ROME - Local favourite Francesca Schiavone eliminated Canadian Eugenie Bouchard from the Italian Open on Monday. Schiavone defeated the Westmount, Que., native, who was the 17th seed, 6-4, 6-2 in the first round. Meanwhile, Grigor Dimitrov overcame a slow start and sweaty hands to beat 45th-ranked Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Italian Open on Monday. The 14th-ranked Dimitrov, a Bulgarian who at 22 is the youngest player in the top 20, did not take well to the red-and-white towels at the Foro Italico. "Theyre new and they dont absorb any sweat," he said. "Three or four times I was about to lose my racket. I asked several times (for all-white towels) but they told me, We dont have it." Dimitrov will next face big-serving Ivo Karlovic, who beat Spanish qualifier Pablo Carreno Busta 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4). In an upset, 13th-seeded Fabio Fognini, the top Italian hope, was handily beaten by 56th-ranked Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2. Also, 11th-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga saved two set points in the second set before eliminating Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3, 7-6 (5). In womens play, Sam Stosur beat Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki 6-3, 6-3; 11th-seeded Ana Ivanovic defeated Italian wild-card entry Karin Knapp 6-1, 6-1; 12th-seeded Flavia Pennetta got past Yvonne Meusburger of Austria, 6-2, 6-3; and 16th-seeded American Sloane Stephens rallied past Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Also, 1999 champion Venus Williams cruised past Annika Beck of Germany 6-3, 6-1. The eight top-seeded players have first-round byes. Second-ranked Novak Djokovic is back after withdrawing from last weeks Madrid Open with a right wrist injury and Roger Federer was out on the practice courts after also taking last week off to welcome the birth of his second set of twins. Top-ranked and defending champion Serena Williams, however, wouldnt commit to playing as she waits to see how her injured left thigh feels. "Im taking it a day at a time. Well see as the week goes on. I have the rest of the day off and Ill see how I feel tomorrow," Serena said. "I hit some balls today a little bit so Im going to see later tonight how it feels." Serena withdrew before her quarterfinal match in Madrid, where she had her thigh heavily bandaged and said the injury occurred during a first-round victory over Belinda Bencic. One of the only top players not in Rome was Kei Nishikori of Japan, who retired midway through Sundays Madrid final against Rafael Nadal citing a lower back and hip injury. Rome is the last key clay-court warmup before the French Open starts in two weeks. Sko Nmd Norge . - Veteran Kings defenceman Robyn Regehr, sidelined since Game 1 of the Anaheim series, says hes close to returning. Nmd r1 Norge . -- With Tony Allen back, the Memphis Grizzlies were able to turn up their defence pressure and hold off the Los Angeles Clippers down the stretch. http://www.nmdnorgesalg.com/nmd-r1-sko-norge.html . The Brazilian-born strikers brace drew him level with Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo as the leagues leading scorers with 17 goals apiece through 16 rounds. "The important thing is to help the team win, not the goals," Diego Costa said. After a first half dominated by defence, Atletico pressed Valencia into its area and Diego Costa did the rest. Nmd Sko Salg . - Playing a road game against a division rival raises the intensity for linebacker Clay Matthews. Adidas Nmd Salg . Bale has had a successful debut season in Spain, and Ancelotti appears ready to reward him with a starting role on Saturday. Ancelotti says "Gareth had some problems at the beginning (of the season) but when he found good physical condition he scored a lot of goals, he had a good impact on the team.CINCINNATI - Andy Dalton was sent home with the flu on Wednesday, one of four Cincinnati Bengals who missed a rain-soaked practice as they prepared to play the Pittsburgh Steelers for the AFC North title.The Bengals (10-4-1) expect Dalton to be fully recovered by the time they go to Pittsburgh (10-5) for a Sunday night game that will decide the championship and home-field advantage for the first round of the playoffs. The loser gets a wild card berth.Its always a big deal when you dont have your quarterback at practice, offensive co-ordinator Hue Jackson said. Again, its also not good if the guys sick and cant practice. So well see where hes at tomorrow and go from there.A flu outbreak has closed schools in the region this month. Several Bengals have missed practice during the last two weeks, including receiver A.J. Green. Cornerback Terence Newman got sick during a 37-28 win over Denver on Monday night and went to the sideline in the second half.Dalton, Newman, tight end Jermaine Gresham and safety Reggie Nelson were sick on Wednesday and missed a practice held in a driving rain at Paul Brown Stadium. The Bengals are the most northern NFL team without a covered practice field.Green was in sweats and a jacket as he sat out with a bruised right upper arm, injured during the Bengals second series on Monday night. Green was in and out of the game the rest of the way and didnt have a catch for only the second time in his career.Coach Marvin Lewis was optimistic on Wednesday that Green would be available to play. He had 11 catches for a season high 224 yards, including an 81-yard touchdown, during the Steelers 42-21 win at Paul Brown Stadium on Dec. 7.Green couldnt reach with the arm when he returned to the game on Monday night because of the pain.It feels better, he said on Wednesday. Its a real deep bruise.Green was voted to the Pro Bowl for the fourth time even though he has missed aa significant part of the season.dddddddddddd He was inactive for three games and missed most of another with an injured right toe.It was definitely the most challenging (season) because youve missed so many games and you have to work back into the groove, said Green, who ranks 24th in the NFL with 959 yards receiving and 44th with 61 catches. You dont have time to get all the timing you need. You get thrown back into the fire.The Bengals are morphing into a run-based offence as the season winds down. After getting pushed around by the Steelers, theyve rushed for more than 200 yards during wins over the Browns and the Broncos.Rookie Jeremy Hill ran for 147 yards, including an 85-yard touchdown, against Denver. He leads NFL rookies with 1,024 yards and nine touchdowns.Jeremys been a great lift in that way and provided some confidence to us running the football, left tackle Andrew Whitworth said. I think that throughout this year, thats something thats developed into our identity. Probably teams that played us early in the season havent seen that side of us. And I think thats a positive.The Bengals played a low-risk game on offence Monday night, running it 37 times and throwing it 26. Fourteen of Daltons 17 completions went to a running back or a tight end.I dont think we want to look like that, Hill said. Obviously, we want to get our vertical passing game going, especially since we have the receivers to do that stuff.Notes: Defensive end Wallace Gilberry, who suffered a hamstring injury on Monday, also sat out practice. Cornerback Darqueze Dennard (shin) and linebacker Emmanuel Lamur (hamstring) were limited. ... Cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick was named the AFCs Defensive Player of the Week for his two fourth-quarter interceptions of Peyton Manning. He came in when Newman left because of his illness.___Online: AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' '3 p.m. EDT on Wednesday. Shelly Sterling submitted her own separate response to the NBAs charges Tuesday that included a "vigorous defence of the attempt by the NBA to blame her for doing nothing wrong," according to a person with knowledge of the proceedings. The individual wasnt authorized to speak publicly about the response. In his response, Donald Sterling saays that next weeks hearing cannot be fair because the owners have already made up their minds, quoting 10 teams who commented on Twitter or elsewhere that they supported the seizure of the team.dddddddddddd An AP survey on the day Commissioner Adam Silver announced Sterlings lifetime ban found that half of the teams supported it and no owner was against it. "These procedings will be a spectacle meant to mollify the popular opinion, not a fair and impartial hearing: the outcome of these procedings became a foregone conclusion weeks ago," the response states. The response also notes the disparity between his lifetime ban and $2.5 million fine and previous NBA punishments, including the $100,000 fine levied on Kobe Bryant when he was caught referring to a referee by a homosexual slur, and the 72-game suspension of Ron Artest for punching a fan. The NBA said Sterling is in violation because his racist comments were harmful to the league and its business partners, including the players. Sterlings response argues that because his comments came in the privacy of his girlfriends living room he cannot be considered "taking a position" that damaged the NBA, as required under the league constitution. "Mr. Sterling was not conducting the sport of professional basketball when he was arguing with Ms. Stiviano in her living room," the response says. "Not even the Commissioner alleges that Mr. Sterling intended to harm the NBA with his comment. Nor could he. This was an argument between a jealous man and the woman he loved that should never have left the privacy of his living room." Sterling also noted his history of supporting racial diversity, including five black head coaches and a black general manager, Elgin Baylor, who held the job for 22 years. Baylor eventually unsuccessfully sued Sterling, accusing him of racist behaviour. It also notes that he was due to receive his second lifetime achievement award from the NAACP before the recording of his comments was leaked. The response claims that it would cost Sterling $300 million to $500 million in capital gains taxes if he is forced to sell now rather than pass the team to his heirs. ' ' 'ol from their clubhouse. ' ' '