Federer tops Soderling, reaches US Open semifinals

NEW YORK (AP) — For one match at least, Roger Federer was back to his old self.

Back to beating Robin Soderling, and back to being a Grand Slam semifinalist — two things he used to do with such regularity.

Treating the whipping wind and his familiar foe as only slight nuisances, 16-time Grand Slam champion Federer served his way to a convincing 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 victory over the fifth-seeded Soderling in the U.S. Open quarterfinals last night.

Federer had an 18-2 edge in aces against the big-hitting Soderling, mixing speed with pinpoint placement that kept the Swede guessing.

The victory improved his career mark against Soderling to 13-1. The lone loss was in their previous match, in this year's French Open quarterfinals. Soderling's victory there ended Federer's streak of reaching the semifinals at a record 23 consecutive major tournaments.

Now Federer will meet third-seeded Novak Djokovic in the semifinals for the third U.S. Open in a row. It's also the fourth consecutive year they'll play each other in New York, dating to the 2007 final, and Federer is 4-0 in those matches.

About a half-dozen lets were called during top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki's 6-2, 7-5 victory over 45th-ranked Dominika Cibulkova in the last women's quarterfinal.

"This felt like playing in a hurricane or something," said Wozniacki, who is 19-1 since Wimbledon and has won her past 13 matches.

In Friday's semifinals, the 2009 U.S. Open runner-up will face 2010 Wimbledon runner-up Vera Zvonareva.

Zvonareva was perfectly steady — in her mind and with her strokes — and beat 31st-seeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-3, 7-5 in Wednesday's first singles match.

Baseball: Umpire ejects drunken Brewers fan

MILWAUKEE — Veteran umpire Bob Davidson says he ejected a fan at Miller Park because the fan used a homophobic slur aimed at Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina.

Davidson said he decided to throw out 44-year-old Sean A. Ottow of Waukesha, Wis., in the bottom of the seventh inning Tuesday night because he wanted to make sure Molina wouldn't do something to escalate the situation. Davidson spoke Wednesday before the series finale.

"Molina, I thought he was going to go toward (the fan) and I said, 'I'll take care of it,"' said Davidson, who was the plate umpire.

More baseball: Twins' Thome sits out game against Royals

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jim Thome's climb up the home run charts has been put on hold.

The Minnesota Twins designated hitter was a late scratch for the series finale against Kansas City on Thursday night. The team says Thome was scratched for precautionary reasons with a mild abdominal strain. He is listed as day-to-day.

Thome hit four homers in his last three games, including two that had the Target Field distance estimators scrambling to come up with an accurate measurement. His 480-footer on Monday hit the top of the flag pole in deep right field.

More baseball: Dodgers' Torre undecided on his future

SAN DIEGO — Joe Torre says he's waiting to announce whether he'll return to manage the Los Angeles Dodgers next year.

Torre had previously said he would make the announcement around Labor Day. But he said before Wednesday's game against the San Diego Padres he is not yet ready to divulge it.

Torre says he'll let everyone know once the Dodgers clinch a playoff spot or are eliminated.

The Dodgers started the night 10 games behind in the NL West and wild-card races.

Football: Colts release lineman

INDIANAPOLIS — Last year, Tony Ugoh lost his starting job. On Wednesday, he was simply out of a job.

The offensive lineman the Colts once projected as their left tackle of the future was placed on the waived-injured list after missing practice with an undisclosed foot injury. To take his spot, the Colts claimed another offensive lineman, Joe Reitz, off waivers from Miami.

Ugoh's future with the Colts had been in doubt since Caldwell demoted Ugoh from starter to backup during training camp last season.

More football: Leinart practices with Texans

HOUSTON — Matt Leinart walked into the Houston Texans' locker room Wednesday with stubble on his face and a new playbook in his hand.

Released last week by the Arizona Cardinals, Leinart practiced with the Texans for the first time since agreeing to a one-year deal with the team Monday.

The 2004 Heisman Trophy winner will be the third-string quarterback when the Texans open the season against Indianapolis on Sunday. It's a humbling fall from the high expectations he brought to the NFL after three spectacular seasons at Southern Cal.

But Leinart calls his one guaranteed season in Houston a "new chapter," and one he hopes will revive his NFL career.

"Obviously, the first four years, they didn't go the way you would hope and the way I hoped," he said.

"I learned a lot as a quarterback, and as a person. I had a chance to learn from Kurt Warner, who is one of the greatest quarterbacks to play. Now, I get a chance to come here and learn from Matt (Schaub), who's become a pretty good quarterback in this league.

"It's unfortunate that it worked out like that over there (in Arizona)," he said. "But like I said, this is a new chapter, this is a fresh start, a new offense. I'm just excited."

He spent most of the day with quarterback coach Greg Knapp, getting his first taste of the complex offense that led the NFL in yards passing in 2009. He threw an interception on a short route in practice, then threw a deeper pass on target that was dropped.

Leinart said the Texans' offense is closer to what he learned in college than in Arizona. Some of Houston's offense is similar to what the Cardinals ran, but Leinart will have to memorize new terms for old plays.

"It's hard. It's not a position I've been in in awhile," he said. "There is just so much stuff, I'm trying to soak it in. In Arizona, we had a lot of the same concepts. The terminology and the words are just completely different. One word meant something there, and then the same word means something completely different here."

Leinart led the Trojans to two national championships and a third title game. He was drafted 10th overall by the Cardinals and appeared in 12 games as a rookie under coach Dennis Green, throwing 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He broke his collarbone in the fifth game of the next season, Warner took over and Leinart watched from the sideline over most of the next 2 1/2 seasons.

Warner retired after the 2009 season, giving Leinart a chance to run the offense. But Leinart openly complained about his relationship with coach Ken Whisenhunt, Cleveland castoff Derek Anderson won the job in training camp and Arizona started shopping Leinart.

When the Cardinals couldn't find a good deal, they cut Leinart and saved themselves the $2.5 million that he was due to make this season.

Leinart chose his words carefully when he talked about his final days in Arizona.

"The thing I've learned, especially the last couple of years, is control what you can control," he said. "I worked hard, I prepared hard for this season, this preseason. I thought I played well and had a good training camp. It just didn't go as planned. Coach (Whisenhunt) decided to go in a different direction. We had our differences, but I think we respect each other and it was time to move on, obviously."

After he was cut, Leinart said he went to the beach in California and mulled offers from teams that showed interest in him. Seattle, now led by former Southern Cal coach Pete Carroll, was one of them, but Leinart said the Seahawks chose to go "in a different direction in their quarterbacks, as far as how many they were taking."

He said the Texans presented the most ideal situation, even though he isn't likely to see much action backing up Schaub and Dan Orlovsky.

"My goals are just to work as hard as I can, to pick it up and study as much as I can, and just be prepared to play if I'm ever called upon," he said. "That's the mindset of a quarterback, especially when you're not the starter. I just want to learn, I want to get better as a player."

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