Professional Sports

Second-ranked Rafael Nadal has advanced to the fourth round with a 7-6 (3), 6-2, 6-3 win over Nicolas Kiefer in fading light at Wimbledon.

One swing from completing her week's work, Venus Williams toed the baseline, dribbled the ball, gave it a toss and delivered yet another thunderclap serve at sun-kissed Wimbledon. The scoreboard said 127 mph, the fastest women's serve ever recorded at Wimbledon. The scoreboard also had Williams winning 6-1, 7-5 Saturday over qualifier Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.

Germany captain Michael Ballack missed his team's last practice Saturday because of a calf injury, putting him in doubt for Sunday's European Championship final against Spain.

Rookie Patrick Carpentier grabbed his first NASCAR Sprint Cup pole Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The Canadian driver, whose last pole came in a Champ Car in 2004 on the road course in Laguna Seca, Calif., was among the drivers who had to wait out a nearly two-hour rain delay before getting a shot at qualifying for Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301.

Tony Stewart isn't running many races in the NASCAR Nationwide Series this series, so he's making the ones he does drive in count. The two-time Sprint Cup champion, who hasn't been having much luck and has no wins in the top stock car series this season, drove away Saturday with his fifth victory in seven Nationwide starts in 2008.

Tyson Gay got quite a fright in his first race Saturday. He set a record in his second. Gay broke Maurice Greene's American mark in the 100 meters by running 9.77 seconds in his quarterfinal at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials.

Vernon Wells homered and drove in three runs to help the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Atlanta Braves 9-5 on Saturday.

Bobby Cox has seen plenty of fine pitching performances as manager of the Atlanta Braves, but few as good as the one Jair Jurrjens delivered Friday night.

Derrick Rose is going home, and a record crowd of freshmen are following him to the NBA.

The Atlanta Falcons today signed fifth round (154th overall) draft selection, defensive end Kroy Biermann to a four-year contract.