August 27, 2008 03:19 am Baseball Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski was released from a hospital yesterday, one week after having triple bypass surgery. The former Boston Red Sox outfielder had surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital after experiencing chest pains. His discharge was announced by team spokesman John Blake. Yastrzemski, the last player to hit for the Triple Crown by leading the AL in batting average, homers and RBIs in 1967, turned 69 last Friday. His family released a statement after the surgery saying it was "a complete success." Yastrzemski took over for Ted Williams in left field in 1961 and spent his entire career with the Red Sox before retiring after the 1983 season. He hit 452 home runs, drove in 1,844 runs, had 3,419 hits and batted .285. He won seven Gold Gloves and was an 18-time All-Star. US Open: Ivanovic rallies, avoids major upset Ana Ivanovic raised her racket, ready for an easy overhead slam in what was shaping up as an easy match. Then she somehow spiked the ball right into the net from just a few feet away. Out of whack lately because of an injured right thumb, the world No. 1 was suddenly out of sorts. Ivanovic recovered in time yesterday to avoid becoming the first top-seeded woman to lose in the first round at the U.S. Open, rallying past Vera Dushevina 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. Serena Williams took a more direct approach. Favored by oddsmakers to win the women's title, she overwhelmed Kateryna Bondarenko with her serve in a 6-1, 6-4 victory. Wearing bright red, the fourth-seeded Williams was dressed for an afternoon workout — chances are, she'll reveal her more elegant outfits at evening matches. The two-time U.S. Open champion is ready to dominate the Grand Slam event she last won in 2002. Seventh-seeded Venus Williams advanced, too, beating Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-3. Like her younger sister, she's twice won this Open. Roger Federer, aiming for his fifth straight U.S. Open title, eliminated Maximo Gonzalez 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 in the last stadium match of the night. Gonzalez hung with the former world No. 1 player for a while before Federer won 10 straight games, a run spanning all three sets. Federer eased into the second round as an unfamiliar second seed. After 237 straight weeks at the top of the rankings, Federer is now behind Rafael Nadal for the first time in 41/2 years. Not since the 2004 Australian Open had Federer been seeded anything other than No. 1 at a major. Pro football: Ex-Giants star Strahan to stay retired Seven-time New York Giants Pro Bowler Michael Strahan is staying retired. "This has been one of the toughest nights of my life," Strahan told FoxSports.com in a story released yesterday afternoon. "But after long deliberation and throwing around a million scenarios in my head for the past day, I think it's just best if I stay retired." Tony Agnone, Strahan's agent, did not immediately return a telephone call from The Associated Press. Giants general manager Jerry Reese has asked the 36-year-old Strahan to reconsider his retirement on Monday, just 48 hours after the Super Bowl champions lost Pro Bowl defensive end Osi Umenyiora for the season to a knee injury in the preseason game against the New York Jets. Strahan needed just about a day to turn down an offer to return for a 16th season with what could have been an $8 million contract. More pro football: Super Bowl hero Tyree on PUP list Wide receiver David Tyree was placed on the physically-unable-to-perform reserve list by the New York Giants, meaning the player who made a game-saving catch in the Super Bowl won't be making any for at least the first six weeks of the season. Tyree, whose spectacular one-handed catch against his helmet sparked the Giants' late game-winning drive against the previously unbeaten New England Patriots, has not practiced since training camp opened in July because he is rehabilitating a surgically repaired right knee. He had surgery in May. ... Retired New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan won the latest round in his lengthy divorce case yesterday when a state appeals court reversed a lower court's awarding of about $18,000 per month in child support to his twin 3-year-old daughters. The three-judge panel found a lower court didn't adequately review the claims by Strahan's ex-wife, Jean, about the girls' needs. Troy Vincent declined to discuss whether he's interested in succeeding Gene Upshaw in leading the NFL Players' Association because he is still mourning the union's executive director's death — and a person Vincent referred to as "a mentor." "I will not discuss anything outside of my mourning and sympathy for (the Upshaw) family," Vincent wrote in an e-mail sent to The Associated Press yesterday, in what were the former NFLPA president's first public comments since Upshaw died last week. Vincent, a former NFL defensive back, is considered a candidate to take over as NFLPA executive director, a position which is filled on an interim basis by Richard Berthelsen, the union's chief counsel. Vincent played 15 NFL seasons and spent the past four years as the union president before he was succeeded by Tennessee Titans center Kevin Mawae. Pro soccer: Joe Public FC upsets Revs Gregory Richardson and Jamal Gay scored as Trinidad's Joe Public upset the New England Revolution 2-1 yesterday in the preliminary round of the new CONCACAF Champions League. Richardson got the first goal from about 6 yards in the 51st minute off a cross from Kerry Baptiste. Gay entered in the 69th minute and scored on his first touch, sending a cross from Baptiste past goalkeeper Doug Warren from close range in the 70th. Municio Castro converted a penalty kick for New England in the 76th minute after Carlyle Mitchell brought down Shalrie Joseph. The return leg in the total-goals series is next Tuesday at Foxboro. The eight preliminary round winners advance to the 16-team group stage of the tournament, which replaced the CONCACAF Champions Cup. MLS's Houston Dynamo and D.C. United received automatic berths in the group stage, which opens Sept. 16. Names: Ex-Blazers star Duckworth dies at 44 Former Portland Trail Blazers center Kevin Duckworth, a "gentle giant" with a feathery touch from the paint, has died. He was 44. Duckworth, part of a Trail Blazers goodwill tour, was scheduled to hold a basketball clinic on the Oregon coast when he died Monday night. The Depoe Bay Fire Department said it responded about 10 p.m. to a report of a man who was down and not breathing at Salishan Lodge at Gleneden Beach, north of Newport on the central coast. ... Reed Sorenson isn't waiting for Chip Ganassi Racing to figure out the Car of Tomorrow. The 22-year-old driver signed a multiyear contract to join Gillett Evernham Motorsports next season, where he'll join Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler. Sorenson said his decision to leave Ganassi, where he began his NASCAR career as a precocious 18-year-old, was difficult but necessary.
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