Thursday's results

BASEBALL

MAJOR LEAGUE

Los Angeles Angels 7 Minnesota 6, Atlanta v Chicago Cubs postponed, Toronto 8 Oakland 0, Pittsburgh 0 Philadelphia 5, Cleveland 3 Detroit 7, Washington 3 New York Mets 5, Florida 5 Milwaukee 4 (12 innings), Texas 4 Boston 7, Chicago White Sox 7 Tampa Bay 2, Houston 5 San Diego 4, Kansas City 5 Seattle 1, Colorado 5 Los Angeles Dodgers 9, Arizona 1 St Louis 2, San Francisco 7 Cincinnati 2.

* * *

BASKETBALL

AUCKLAND

Women's winter championship: Thunderbird 20 Dragons 0, Akarana White 31 All Sportz 22, Akarana Green 33 Aces 27, Winos 47 Akarana Red 30, Auckland Girls Grammar 60 Akarana Blue 27, Maximus 28 Air New Zealand 23.

* * *

BOXING

AUCKLAND PRO-AM

Amateurs: A. Whalley (Te Awamutu) 37.5kg bt T. Pomale (Waitakere) 39kg, on points; T. Henare (South Auckland Youth Club) 50kg bt A. Afiue (Mangere) 53.6kg, on points; T. Tapatuetoa (Mangere) 72.5kg bt I. Brimblecombe (ABA Tulisi) 71.1kg, on points; M. Pomale (Waitakere) 38.4kg bt S. Whalley (Te Awamutu) 36.9kg, on points; V. Pavlovich (Gummers) 72.5kg bt M. Falaniko (Aiga Gym) 71kg, on points; N. Gemmell (Mt Albert) 61.9kg bt T. Nathan (SAYC) 64kg, on points; F. Masofa (Aiga Gym) 50.8kg bt D. Wharemate (Mt Albert) 49.3kg, on points; T. Nathan (SAYC) 57.4kg bt J. O'Connell (Revills) 58.2kg, on points; J. Pula (Aiga Gym) 69kg bt T. Honey (Papatoetoe) 68.3kg, on points; Z. Wallace (Te Awamutu) 81.7kg bt W. Orbell (Focus Fit) 83.9kg, on points.

Novice professionals: J. Lollo (Papakura) 82.7kg bt D. Nathan (Mangere) 92kg, on points.

Professionals: S. Moimoi (Otahuhu) 88.2kg bt A. Gabriel (Kelston) 96kg, on points; I. Afoa (Otahuhu) 126.2kg bt P. Lakai (Takanini) 117.3kg, tko, first round; A. Zinck (Welcome Bay) 99.1kg bt S. Leuii (Mt Roskill) 102.9kg, on points.

* * *

CYCLING

TOUR DE FRANCE

Fifth stage,183km from Chambord to Montargis.-

R. McEwen (Australia, Davitamon-Lotto) 3h 46m 00s, 1, T. Boonen (Belgium, Quick-Step) 2, T. Hushovd (Norway, Credit Agricole) 3, S. O'Grady (Australia, Cofidis) 4, A. Furlan (Italy, Domina Vacanze) 5, A. Davis (Australia, Liberty Seguros) 6, B. Eisel (Austria, Francaise des Jeux) 7, B. Cooke (Australia, Francaise des Jeux) 8, J. Voigt (Germany, Team CSC) 9, R. Foerster (Germany, Gerolsteiner) same time, 10.

General classification: L. Armstrong (US, Discovery Channel) 1, G. Hincapie (US, Discovery Channel) plus 55s, 2, Voigt 1m 04s, 3, B. Julich (US, Team CSC) 1m 07s, 4, J. L. Rubiera (Spain, Discovery Channel) 1m 14s, 5, Y. Popovych (Ukraine, Discovery Channel) 1m 16s, 6, A. Vinokourov (Kazakhstan, T-Mobile) 1m 21s, 7, B. Noval (Spain, Discovery Channel) 1m 26s, 8, D. Zabriskie (US, Team CSC) 1m 32s, 9, I. Basso (Italy, Team CSC) 1m 32s, 10.

Points: Boonen 106, 1, Hushovd 77, 2, O'Grady 76, 3, McEwen 61, 4, P. Wrolich (Austria, Gerolsteiner) 60, 5.

Team classification: Team CSC 1, Discovery Channel plus 2s, 2, T-Mobile 2m 24s, 3, Phonak 3m 02s, 4, Liberty Seguros 3m 22s, 5, Gerolsteiner 3m 45s, 6, Credit Agricole 4m 29s, 7, Fassa Bortolo 4m 33s, 8, Illes Balears 5m 16s, 9, Rabobank 6m 06s, 10.

WOMEN'S TOUR OF ITALY

A solo breakaway gave Sarah Ulmer the temporary overall lead before she was reined in during yesterday's fifth stage.

Ulmer, who had begun the day 1m 24s behind leader Nicole Brandli, of Switzerland, made her move midway through the 111km stage, which comprised three laps of the town of Castigliano di San Marco, home of the Red Cross, and six mountain climbs.

It was on the second lap that Ulmer, riding for the Danish SATS team, broke away.

By the summit of the third climb, the world and Olympic 3000m individual pursuit champion had established a 50s lead over the rest of the field.

At the 65km mark, her advantage was 2m 17s, making her the race leader on the road.

However, at the start of the third lap, with the chasers increasing their pace, Ulmer's margin was cut to 1m 15s, and she was caught with 25km to go.

Dutchwoman Mirjam Melchers van Poppel won a sprint finish by 8s from Italian Giorgia Bronzini.

Finishing in the same group as Bronzini and credited with the same time were Christchurch's Joanne Kiesanowski (Nobili Rinetteri), Ulmer and Cambridge's Melissa Holt (also SATS).

Brandli was also in the bunch, and kept the race leader's pink jersey with an 8s margin over Spaniard Joane Somarriba.

Ulmer remained the leading New Zealand on general classification in 11th spot, 1m 24s behind Brandli.

Kiesanowski was 27th (2m 24s back) and Holt 39th (5m 09s).

There are four more stages. RUGBY

WOMEN'S CANADA CUP

(Ottawa)

New Zealand 43 (M. Canterbury 2, E. Shelford, M. Ruscoe, H. Myers, S. Lene tries, Myers 2 pen, con, N. Borthwick pen, con) Canada 3. HT: 20-0.

* * *

TENNIS

NEWPORT HALL OF FAME

(Rhode Island)

Second round (prefix denotes seeding): W. Moodie (South Africa) bt 1-T. Dent (US) 6-4 6-1, 7-P. Goldstein (US) bt F. Mergea (Rom) 6-1 6-3, A. Waske (Ger) bt D. Bracciali (Ita) 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (8-6), 2-V. Spadea (US) bt K. Kucera (Slovakia) 6-1 6-4, M. Mertinak (Slovakia) bt 5-R. Ginepri (US) 6-3 6-4, A. Dupuis (Fra) bt A. Murray (GB) 6-4 6-1, 3-G. Rusedski (GB) bt R. Vik (Cze) 6-2 7-6 (7-5), D. Vermic (Sem) bt G. Lapentti (Ecu) 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 3-2 retired.

SWISS OPEN

Second seed Gaston Gaudio waited out the weather before finally producing a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Italian Davide Sanguinetti to reach the quarter-finals yesterday.

The Argentine, who played and lost the 2002 final on the high-altitude clay of Gstaad against Alex Corretja, kept his nerve on a frustrating day of inactivity after drizzle looked like washing out the second round.

Gaudio is playing in his first event since the French Open after skipping the grass campaign to let a shoulder injury heal.

Second round: A. Seppi (Italy) bt 5-I. Ljubicic (Croatia) 7-6 (7-4) 6-3, 2-G. Gaudio (Argentina) bt D. Sanguinetti (Italy) 6-2 6-2, R. Sabau (Romania) bt S. Sargsian (Armenia) 6-4 6-4.

SWEDISH OPEN

Two-time defending champion Mariano Zabaleta beat 2002 winner Carlos Moya 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 in Bastad yesterday to reach the quarter-finals.

Zabaleta, playing in his first tournament since injuring his left foot in April at Monte Carlo, will next face Tomas Berdych, of the Czech Republic.

Third-seeded Tommy Robredo advanced when Gael Monfils, of France, fell badly and had to retire when the Spaniard led 6-4, 4-2.

Russian Mikhail Youzhny saved a match point to beat Andreas Vinciguerra, of Sweden, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5.

Second round: 6-M. Youzhny (Russia) bt A. Vinciguerra (Sweden) 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-5, M. Zabaleta (Argentina) bt 4-C. Moya (Spain) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2, T. Berdych (Czech Republic) bt N. Almagro (Spain) 4-6 6-3 6-4.