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Rafael Nadal marked his first appearance since winning the US Open with a 6-1 6-4 victory over Rubens Bemelmans in Bangkok.

Spaniard Verdasco, the second seed, knocked out by Becker

Rafael Nadal marked his first appearance since winning the US Open with a routine 6-1 6-4 victory over Rubens Bemelmans in Bangkok.

Making his debut in the Thailand Open, world number one Nadal cruised past the Belgian qualifier to register his 60th win of the year.

The Spaniard, who was the firm favourite of the sell-out crowd, converted three of his five break-point opportunities to reach the quarter-finals.

Next up for Nadal will be Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan after he saw off Belgian Olivier Rochus, who had knocked out Juan Martin del Potro in the previous round, 6-4 5-7 6-3.
Must improve

“The first round for sure is never easy,” Nadal said afterwards.

“I had some time off ater winning the US Open and spent a week in this great country. I played well but I must improve for the next match.”

It was not such a good day for Nadal’s compatriot Fernando Verdasco, the second seed going down to a 6-4 6-4 loss at the hands of Benjamin Becker.

Verdasco, who had not played indoors since February, trailed 5-1 in the opening set. He then gave away the ninth game in a tight second by sending down a fourth double fault, allowing German Becker to serve out for the win.

“The start was the toughest past,” he said. “I haven’t played indoors for so long. He had a match already and was comfortable on the surface.

“He played better than me today and deserved the win.”

Viktor Troicki also tumbled out, Jarkko Nieminen seeing off the seventh seed 7-6 (7-4) 6-2.

Hartley retains roster spot despite costly miss

The New Orleans Saints have added veteran kicker John Carney to their roster ahead of the week four fixture with the Carolina Panthers.

The defending Super Bowl champions suffered their first defeat of the season in week three against Atlanta in overtime after Garrett Hartley missed a potential game-winning field goal from 29 yards.

Saints head coach Sean Payton has responded by bringing back Carney, 46, who Hartley replaced towards the end of the 2009 season.

Hartley has also been retained, meaning the Saints are set to have two kickers on duty for the October 3 clash with the Panthers in the Superdome.

Wide receiver Adrian Arrington was waived to create roster room for Carney, who has spent 22 seasons in the NFL with Tampa Bay, the Los Angeles Rams, San Diego, New Orleans, Jacksonville, Kansas City, the New York Giants and New Orleans again last season.

He was released last December but retained as a kicking consultant and worked with Hartley.

Carney ranks third all-time in the NFL with 2,044 career points.

Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer will combine in the opening Ryder Cup fourballs against Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson.

Few surprises from Montgomerie for Friday morning

The Anglo-German combination of Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer will lead Europe off on Friday morning in the opening Ryder Cup fourballs against American duo Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson.

World number three Westwood has not played a competitive round since August 6 after suffering a calf injury, but believes he will be capable of playing five times if required, while Kaymer has won his last two tournaments, including the USPGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell become the first Northern Irish pairing in Ryder Cup history in the second game of the day, where they take on Stewart Cink and Matt Kuchar.

McIlroy and McDowell combined to good effect for Great Britain and Ireland at last year’s Vivendi Trophy and European captain Colin Montgomerie admitted it was the “worst kept secret” that they would play together again at Celtic Manor.

Familiar

World number one Tiger Woods, as expected, reconvenes his successful union with Steve Stricker in the third match of the morning for the Americans.

Woods and Stricker, who won four out of four together at last year’s Presidents Cup, face the English coupling of Ian Poulter and debutant Ross Fisher.

Poulter and Fisher have previously teamed up at the World Cup last November.

In the final match of Friday morning, Montgomerie has combined two of his wild cards, Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald.

Harrington and Donald line-up against big-hitting American rookies Jeff Overton and Bubba Watson.

The respective skippers, Montgomerie and Corey Pavin, have taken contrasting approaches with the visitors blooding four of their five new boys immediately, while Europe have left three of their six rookies on the bench.

The Molinari brothers, Edoardo and Francesco, are widely tipped to play together in the afternoon foursomes, with Sweden’s Peter Hanson and Spainiard Miguel Angel Jimenez – the other two Europeans with an initial watching brief – another likely foursomes pairing.

Perhaps most surprising is the decision of Pavin to overlook world number five Jim Furyk, fresh from his Tour Championship and FedEx Cup wins last Sunday, for the opening session.

Hunter Mahan and Zach Johnson, both appearing at their second Ryder Cup, have also been left out, along with 21-year-old rookie Rickie Fowler.

Both Luis & Helen recognised that since the ‘Intimately Beckham’ advert, the couple-shilling product bar had been significantly raised. Nevertheless, Helen was startled when the first scene called for head removal.

Looking at this photo taken in Sao Paulo of Ronaldo and his wife Bia Anthony, we think it’s safe to say the pair have entered that lovely, familiar stage of a relationship we like to call, “We have said every possible thing there is to say to each other already, so you do you, and I’ll do me. Seen?”

FYI, they’re at a Roberto Carlos concert in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Corinthians FC.

So, it’s come to this.

We’re posting a “news” piece on Joe Cole walking with golf clubs. In fact, this doesn’t actually qualify as news because we’re only giving you a photo. Text is too much for us to be dealing with right now.

Totti a happy 34th birthday September 27th, 2010.

Fra threw one of his trademark hissy fits after being subbed off during Roma’s 1-0 win over Inter Milan at the weekend, but later insisted he meant nothing by it and that he hopes to spend many more birthdays wearing the shirt he loves so much.

Still, we feel as though he could use some comforting. Please form an orderly queue as the “Lick Frosting & Squirty Cream Off Fra’s Abs” party will be commencing pictures..

Happy birthday Francesco Totti!

Mike Pereira is a former Vice President of Officiating (formerly Senior Director of Officiating) for the National Football League (NFL). He first took over the position in 2001, succeeding Jerry Seeman. He was also a game official in the NFL for two seasons (1996 and 1997) as a side judge on the officiating crew headed by referee Mike Carey. He wore uniform number 77, which is now worn by side judge-turned-referee Terry McAulay.

Pereira appears on the NFL Network show, NFL Total Access, during the “Official Review” segment, to discuss key calls made during the previous week’s games with host Rich Eisen every Wednesday during the season.

In a Conference Championship edition of “Official Review” on January 21, 2009, Pereira confirmed that he would be retiring from the position of Vice President of Officiating after the 2009 season.

In June 2010, it was announced that Pereira would be joining Fox Sports to serve as a rules analyst for the network’s NFL coverage

Josefin Nordegren & Elin Nordegren

Relationship to Tiger: Ex-sister-in-law.

Pros: Elin’s identical twin (left) already knows Tiger. Plus, he can fool the other players’ wives and say he’s reconciled with Elin.
Cons: She’s a lawyer, and Tiger can’t afford another costly relationship.

Elin Nordegren: Elin Maria Pernilla Nordegren (born January 1, 1980) is a former Swedish model and the ex-wife of professional golfer Tiger Woods.

Marriage to Tiger Woods: Nordegren took a job in a Stockholm clothing store called Champagne, where she met Mia Parnevik, wife of Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik, who hired Nordegren as the nanny to their children, a job that required her to move to the U.S. He introduced her to Woods during the 2001 Open Championship. Previously, Woods had asked for a year to be introduced to Nordegren, who was seeing someone else at the time. “There was a big line of single golfers wanting to meet her. They were gaga over her.” She had hopes of becoming a child psychiatrist at the time. In November 2003, Woods and Nordegren attended the Presidents Cup tournament in South Africa and became officially engaged when Woods proposed at the luxury Shamwari Game Reserve.

They were married in October 2004, by the 19th hole of the Sandy Lane resort in Barbados. The 150 guests included Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and Bill Gates. Woods rented the entire complex for a week, including three golf courses and 110 rooms, costing almost $2 million.

Shortly after Nordegren’s relationship with Woods became public, nude photographs purporting to be of Nordegren began circulating on the internet, which were established to be fakes. Despite the debunking, in 2006, Irish magazine The Dubliner published the nude photographs and stated they were of Nordegren. On November 16, 2006, Nordegren filed a libel suit against The Dubliner. Nordegren won the lawsuit, and as part of the settlement accepted by a Dublin court, The Dubliner was required to publish a lengthy apology in a variety of venues. Were the magazine to have failed to meet the conditions, the award would have been increased to $366,500 plus all of Nordegren’s legal expenses.

On June 18, 2007, Woods announced the birth of the couple’s daughter, Sam Alexis Woods, a day after finishing second in the U.S. Open. On September 2, 2008, Woods announced they were expecting another child in late winter. Five months later it was announced that Elin had given birth to a boy, Charlie Axel, on February 8, 2009.

In December 2009, her marriage to Woods was the subject of extensive media coverage after Woods admitted to infidelity, which had been revealed following his single-vehicle accident near the family’s Florida home.Woods subsequently announced he would take an “indefinite break” from golf to work on his marriage. These efforts were unsuccessful, however, as Nordegren and Woods finalized their divorce in the Bay County Circuit Court in Panama City, Florida, on August 23, 2010. Nordegren’s legal team included her sister, Josefin (who is licensed to practice law in England and Sweden) and several of Josefin’s U.S. colleagues at international law firm McGuireWoods.

Victoria Azarenka marked her first match back on the WTA Tour since collapsing at the US Open with a straight-sets victory over Lucie Safarova in Tokyo.

The number eight seed safely booked her place in the third round of the Pan Pacific Open women with a routine 6-1 6-3 triumph.

After receiving a bye in the opening round, Azarenka, who was forced out of the US Open after collapsing during her second round match with Gisela Dulko, showed no ill-effects of that setback with a confident display.

“Sometimes things happen unfortunately in this way,” Azarenka said.

“I cannot look back. I try to forget about it as much as I can, but people still remind me. For me, it’s important to move forward.
Impressive

“I think it was a very good start for me. I hadn’t played for three weeks, so I was a little bit nervous to get into the match and see what I could do.

“I did pretty well and I’m happy with my game and with the way I moved. My serve was a little bit inconsistent, but still I think I put a lot of pressure, winning a lot of points,” she said.

In the third round, 21-year-old Azarenka will take on 11th seed Marion Bartoli after she overcame former world number one Ana Ivanovic 6-2 6-1.

US Open runner-up Vera Zvonareva continued her impressive end to the season with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Sara Errani to reach round three.

And fellow seed Elena Dementieva also progressed, the Russian seventh seed powering past Yaroslava Shvedova 6-0 6-1.

The highest-ranked casualty on Tuesday was number four seed Sam Stosur. The powerful Australian was on the receiving end of a 7-5 6-3 defeat to Germany’s Julia Goerges.