Sharapova leads Russian charge

PARIS: Second seed Maria Sharapova of Russia showed no signs of the shoulder injury that has dogged her for most of this year as she made a winning start to her French Open campaign yesterday.

DVDs let stars watch themseves

PARIS: French Open players tired of watching their favorite movies on their laptops to relax between matches now have another option.

WTA Tour's tallest woman stretches to second round

PARIS: She's 1.90 meters (6-foot-3), so the coach of Uzbekistan's national basketball team keeps trying to recruit her. Akgul Amanmuradova is sticking with tennis instead, and the tallest woman on the WTA Tour is in the French Open's second round.

Beijing taekwondo competition wide open

SEOUL: Skilled fighters are emerging from so many countries that the taekwondo tournament at next year's Beijing Olympics could be the most open ever, the head of the sport's world governing body said.

Woods juggles own event with birth of first child

WASHINGTON: Tiger Woods, a master of time management, accepts he may have to sacrifice playing in his own tournament because of the impending arrival of his first child.

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Asafa Powell clocks under 10 seconds in 2007 debut

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South American nations angry at FIFA's lofty ban

LA PAZ: Andean countries vowed on Monday to fight a ban by FIFA on high-altitude soccer matches, with Bolivian President Evo Morales saying the measure discriminated against mountainous nations.

UEFA president calls for elitist G-14 to disband

ZURICH: UEFA President Michel Platini on Monday called for the G-14 to disband and drop its lawsuits claiming compensation for players injured on international duty.

McClaren struggles, but fellow deputy Low has Germany on a high

BERLIN: While England's Steve McClaren and Germany's Joachim Low had a similar journey to become national coach of their countries, they have trod different paths of success on the road to Euro 2008.

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Lippi rejects Juve's advances in favor of continuing break

Federer shines as sun returns at Open

PARIS: Roger Federer's latest bid to add the French Open to his glittering collection of 10 Grand Slam titles got off to a winning start at Roland Garros yesterday.