Thigh injury sidelines Liverpool's Lucas Leiva for 3 months

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers says midfielder Lucas Leiva will be out for up to three months with a right thigh injury.

The Brazil international, who missed the second half of last season after undergoing knee surgery in December, came off with the new injury just five minutes into Sunday's Premier League match against Manchester City at Anfield. He will see a specialist later on Wednesday.

Rodgers says "the indications are two or three months…we'll see if it needs an operation or whether it is just recuperation."

Liverpool has a ready-made replacement for the midfield anchor role in Nuri Sahin, who was signed on a one-year deal last week from Real Madrid. The Turkey international could make his debut on Sunday, against Arsenal at Anfield.

Source: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Kim Clijsters bows out of U.S. Open, her final singles event

Laura Robson of Great Britain played spoiler Wednesday evening, winning in two competitive sets over three-time U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters.

The 18-year-old Robson won by scores of 7-6, 7-6 (5).

Clijsters, 29, had said this would be her last Grand Slam tournament in the singles draw. She is still entered in the women's doubles and mixed doubles draw.

The Belgian had won the championship the last three times she played the U.S. Open (2005, 2009, 2010). She missed the other years due to her first retirement, and last year due to injury.

Her victory in 2009 came after childbirth and the death of her father.

"This completely feels like the perfect place to retire, I just wish it wasn't today," Clijsters said in the courtside interview, which was interrupted by a prolonged ovation from the crowd.

The popular Clijsters also won the 2011 Australian Open among her eight appearances in Grand Slam finals.

Robson advances to face 2011 French Open winner Li Na of China, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Casey Dellacqua of Australia.

Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak is also out of the U.S. Open.

The Blainville, Que., native lost 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 to No. 15 seed Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic in the second round.

The 48th-ranked Wozniak had three aces and broke on four of eight chances, but she lost serve seven times.

Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., is the lone Canadian remaining in either singles draw.

Wozniak got off to a rough start as she lost serve in the opening game against Safarova. She went down 4-1, but got a break back for 3-5 before losing serve again to end the set in 45 minutes.

Wozniak fought back in the second to tie the match but Safarova regained control in the third.

"The second set was more steady for me, I was focusing on serve so much, I knew that was the key," said Wozniak. "But my serve didn't go that smooth at all."

Wozniak said the weather was a challenge.

"The third set was disappointing, especially with three double faults which let her get to 4-2," she said. "The sun was high, there was the wind as well — all the elements, not to mention the humidity.

"For sure it was tough to lose this three-set battle."

The defeat ends a Grand Slam season that saw Wozniak lose in the second round at every major except the French Open, where she reached the third round.

"I really wanted to beat that French record. I wish I could have done better here," she said. "But my Paris record still stands."

Azarenka advances

She's the world's top-ranked player and the Australian Open champ, but Victoria Azarenka has never advanced past the fourth round on the hard courts at Flushing Meadows

No hint of her past struggles in her first two matches this year, though. Azarenka beat qualifier Kirsten Flipkens 6-2, 6-2 in 65 minutes in the second round Wednesday, and has lost just five games through her first two matches.

"I don't feel like I have to prove something," Azarenka said.

She hasn't made it beyond the third round as a top-10 seed in each of the last three years. In 2010, she collapsed on court after hitting her head before her second-round match. Last year, seeded fourth, she had the bad luck of drawing 28th-seeded Serena Williams in the third.

"The next match is going to be the usual match for me. I don't have anything that, you know, it's the third round or I have to win that I didn't the last two years," Azarenka said.

Next up is 28th-seeded Zheng Jie of China, who beat Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3, 6-1.

Ferrer flies through

It was another quick, predictable result in a tournament with few upsets or even nail-biters yet.

David Ferrer opened his tournament with a result befitting a top-four seed. Ranked fifth, Ferrer moved up a spot because fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal is out with knee problems. Ferrer beat 34th-ranked Kevin Anderson of South Africa 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (3).

It was potentially a tough first-round matchup for Ferrer: Anderson made the third round at Flushing Meadows each of the last two years. But Ferrer was in control throughout, facing just three break points — all in the third set — and saving all of them.

"It was not easy match, no, with Anderson," Ferrer said. "He's a really good player. He's very strong first and second serve. I'm happy."

Highest-ranked American male John Isner let out a big exhale of relief while waving to the crowd after getting past an argumentative Xavier Malisse 6-3, 7-6 (5), 5-7, 7-6 (9) Wednesday in a suddenly tight first-round match at the U.S. Open.

The 6-foot-9 Isner hit 20 aces and ended the match with a service winner on his third match point. He was given that last match point when Malisse pushed an easy backhand volley into the net. Malisse grabbed the ball and shoved it in his mouth and chomped on it as though it were an apple.

Seconds later, the No. 9-seeded Isner wrapped up the victory, improving to 37-13 in tiebreakers this season.

Malisse exchanged angry words with spectators and the chair umpire at various points during the match.

Returning to Flushing Meadows after a seven-year absence brought about by a series of operations, 27-year-old Brian Baker, from Nashville, Tenn., moved into the second round by beating 92nd-ranked Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday.

"I remember several years, watching it on TV, wishing I was here, so just to be here is an awesome feeling," said Baker. "And then at the same time, the competitive side kicks over, and I want to do really well."

Baker began the year ranked 458th but is now 70th.

He's endured five operations since being a junior star. The list includes a second left hip procedure, another on his right hip, a sports hernia repair, and reconstructive surgery on his right elbow that is increasingly common among baseball pitchers and is known as Tommy John surgery.

Next up for Baker is a second-round match against eighth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia.

Tipsarevic needed more than 3 ½ hours to win his opener Wednesday, coming back after dropping the first two sets to eliminate Guillaume Rufin of France 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

Other top players on the court later Wednesday include the third-seeded Sharapova and Andy Murray.

In other results:

• Igor Sijsling, Netherlands, def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, Spain, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4.
• Grega Zemlja, Slovenia, def. Ricardo Mello, Brazil, 7-5, 7-6 (3), 7-5.
• Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, Germany, def. Viktor Troicki (29), Serbia, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
• Janko Tipsarevic (8), Serbia, def. Guillaume Rufin, France, 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.
• Jarkko Nieminen, Finland, def. Mikhail Kukushkin, Kazakhstan, 6-0, 6-2, retired.
• Leonardo Mayer, Argentina, def. Lukasz Kubot, Poland, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5.
• Gilles Muller, Luxembourg, def. Mikhail Youzhny (28), Russia, 2-6, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (6).
• Benoit Paire, France, def. Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgaria, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2.
• Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, def. Tobias Kamke, Germany, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4.
• Richard Gasquet (13), France, def. Albert Montanes, Spain, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3.
• Tommy Robredo, Spain , def. Andreas Seppi (26), Italy, 6-1, 7-5, 6-3.
• Ernests Gulbis, Latvia, def. Tommy Haas (21), Germany, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3.
• Steve Johnson, United States, def. Rajeev Ram, United States, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3.
• Juan Martin del Potro (7), Argentina, def. Florent Serra, France, 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-4.

Women

• Nadia Petrova (19), Russia, def. Simona Halep, Romania, 6-1, 6-1.
• Mallory Burdette, United States, def. Lucie Hradecka, Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-4.
• Zheng Jie (28), China, def. Magdalena Rybarikova, Slovakia, 6-3, 6-1.
• Lucie Safarova (15), Czech Republic, def. Aleksandra Wozniak, Canada, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
• Varvara Lepchenko (31), United States, def. Anastasia Rodionova, Australia, 6-2, 6-2.
• Mandy Minella, Luxembourg, def. Kristyna Pliskova, Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-4.
• Petra Kvitova (5), Czech Republic, def. Alize Cornet, France, 6-4, 6-3.
• Pauline Parmentier, France, def. Yanina Wickmayer (25), Belgium, 7-6 (5), 6-3.
• Kristina Mladenovic, France, def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (17), Russia, 6-1, 6-2.
• Anna Tatishvili, Georgia, def. Sorana Cirstea, Romania, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-2.

Source: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona (agg. 4-4)

Real Madrid overturned a 3-2 first leg deficit against rivals Barcelona to win the Spanish Super Cup on away goals.

Real capitalised on two blunders to quickly go 2-0 up in the second leg at home, with Gonzalo Higuain and Cristiano Ronaldo firing in.

Barcelona had Adriano red-carded for hauling down Ronaldo but the visitors pulled one back through a superb 35-yard Lionel Messi free-kick.

Both sides then missed clear-cut chances before Real prevailed.

The defeat meant Tito Vilanova was denied his first trophy as Barcelona boss and he will need to look no further than his lacklustre defence for the reason.

He had warned his side that Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid outfit would have extra motivation, because not only were they chasing the first silverware of the Spanish season, they were also looking for their first win of the new campaign at the fourth attempt.

But his players did not heed his words and Higuain had already had an early shot saved when he stole in after Barcelona centre-back Javier Mascherano missed Pepe's speculative lobbed clearance to sidefoot through the legs of keeper Valdes.

Another defensive mistake let in Ronaldo and, after audaciously back-heeling the ball over centre-back Gerard Pique, he bided his time before powering in a shot to put Real 4-3 ahead overall.

Real Madrid were scything through Barcelona's flimsy defence at will and Valdes had to fend away yet another Higuain effort in a one-on-one confrontation.

Barca centre-back Pepe headed in a Xabi Alonso free-kick but the goal was disallowed for a push on Javier Mascherano.

Barcelona were struggling to cope and Adriano's dismissal for a professional foul in the 28th minute only increased the size of their task, although Messi's spectacular free-kick gave the visitors hope.

Pedro could have brought 10-man Barcelona level after beautifully controlling a long Mascherano pass, only for his shot to be saved by Iker Casillas.

In another captivating El Clasico, there were plenty of chances as Barcelona strived for the goal that would have earned them an aggregate win, while Real attempted to put their arch rivals away once and for all.

New Real signing Luka Modric, on as a substitute, had a close range strike blocked before Messi drove an injury-time shot agonisingly wide for Barcelona as the home side held on.

Source: British Broadcasting Corporation

Andrew Strauss: England captain retires from cricket

England captain Andrew Strauss has retired from all forms of cricket.

Strauss skippered his country in 50 of his 100 Tests and is handing over to one-day captain Alastair Cook.

The highs and lows of a captain

During his time in charge, England emerged from the chaos of Kevin Pietersen's resignation as captain to become the world's top Test team.

But the road to the top was anything but easy for Strauss. His reign came at a turbulent time for English cricket as controversy on and off the pitch dogged his spell as captain.

• Read more about Strauss's reign

Strauss, 35, said: "For me the driver to it all quite frankly was my form with the bat. In truth, I haven't batted well enough for a long time now. I think I have run my race."

He denied his decision to quit was influenced by the furore over Kevin Pietersen's axing from the team.

Strauss scored 7,037 Test runs at an average of 40.91, leaving him ninth in England's all-time run-scorers list.

During his time in charge, England became the world's best Test team for the first time.

Cook, 27, will take charge of his country for the first time in the four-Test series against India in November.

He said: "I'm very excited by this new challenge. It is a huge honour to be appointed Test captain and I am very much looking forward to captaining the side in India this winter and beyond."

“Everyone in the media respected and admired him for the way he conducted himself in the job, but much more importantly he took those same credentials and abilities into the dressing room, and that is why he was so well respected in there"”

Jonathan AgnewBBC cricket correspondent

• Read the rest of Aggers's view here

Strauss was England's third-most experienced captain and the second-most successful behind Michael Vaughan, with a record of 24 wins from his 50 matches at the helm.

He also led the side to home and away Ashes triumphs during a run of victories that saw them crowned as the world's number one team for the first time since the rankings were introduced.

Strauss added: "I am extremely proud of everything I have achieved as a cricketer and I have found myself very fortunate to play in an era when some of English cricket's greatest moments have occurred. I have loved every minute of it.

"It hasn't been something that occurred overnight. It has built over a few months. I would like to go out on my own terms with my head held high and I think this is the right time."

The retirement of Strauss will be overshadowed to an extent by the unsavoury controversy involving star batsman Pietersen.

Strauss was said to be the subject of "provocative" text messages that Pietersen sent to South African players during England's 3-0 series defeat by the Proteas.

Strauss's record as captain

• Tests: 50
• Runs: 3,343
• Average: 40.76
• 50s: 14
• Centuries: 9
• Catches: 60
• Highest score: 169 (v West Indies, Feb 2009)
• Wins: 24
• Losses: 11
• Draws: 15

But Strauss was insistent he had made a decision about his future before the news of the texts broke on the eve of his 100th Test match at Lord's.

"I first spoke to Andy Flower about it prior to the Kevin Pietersen incident rearing its head," he said. "It just hasn't been a consideration.

"I first spoke to Andy about this a few weeks ago and said I'm considering it and would talk to him at end of the South Africa series. By the time I spoke to him again, my mind was made up and I think he knew that."

Strauss sent letters to members of the England team explaining his decision to retire and they responded by sending him 100 bottles of wine.

It was a sign of the high regard the dressing room held him in, a view Cook voiced as he paid tribute to his predecessor.

"Obviously I've got huge boots to fill," said Cook. "It feels like I've spent all my England career walking out to bat with him. Unfortunately it might mean I have to take the first ball now."

Source: British Broadcasting Corporation

Canada's Raonic advances at U.S. Open with 5-set victory

Milos Raonic had trouble at the baseline, but still earned his first U.S. Open victory.

The Thornhill, Ont., native overcame 55 unforced errors including 15 double faults on Tuesday to defeat Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Raonic, the No. 15 seed, earned his 34th victory of the season in a match that lasted well over three hours.

"I'm just happy with the outcome and that I managed to make the most of that moment and just find a way to win," said Raonic. "Everything else I've got to hope gets better in the next round."

Raonic had 30 aces, but struggled with unforced errors and converted on only a third of his dozen break points.

"I don't think I struggled with my serve that much in a long, long time. A lot of double faults, and it wasn't just one double fault per game," said Raonic. "I double-faulted consistently a couple times in a row, and that made my job a lot more difficult and it gave him a little bit more freedom at the same time."

Raonic did not play at the U.S. Open in 2011 as he recovered from hip surgery. In 2010 as a qualifier, he was beaten by Australian Carsten Ball in his debut at a major.

On Tuesday, Raonic found himself down 2-1, but tied the match with a break in the final game of the fourth set as Giraldo fired wide.

The match finished with a Raonic break of Giraldo on a forehand error from the Colombian.

He will play Paul-Henri Mathieu of France for the first time in the second round of the tournament.

Roddick, Berdych advance to 2nd round

Andy Roddick served 20 aces to defeat 21-year-old American qualifier Rhyne Williams 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the U.S. Open.

Roddick, seeded 20th, won the last 16 points on his serve and finished the match with a 204-kilometre ace.

It was a tough way to make a Grand Slam debut for Williams, the NCAA runner-up in 2011, who won three matches in qualifying, then learned he had a first-round matchup with the 2003 champion.

Williams, ranked 289th coming into the week, put in a respectable performance, but dropped a break in each set. He'll still earn $23,000 US as a first-round loser in the year's final Grand Slam.

Sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych advanced to the second round of the U.S. Open with a straight-set win.

Berdych beat 56th-ranked David Goffin of Belgium 7-5, 6-3, 6-3. The 21-year-old Goffin had reached a career-high ranking after making the round of 16 at the French Open and the third round at Wimbledon. He was making his U.S. Open debut.

Berdych, the 2010 Wimbledon runner-up from the Czech Republic, has never been past the round of 16 at Flushing Meadows.

Goffin converted just 2-of-18 break points. Berdych had 17 aces and 40 winners.

Polish star dominant in opener

Second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska needed just 54 minutes to advance to the second round, beating Nina Bratchikova of Russia 6-1, 6-1 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The 91st-ranked Bratchikova had 28 unforced errors to only six for Radwanska.

The Polish star is coming off her first Grand Slam final, a three-set loss to Serena Williams at Wimbledon. She has never made it past the fourth round at Flushing Meadows. Radwanska retired from her previous match with a sore shoulder while trailing qualifier Olga Govortsova in her opener at New Haven.

Bratchikova was making her U.S. Open debut, but reached the third round at the Australian and French this year.

Venus Williams overcame an early deficit for an easy win in her return to the U.S. Open.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion pulled out of the tournament before her second-round match last year because of an autoimmune disease. Williams was back Tuesday, and she beat fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3, 6-1.

Williams, unseeded with a ranking of No. 46, was broken in her first game. But after going down 0-2 in the first set, she won 12 of the last 14 games.

Mattek-Sands is ranked 212th after a series of injuries this year and got in on a wild card.

At age 32, Williams has been learning to deal with the effects of Sjogren's syndrome, which causes exhaustion and joint pain.

Sixth-seeded Angelique Kerber moved on easily to set up a second-round match with Venus.

The German beat Britain's Anne Keothavong 6-2, 6-0 in 54 minutes Tuesday. Keothavong, ranked 81st, had 25 unforced errors to Kerber's nine.

Ranked outside the top 100 at the start of 2010, Kerber is now a career-best sixth. She reached her first Grand Slam semifinal at Flushing Meadows last year.

In other results:

No. 12 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia defeated Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, 6-3, 6-2.

Ivanovic is coming off a 6-0, 6-0 loss to Roberta Vinci at a tuneup match in Montreal.

Fifth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga advanced in the men's draw with a 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 (2) victory over Karol Beck of Slovakia.

No. 4 Serena Williams and No. 2 Novak Djokovic, the defending men's champion, all had matches later in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Source: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Women's U-20 experiencing growing pains

In a lot of ways, the women's U-20 World Cup has been a microcosm of what's to come for the soccer world in the years ahead.

Two or three giants will exist on their own cloud, a handful of second tier teams will clamber up and try to knock one of the big teams off, and the rest, well, they will just be content to be there.

There is a widening gap in women's soccer today - one that sees the USA, Germany and Japan slowly pulling away from the rest of the pack with their commitment to athleticism, combined with tried and true tactics. And it's one that looks like it will only get larger in the short term.

By the time Canada gets around hosting the women's World Cup in 2015, FIFA will have expanded its tournament size from 16 to 24 countries. And given what's gone on at the U-20 World Cup, where there is real disparity between even the second-tier countries and the bottom feeders, it's going to make for some rather awkward scores when Canada plays host to the big event in three years.

Argentina allowed 19 goals over the course of its U-20 tournament, managing only to deposit one in the other net. Likewise, Italy and Switzerland were only able to notch a single marker. Ghana, for its part, couldn't even muster that. Even a traditional power, such as Brazil, showed that it too is falling behind as it couldn't reach the knockout stages while dropping points to upstart Nigeria and the Korean Republic.

Superpowers remain intact

Conversely, Germany powered to three straight wins and did not concede a single goal. Japan, which stumbled only slightly against New Zealand, showed a touch of class that has rarely been seen in the women's game before. Some of the strikes from that U-20 side would impress even the harshest of cynics.

And the Americans, who drastically underperformed compared to the standard most have grown use to seeing from the perennial powerhouse, still managed to squeak through into the knockout rounds, and will likely bumble their way into at least the semifinals, if not the final.

It's all very predictable at this point and it's something that FIFA, for it part, is legitimately trying to change. Some will say that expanding the senior tournament is just another example of the world's governing body trying to line its already bursting coffers. And when the tournament jumps from 32 matches to 52, in a multicultural country like Canada, it will likely translate into the most profitable women's tournament ever.

So, while it's true, in part, that the economics are a driving force, the trickle down effect should help to grow the game in less developed regions and ensure a more balanced field down the line. Probably well down the line for some of those countries on the lower rungs, but it should add up to a more robust middle class of countries, especially from Europe.

Unfortunately, during this next period, there will be plenty of growing pains as new countries are brought on board. That's never good for the sport and it could turn some associations off of funding the women's game entirely.

But if you, or they, need any indication of where the women's game is headed, then check out the quarter-finals of the women's U-20 World Cup, which starts Thursday.

Just as this tournament is a microcosm of the problems that await, so too will these next few games be representative of all the good that is to come.

Source: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Mike Wallace reports to Steelers camp

With less than two weeks before the start of the regular season, Pro Bowl wide receiver Mike Wallace reported to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Wallace was at the team facility Tuesday morning. A restricted free agent, he had yet to sign his one-year contract tender worth approximately $2.7 million US.

He also will undergo routine medical exams, but will not practice with his teammates until next week.

The Steelers (No. 7 in the AP Pro32) conclude their preseason at home against the Carolina Panthers on Thursday and open their regular season Sept. 9 at the Denver Broncos.

Last season, Wallace has 72 receptions for 1,193 yards and eight touchdowns. He has 24 receiving touchdowns in his three-season career.

Source: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation