Tseng (TPE), Momoko Ueda (JPN), Karrie Webb (AUS)

71 - Shi Hyun Ahn, Laura

NBA

WASHINGTON: National Basketball Association second-round playoff results on Thursday (all series best-of-seven):

Eastern Conference

at Boston

Boston 89 Cleveland 73

(Boston leads series 2-0)

Western Conference

at San Antonio

San Antonio 110 New Orleans 99

(New Orleans leads series 2-1)

NHL

NEW YORK: Result from the NHL playoffs final match between Detroit and Dallas on Thursday (home team in CAPS)

1 2 3 T

DETROIT 2 2 0 4

Dallas 0 1 0 1

(Detroit lead the best-of-seven series by 1-0)

SOCCER

Spanish league

MADRID: Spanish football league result on Thursday:

Espanyol 0 Atletico Madrid 2 (Aguero 26, Forlan 30)

Italian Cup

ROME: Italian Cup result on Thursday:

Semi-finals

Catania 1 (Silvestri 29) Roma 1 (Acquilani 27-pen)

Roma win 2-1 on aggregate

Played Wednesday

Lazio 0 Inter Milan 2 (Pele 52, Cruz 84)

Inter win 2-0 on aggregate

TENNIS

Rome Masters

ROME: Rome Masters results on Thursday (x denotes seeding):

Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Luis Horna (PER) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3; Novak Djokovic (SRB x3) bt Igor Andreev (RUS) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Roger Federer (SUI x1) bt Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 7-6 (7/4), 6-3; James Blake (USA x8) bt Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 5-7, 7-5, 6-2; Andy Roddick (USA x 6) bt Simone Bolelli (ITA) 7-6 (7/5), 6-3; Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) bt Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP) 6-4, 6-3; Tommy Robredo (ESP x14) bt Nikolay Davydenko (RUS x4) 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4); Nicolas Almagro (ESP) bt Fernando Gonazalez (CHI) - walkover

German Open

BERLIN: Collated results of the WTA tournament here at the Steffi Graf Stadium on Thursday (x denotes seeding):

3rd rd

Dinara Safina (RUS x13) bt Justine Henin (BEL x1) 5-7, 6-3, 6-1; Serena Williams (USA x5) bt Agnieszka Radwanska (POL x11) 6-3, 6-1; Alona Bondarenko (UKR x15) bt Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x3) 1-6, 6-2, 6-2; Victoria Dushevina (BLR) bt Gisela Dulko (ARG) 6-3, 6-1; Elena Dementieva (RUS x7) bt Vera Dushevina (RUS) 7-5, 6-3; Agnes Szavay (HUN x10) bt Marion Bartoli (FRA x8) 7-5, 7-5; Jelena Jankovic (SRB x4) bt Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 6-2, 6-4; Ana Ivanovic (SRB x2) bt Sybille Bammer (AUT) 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

(China Daily 05/10/2008 page12)