HORSE RACING
NEW YORK -- Nick Zito could have two horses in the Belmont Stakes.
The Hall of Fame trainer has Ice Box pointed to the final jewel of the Triple Crown on June 5. Ice Box, the runner-up to Super Saver in the Kentucky Derby, will not run next weekend in the Preakness.
Fly Down could also join the Belmont lineup following a sixth-length win over Drosselmeyer, the 3-5 favorite, on Saturday in the $200,000 Dwyer Stakes for 3-year-olds.
Rallying from last against six rivals on a the windy afternoon at Belmont, Fly Down earned his first stakes win and a possible shot at the division leaders.
TENNIS
OEIRAS, Portugal -- Roger Federer faltered in his tuneup for the French Open, losing to defending champion Albert Montanes of Spain 6-2, 7-6 (5) Saturday in the Estoril Open semifinals.
Montanes, seeded fourth, will play for the title Sunday against Frederico Gil, who became the first Portuguese to reach the final after he upset fifth-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.
Unseeded Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia captured the women's final, downing Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain 6-2, 7-5 for her first career title.
Federer made 48 unforced errors, mostly on his backhand. The top-ranked Swiss was more consistent in the second set on a damp day following heavy rain, but he blew a 5-2 lead in the tiebreaker in which Montanes won the last five points.
Federer came to Estoril for the first time to get more matches on clay in preparation for his French Open title defense this month. He lost his opening match to 40th-ranked Ernests Gulbis at the Rome Masters and won only two matches in Estoril.
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MADRID -- Elena Dementieva cruised into the second round of the Madrid Open with a 6-0, 6-1 win Saturday against Aleksandra Wozniak.
Melanie Oudin of the United States lost 6-3, 6-4 to Vera Zvonareva on the clay courts. Alona Bondarenko came from a set down to beat Magdalena Rybarikova 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Also, Sybille Bammer defeated Yaroslava Shvedova 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
The men's and women's tournament runs through May 16.
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ROME -- Jelena Jankovic lost the Italian Open final to unseeded Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez on Saturday, falling 7-6 (5), 7-5 to the Spaniard's array of touch volleys and drop shots.
The seventh-ranked Serb beat hard-hitting Venus and Serena Williams in her previous two matches, but struggled against Martinez Sanchez's clay-court shotmaking in this warmup for the French Open in two weeks.
It's the first Tier I title -- and third title overall -- for the 26th-ranked Martinez Sanchez, a left-hander who beat second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki in the third round and knocked out former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic in the semifinals.
"It was really an unbelievable tournament for me," Martinez Sanchez said. "What can I say? It's incredible."
Jankovic was aiming for her third title at the Foro Italico, but more than once ended up sprawled on the clay after chasing down drop shots.
"She played so well," Jankovic said. "She really killed me with all those drop shots, and I killed myself falling all over the place."
Martinez Sanchez jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the opening set with Jankovic appearing befuddled by the Spaniard's sharp angles.
But Martinez Sanchez's game then abandoned her for a stretch due to apparent nerves. And when she served for the set at 5-2, she wasted her chance with a weak overhead that led to an error into the net.
Jankovic gained confidence and started moving forward more and imposing her game with shots deep to the corners, winning four consecutive games to take a 6-5 lead. But she too then wasted a set point with a routine forehand into the net, and Martinez Sanchez broke back to force a tiebreaker.
The turning point in the tiebreaker came when Martinez Sanchez sliced a backhand to Jankovic's backhand, setting up a volley she put away into the open court to take a 6-4 lead.
Martinez broke in the opening game of the second set, then let Jankovic draw even at 3-3. The Spaniard went ahead again, but double-faulted serving for the match at 5-3 to hand Jankovic the game.
Martinez Sanchez came back to win the next two games. She converted her second match point with a characteristic serve out wide to Jankovic's backhand, setting up a comfortable volley winner into the open court to draw large applause from the nearly full new 10,500-seat stadium at the Foro Italico.
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BELGRADE, Serbia -- John Isner edged Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 7-5, 7-5 Saturday to reach the final of the Serbia Open final.
The big-serving American broke Wawrinka in the 12th game of each set to reach his fourth career final but his first in Europe.
Wawrinka served two double-faults in the last game of the first set. In the second set, Isner wasted one match point at 5-4 but converted his second when the Swiss player sent a forehand into the net.
Isner will face either Sam Querrey of the United States or Serbian wild-card Filip Krajinovic.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic retired because of breathing problems during his quarterfinal against Krajinovic on Friday.
Djokovic said Saturday he was withdrawing from next week's Madrid Open because of the problem.
SWIMMING & DIVING
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- China's Li Shixin won the men's 3-meter springboard final with 527.80 points and teamed with Yu Longhi to finish second in the synchronized men's 3-meter springboard Saturday in the USA Diving Grand Prix.
American Troy Dumais was second at 506.65 in the men's 3-meter springboard final, and won the synchronized men's 3-meter springboard with partner Kristian Ipsen.
ET CETERA
TWIN FALLS, Idaho -- A spokesman for Robbie Knievel says the motorcycle jumper wants to follow in his daredevil father's footsteps and attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon in southern Idaho.
Jeff Lowe says Knievel will be in Twin Falls on Monday to discuss the plan with local officials, and that the jump is tentatively set for the Fourth of July weekend in 2011, almost four decades after his father's try.
Evel Knievel, who died in 2007, failed to clear the chasm in 1974 in a rocket-powered "Skycycle" when the parachute malfunctioned and deployed after takeoff.
Shawn Barigar is president of the Twin Falls Area Chamber of Commerce. He tells The Times-News that local government officials and business leaders have been invited to attend the private meeting with Knievel.
-- Wire reports
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