West Ham close in on Franco deal

West Ham are set to give Mexico striker Guillermo Franco a medical ahead of signing him on a free transfer.

Franco's contract with Villarreal expired during the summer and he was set for a move to Estudiantes in his home country before that fell through.

But the 32-year-old, who played for Mexico at the 2006 World Cup, has now been drafted in by Upton Park boss Gianfranco Zola.

"I'm sure he is a player who can make a good contribution," said Zola.

Franco has been on international duty with Mexico and scored in the 3-0 win away to Costa Rica on Saturday.

He is expected to sign a one-year deal with West Ham but will not be available for this weekend's game at Wigan.

"I'm happy because I'm going to an English team and I believe that is a good opportunity for me," said Franco.

Sutil on top as Force India shine

By Sean Chaney

Force India's Adrian Sutil continued his team's good recent form with the fastest lap in Friday's second practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Sutil was 0.239 seconds faster than Renault's Romain Grosjean as his team look to build on their first podium finish, achieved in Belgium in August.

Brawn's championship leader Jenson Button was 19th while McLaren's morning pace-setter Lewis Hamilton was 11th.

The Red Bull duo of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were 14th and 18th.

Sutil topped the timesheets for much of the second session but Renault rookie Grosjean, competing in only his third grand prix, nipped in with a faster effort in the closing stages to briefly lead the way.




Page last updated at 13:43 GMT, Friday, 11 September 2009 14:43 UK
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Sutil on top as Force India shine
Force India's Adrian Sutil

Highlights - Sutil fastest at Monza

By Sean Chaney

Force India's Adrian Sutil continued his team's good recent form with the fastest lap in Friday's second practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Sutil was 0.239 seconds faster than Renault's Romain Grosjean as his team look to build on their first podium finish, achieved in Belgium in August.

Brawn's championship leader Jenson Button was 19th while McLaren's morning pace-setter Lewis Hamilton was 11th.

The Red Bull duo of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were 14th and 18th.

Sutil topped the timesheets for much of the second session but Renault rookie Grosjean, competing in only his third grand prix, nipped in with a faster effort in the closing stages to briefly lead the way.


606: DEBATE
I think Fisi will do a solid job. He can only improve once he is familiar with the Ferrari and its controls. I would just have expected more in second practise

SimonWright1983

That provoked an immediate response from Sutil who promptly clocked an effort of one minute 23.924 to set the fastest time of the day.

"It was a very, very good time," said Sutil, "it came as a result of some good work, a great set-up and getting the tyres to work well.

"Everything went well today. The car was working perfectly and we can be very happy about the result.

"We didn't try specifically to go fastest but if you are on top of your game and the car is working well there is no reason why you could not be P1 at the end of the session.

"It was a very productive day on a very cool track and it's good to have some fun right now."

Giancarlo Fisichella finished second for Force India in the last race in Belgium, but the 36-year-old Italian has since been drafted in by Ferrari to replace the beleaguered Luca Badoer for the rest of the season.

Fisichella made a promising start in the day's first practice session by out-performing team-mate Kimi Raikkonen but he was bottom of the timesheets after the second session, 1.619 seconds off the pace.

Practice sessions are rarely the most reliable barometer of race pace as teams often use Friday's two 90-minute run-outs to analyse and assess how their cars react to various fuel, aerodynamic and technical scenarios.

Sutil topped the timesheets in third practice for the European Grand Prix in August, but the 26-year-old German finished 10th in Valencia.

The ban on in-season testing this year has meant Friday practice sessions have been even harder to decode as there is no way of knowing what fuel loads or race set-ups the teams are running.

Brawn boss Ross Brawn confirmed that his team had used Friday's sessions to understand how their cars would react to the unique low down force challenge of Monza.

"The fact that we haven't had the opportunity to test here this year, meant Friday's practice sessions were particularly important to work on the set-up of the car," said Brawn.

"It feels very different running with such low downforce, said Button, "but the car has been performing reasonably well.

"We need to work on the fine-tuning of the set-up overnight to ensure that I'm completely happy with the balance before qualifying."

McLaren's Hamilton set the pace in the morning session in Monza but the defending world champion was 11th quickest in the second session.

"This afternoon was spent on heavier fuel-loads, confirmed Hamilton. "So you can't read too much into the times, but I'm encouraged by where we are."

Hamilton's team-mate Heikki Kovalainen backed up his second-quickest time in the morning session by going fourth quickest in an unpredictable second session and the Finn said afterwards that he thought the Kers power-boost system was a big advantage.

"The Kers advantage here is nearly four 10ths per lap so it's really helpful along the straights and out of the slower corners," said Kovalainen.

"Others have more down force compared with us, but we have this fantastic Kers button.

"It is funny the teams have all adopted different technical solutions but the lap times are still very close together - that's the beauty of Formula 1."

Renault reintroduced their Kers system especially for Monza and that decision seemed to pay dividends as Grosjean and Fernando Alonso set the second and third fastest times on Friday afternoon.

The Kers button makes the car accelerate faster, so it spends longer at a higher speed on the straights than cars without it, which is particularly advantageous on Monza's long high-speed straights.

McLaren, Renault and Ferrari are the only cars running the non-compulsory Kers system in Italy.

Vettel's lowly position of 18th can be partially put down to his need to conserve engines, the German blew two engines at the European Grand Prix in Valencia and has now used seven of his eight engine quota for the season.

While Vettel completed 27 laps on Friday afternoon, his team-mate Webber managed even fewer, just 25, the Australian was kept in his garage as his Red Bull team repaired a chaffed electrical loom.

"It was a mixed day," said Webber. "We had an electrical problem in P2, which probably cost us about a run and a half, so it was a good recovery from the guys to get the car turned back around.

"Mileage is important here, as it's the first time we've driven in Monza this year - normally we test here beforehand.

"We've got a bit of pace to find, but I'm sure we'll be in the running tomorrow."

Button's closest championship challenger, his Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello, was 16th fastest around the low-downforce Monza circuit.

Pacquiao is 'too quick' for Cotto

Manny Pacquiao insists he will be too quick for Miguel Cotto when the two men meet in Las Vegas on 14 November.

Senior Open: Bernhard Langer

Taken at the Senior Open golf at Sunningdale on Saturday, 25 July 2009.

Roddick powers to late-night win

Fifth seed Andy Roddick maintained his good form as he swept past France's Marc Gicquel in the night session to reach the third round of the US Open.

The American won 6-1 6-4 6-4 in a match that finished after midnight local time on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Roddick goes on to face 6ft 9ins American John Isner, who beat Turkey's Marsel Ilhan 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7-1)

Fourth seed Novak Djokovic earlier made smooth progress into round three with a straight-sets win over Carsten Ball.

The Serb, 22, came through 6-3 6-4 6-4 and will next face American qualifier Jesse Witten for a place in the last 16.

Djokovic could only break once in each set against the big-serving Australian and missed a further 13 break-point chances.

"It's always hard to predict what to expect in the match against a guy who you don't know basically," said Djokovic.
He was serving between 130, 140mph throughout the whole match. He was going for the serves. I knew he was going to try to be aggressive."

Djokovic added: "Physically I feel great. I feel ready. I feel confident on the court, mentally motivated and willing to do more. I just have a big desire to perform good and to win the matches."

James Blake, the 21st seed, enjoyed a dramatic 6-4 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 win over Olivier Rochus that saw the schedule pushed back on Arthur Ashe Stadium and the night session delayed.

As a result, Roddick did not begin his match until 10.20pm, but the 2003 champion had few problems despite some flamboyant hitting from Gicquel.

"Even in the second set when he got down, he started playing a little bit more aggressively and that was certainly the case in the last game," said Roddick.

"He came back and I was getting a little nervous there but I'm glad I was able to pull it out."

Looking ahead to his match with the 6ft 9ins Isner, Roddick added: "John's been playing a lot better and it's going to be a completely different match-up.

"I'm not going to be able to break as much as in these first couple of matches and it's going to come down to a couple of points here and there."

Two-time semi-finalist Nikolay Davydenko swept aside Jan Hernych 6-4 6-1 6-2 to reach the third round.

Spain's Fernando Verdasco, seeded 10th, also won easily, to set up a clash with in-form veteran Tommy Haas.

The 25-year-old - who won his first ATP Tour title in New Haven last week - triumphed 6-3 6-0 6-3 in less than 90 minutes against Florent Serra of France.

Germany's Haas, the 20th seed, had to work slightly harder, converting just two of 18 break points before eventually beating Robert Kendrick 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7-3).

The victory was Hass's 30th at Flushing Meadow and the 31-year-old says that he is enjoying his tennis as his career moves into its final years.

"Other aches and pains come along as you get older," said the German, who has had surgery on his shoulder three times.

"Anybody will tell you that. But it's still good enough for me to go out there and compete."

Robin Soderling, seeded 12th, was handed an easy passage into round three when his Spanish opponent Marcel Granollers was forced to retire in the third game of their match with a back injury.

Sam Querrey, the 22nd seed, also made progress thanks to a 7-5 6-7 (8-6) 6-4 6-4 win over Kevin Kim and will play Soderling next.

And another American, Witten, continued his unexpected run of wins by seeing off Argentina's Maximo Gonzalez 6-7 (7-3) 6-4 7-5 6-2.

World Cup bid eyes Olympic venue

The 2012 London Olympic Stadium could be used as part of the bid for England to host the 2018 World Cup.

The 'London United' group proposes Wembley, the Emirates, Tottenham's planned new ground and the Olympic Stadium in Stratford should host games.

"The stadium and Olympic Park would strengthen the bid in a whole variety of ways," said Simon Greenberg, chairman of London United.

"That includes the legacy aspect as one of the world's most modern stadia."

There has long been debate about what should be done with the stadium, which will include an athletics track, after the Games, with the future of the track and the seating capacity undecided at the moment.
London Mayor Boris Johnson said it would be "foolish" not to consider the stadium as part of the World Cup bid, but three years ago when there was talk of the venue being used as a football stadium, his predecessor Ken Livingston said there was a "legally binding contract, more like an international treaty" that it was to be used for athletics.

"(Being in the World Cup bid) is clearly subject to a final decision to be made about its capacity - but that decision is likely to post-date our final proposal," added Greenberg.

"It would also compliment the other stadiums in London, which are among the best in the world. Overall, it is a natural to be included in our proposal."

Fifa rules state any ground hoping to host World Cup group matches must have a minimum capacity of 40,000, and 60,000 for quarter-finals and beyond.

The England 2018 bid team will not make a final decision on its list of preferred venues until December, after the applicant cities - Birmingham, Bristol, Derby, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle/Gateshead, Nottingham, Plymouth, Sheffield and Sunderland - have made their final round of presentations to the Football Association.

They will then select between 12 and 18 match venues as part of their final bid which will be made to Fifa ahead of the vote in December 2010.