ilian Teliana Pereira, who defeated Irina-Camelia

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DENVER -- The Super Bowl teams slogged through a preseason opener delayed by lightning and a flurry of flags Thursday night before linebacker Steven Jacksons end zone interception of Terrelle Pryors pass sealed the Denver Broncos 21-16 win over the Seattle Seahawks. In between a 46-minute delay, both starting offences put together long touchdown drives that ate up more than 9 minutes and were kept alive by a wave of yellow flags. Altogether, there were 25 accepted penalties, 13 on Seattle and a dozen on Denver. Ronnie Hillmans 1-yard TD run capped Denvers 14-play, 61-yard drive in which Peyton Manning completed 9 of 11 passes for 63 yards and the officials threw six flags, including one for offsetting penalties. The drive lasted 9 minutes, 9 seconds -- a good two minutes longer than Denvers longest drive last season. There was even a flag thrown on the ensuing touchback when Seahawks cornerback Jeremy Lane was whistled for taunting. Lane also was whistled for a 31-yard pass interference on first-and-35 play in the second half during a moan-inducing sequence in which penalties were called on five consecutive snaps. Just when the officials walked off the taunting penalty to Seattles 10-yard line, the game was delayed for 46 minutes after lightning struck within an 8-mile perimeter of Sports Authority Field, where it was sunny. After retreating to their locker rooms with 1:30 left in the first quarter, both teams sent their starters back onto the field when play resumed. The penalties continued, too. Seattles 14-play, 90-yard drive that ate up 9:18 was kept alive by four defensive infractions, and Christine Michaels 1-yard run against a mix of starters and backups tied it at 7 following a debatable pass interference call on linebacker Danny Trevathan. Steven Hauschkas 41-yard field goal gave the Seahawks a 10-7 halftime lead. He was also good from 40 yards after the Broncos went ahead 14-10 on Kapri Bibbs 3-yard run in the third quarter. Hauschkas 22-yarder gave Seattle a 16-14 lead with 11:22 remaining. Brock Osweilers 34-yard strike to Jordan Norwood in stride put Denver ahead 21-16 midway through the fourth quarter. He was 6 for 12 for 85 yards with one TD, one interception and one sack. Manning finished 10 of 13 for 78 yards with no sacks. Russell Wilson was 4 of 6 for 37 yards for Seattle and was sacked by DeMarcus Ware and T.J. Ford, two thumpers Denver GM John Elway signed in the wake of Seattles 43-8 thrashing of the Broncos in the Super Bowl six months ago. The Broncos opened this game better than they did that night in the Meadowlands, when Manny Ramirezs first snap sailed into the end zone for a touchback from which Denver never recovered. This time, the exchange was clean, although Hillman carried for just 1 yard. Manning was knocked down on his first pass, a 15-yard completion to Demaryius Thomas but his reconfigured offensive line kept him safe after that. The Broncos were playing without starting running back Montee Ball, who had an appendectomy this week, and they lost backups C.J. Anderson to a concussion. Juwan Thompson (five carries for 59 yards) also was evaluated for a concussion but he was cleared to return. Notes: RG J.R. Sweezy was the only starter along Seattles O-line. ... In the Seahawks backup QB battle, Tarvaris Jackson was 5 of 7 for 47 yards with a sack, and Pryor was 9 of 16 for 137 yards and an INT with 2:35 left. ... Broncos CB Rahim Moore played his first game since suffering from compartment syndrome in his left calf last November and nearly had an interception. . Now he has a complete game. Scherzer tossed a three-hitter in his 179th career start for his first complete game and Victor Martinez hit his 16th homer to lead the Detroit Tigers a 4-0 win over the Chicago White Sox. . Not only that, when Julian de Guzman first stepped on the pitch for Deportivo de la Coruna he became the very first Canadian to play in Spains top tier. http://www.soccerwalesshop.com/joe-ledl ... ersey/.The McLaren MP4-30 was launched on Thursday, with chief executive Ron Dennis saying it marks the start of a lengthy journey back to winning grands prix and eventually world championships.McLaren, which hasnt won a grand prix since 2012, will be using Honda engines for the first time since 1992, and has signed two-time world champion Fernando Alonso to partner Jenson Button for the upcoming season. . -- Caris LeVert had 14 points and a career-high 11 rebounds for his first career double-double, and No. . Still, Encarnacion felt a sense of relief. He felt a pop just before crumpling to the ground after running out a groundball in the first inning of Saturdays game. It could have been worse. “Its going to take maybe two weeks,” said Encarnacion. “It depends how Im going to be and how Im going to be day after day, feeling better or not. RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Top-seeded Rafael Nadal reached the semifinals of the Rio Open, showing no problems with a sore back in defeating Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-1, 6-0 on Friday. No. 1-ranked Nadal, in his first tournament since losing the Australian Open final, played his best match in Brazil and will face fellow Spaniard Pablo Andujar in the semifinals. Andjuar ripped through Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-1, 6-1. In the other semifinal, second-seeded David Ferrer will meet unseeded Alexandr Dolgopolov. Ferrer defeated Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and Dolgopolov of Ukraine advanced against third-seeded Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-1. Ferrer has won 21 ATP singles title and will be the favourite to reach the final on Sunday against Nadal with 61 titles including 13 Grand Slams. "I think I have improved in everything," Nadal said. "I think I played a complete match. I had my best game of the tournament, and not just that but I played at a very high level. Really, I did things I wasnt able to do a few days ago. I moved better. I was more intense, more aggressive." Asked about the back, Nadal backed off. "Were not going to talk every day about the back," he said. "Im in the semifinals." Nadal tweaked his back warming up for the final in Melbourne, eventually losing to Stanislas Wawrinka in a match he was favoured to win. He took several weeks off and is using Rio to tune up for three months of clay-court play leading to the French Open. Ferrer and Bellucci had to wait for more than an hour with the Spaniard leading 2-1 in the third set when the lights went out at the outdoor stadium. "It was really tough," Ferrer said. &"When the match was stopped it was practically in my hands.dddddddddddd It was bad luck with what happened with the lights." Dolgopolov was asked if he planned to return to Ukraine, perhaps pulling out of the tournament to go to a country bordering on civil war. "I dont think its going to change a lot at this point if I just finished playing and come back to my country," said Dolgopolov, who lives in the wealthy European enclave of Monte Carlo. "Its still going to be the same situation. I will just be closer. But I am not considering that at this moment." In the combined ATP-WTA event, top-seeded Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic reached the semifinals, defeating Katarzyna Piter of Poland 6-4, 6-0. Zakopalova will face Brazilian Teliana Pereira, who defeated Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-4, 6-4. Pereira is a home favourite and the first Brazilian woman in 23 years to crack the WTA top 100. "She (Zakopalova) is the favourite, the top-seeded player," Pereira said. "I have to play like I did today and keep my good rhythm. But I have a lot of confidence and I will have the Brazilian fans behind me." Brazils most famous female player is still Maria Bueno, who won seven Grand Slam singles titles, the last in the 1966 US Open. Zakopalova will be looking for her third WTA singles title. None of the other semifinalists has won a WTA singles title. Japans Kurumi Nara also advanced. She won the first set 7-6 (5), and was leading the second 2-0 when Spains Lourdes Dominguez Lino withdrew with a left leg injury. She will face Nastassja Burnett of Italy, who defeated Paula Ormaechea of Argentina 5-7, 6-2, 7-5. ' ' '