In Brief

tennis

Dominant Sharapova
reaches fourth round

Maria Sharapova advanced to the fourth round of the French Open with a 6-2, 6-1 victory Saturday over China's Peng Shuai.

The second-seeded Russian, who needs a championship at Roland Garros to complete the career Grand Slam, has lost only five games in three matches in Paris. Her next opponent is the Czech Republic's Klara Zakopalova, who defeated 22nd-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-3, 7-5.

Sharapova's section of the draw seems to be getting easier by the hour. One potential quarterfinal opponent, 13-time major champion Serena Williams, lost in the first round. Another, former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, exited 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-3 against No. 23 Kaia Kanepi of Estonia on Saturday. And a third, No. 25 Julie Goerges of Germany, was beaten 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-2 by 88th-ranked Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands.

On the men's side, Spanish players went 5-0, led by Rafael Nadal, who continued his bid for a record seventh title by overpowering Eduardo Schwank of Argentina, 6-1, 6-3, 6-4.

The other Spaniards who advanced were No. 6 David Ferrer, No. 12 Nicolas Almagro, No. 13 Juan Monaco and No. 20 Marcel Granollers.

motor sports

Ageless Martin captures
pole for Sprint Cup race

Mark Martin took the final qualifying ride of the day and turned a lap of 158.297 mph to win the pole for today's NASCAR Sprint Car FedEx 400 at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Del.

The 53-year-old has 54 career Cup poles and won it in the No. 55 Toyota. He has three poles this season in 10 races while running a limited schedule for Michael Waltrip Racing. He's looking for his first Cup win since 2009.

Martin is scheduled to run 24 of 36 races this season while sharing seat time with Waltrip. Martin has four top-10 finishes in nine races.

Jimmie Johnson, who has six career wins at Dover, was poised to claim the top spot with a lap of 158.263 mph until Martin knocked him off. Johnson has yet to win a pole this season. Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top five. Points leader Greg Biffle will start seventh.

Also: Joey Logano took the lead with six laps left when Ryan Truex got mired in lapped traffic to win the Nationwide Series race at Dover International Speedway in Dover Del.

Truex started from the pole and raced for the first time since he needed an appendectomy almost two weeks ago. He had the top car toward the end of the race until he got loose with less than 10 laps left. Logano capitalized and made the late charge outside through two lapped drivers to zip past Truex for his fourth Nationwide win of the season.

Truex questioned where the spotters were for the cars that got in his way on the final laps on the Monster Mile. Truex finished second and Brian Scott third for a 1-2-3 finish for Joe Gibbs Racing. Kurt Busch was fourth.

Elliott Sadler took seventh and wrested the points lead from Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who wrecked early and took 32nd.

Scott Dixon won his first pole of the year, snapping Penske Racing's streak of having the fastest car in IndyCar qualifying this season.

Dixon set a track record of 1 minute, 10.3162 seconds on the Detroit Grand Prix's slick and tight two-mile course. Penske's Will Power, the points leader, will start today's race second, followed by Alex Tagliani and Simon Pagenaud.

The pole was the first of the season for Chip Ganassi Racing. Dario Franchitti, a Ganassi driver who won the Indianapolis 500 last weekend, will start 15th in the 25-car field.

Ron Capps posted the fastest Funny Car run in NHRA history to claim his first No. 1 qualifying position of the season. Capps posted a time of 3.964 seconds at 320.89 mph in Friday night's qualifying session in Englishtown, N.J.

Spencer Massey (Top Fuel), Jason Line (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also qualified No. 1 entering today's eliminations at the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event.

golf

Levin takes one-stroke
lead; Tiger trails by four

Spencer Levin will get another crack at his first PGA Tour victory, this time with a smaller lead.

Levin felt as though he could do no wrong in the third round of the Memorial in Dublin, Ohio, when he chipped in for eagle, chipped in for birdie and had a par putt swirl around the cup and fall in. That allowed him to make a few mistakes on the back nine and still post a 3-under-par 69 for a one-shot lead over Rory Sabbatini (71). Levin is at 8-under 208.

Rickie Fowler also had a 69, one of only three rounds in the 60s, and was three shots behind. Fowler will play in the final round with Tiger Woods, a four-time Memorial champion who is very much in the picture. Woods had a share of the lead early, but fell back with a sloppy short game on the back nine and settled for a 73. He was four shots back.

Levin had a six-shot lead entering the final round of the Phoenix Open this year, but lost it on the back nine and wound up losing to Kyle Stanley.

Also: Stacy Lewis shot a second-round 6-under 65 to take a six-stroke lead in the ShopRite LPGA Classic in Galloway Township, N.J. She was at 12-under 130, which tied the tournament 36-hole record, with one round left.

Jay Haas will carry a three-shot lead into the final round of the Principal Charity Classic in West Des Moines, Iowa, after shooting a second-round 6-under 65. He is at 11-under 131 in the Champions Tour event.

Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand took a one-stroke lead at the Wales Open in Newport after shooting a 4-under 67 in the third round. He is at 7-under 206 in the European Tour event.

Alabama and Texas won their semifinals matches of the NCAA men's golf championship at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles and will meet for the title today. Alabama defeated California and Texas beat Oregon.

miscellaneous

Basic QB Vega sparks
Sunrise Region to win

Basic High School quarterback Eddie Vega passed for 109 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Sunrise Region seniors to a 28-14 victory over the Sunset in the 41st West Charleston Lions Club Charity All-Star Football Game at Bishop Gorman.

Vega, who completed 6 of 10 passes with one interception, was named the game's Overall Most Valuable Player.

Vega hit Basic's Darien Spencer for a 21-yard TD in the first quarter and Foothill's Kyle Keplinger with a 36-yard TD strike in the fourth.

Keplinger, who added a 39-yard TD run in the first quarter, was named the Offensive MVP.

Defensive MVP went to Gorman linebacker Zach Hutchins, who returned an interception 52 yards for a score in the third quarter.

Las Vegas High's Farrell Victor rushed for 82 yards and a TD on 17 carries for the Sunrise, and Del Sol's Chris Marshall added 74 yards on 12 carries.

Also: Antonio Tarver rallied in the late rounds to gain a draw with unbeaten cruiserweight Lateef Kayode, and Winky Wright lost a unanimous decision to unbeaten middleweight Peter "Kid Chocolate" Quillin on a boxing card in Carson, Calif.

Austin Trout retained his WBA super welterweight title with an uneventful unanimous decision over Delvin Rodriguez. And local bantamweight Leo Santa Cruz won the vacant IBF title with a one-sided decision over South Africa's Vusi Malinga.

The Santa Cruz County (Calif.) Sheriff's Department is investigating San Francisco Giants slugger Pablo Sandoval in a sexual assault case. No charges have been filed. Sandoval's attorney said his client met with the department regarding what the lawyer called a "consensual" sexual relationship on Friday.

Sandoval is on the disabled list as he recovers from May 4 surgery to remove a broken hamate bone in his left hand.

Philadelphia Phillies reliever Jose Contreras has a torn ligament and tendon in his right elbow and probably will miss the rest of the season. The 40-year-old was 1-0 with a 5.27 ERA in 17 games this season.

Texas Christian of the Mountain West Conference scored 22 runs in the final four innings to stay alive in the NCAA Tournament and eliminate Dayton 28-12 in the College Station (Texas) Regional.

New Mexico, the MWC's other qualifier, lost to UCLA 7-1 in the Los Angeles regional.

Defending NCAA softball champion Arizona State and top-ranked California staved off elimination in the Women's College World Series in Oklahoma City. The Sun Devils whipped Louisiana State 6-0, and the Bears defeated Oregon, 6-3.

Game On Dude led all the way to win the $147,000 Californian by a record 7¼ lengths at Betfair Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif. The 5-year-old gelding paid $4 and $2.40 as the even-money favorite.