National Sports

MONTPELLIER, France — Canada's Vasek Pospisil defeated Richard Gasquet of France 6-1, 1-0 on Friday to reach the semifinals at the Open Sud de France. Pospisil, from Vancouver, advanced when Gasquet retired due to injury.

BIEL, Switzerland — Switzerland won the first two rubbers Friday in its best-of-five Fed Cup qualifier against Canada at the Swiss Tennis Arena. Jil Teichmann opened with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 win over Leylah Annie Fernandez of Laval, Que.

Marc Trestman heads into the start of the XFL season looking for answers. The eight-team XFL begins its reincarnation Saturday with two games (D.C. Defenders vs. Seattle Dragons, LA Wildcats vs. Houston Roughnecks).

Major League Rugby kicks off its third season this weekend with three new teams and some big-name additions in South Africa's Tendai (The Beast) Mtawarira and former All Blacks Ma'a Nonu and Rene Ranger.

LOS ANGELES — Jessica Mendoza will no longer be on ESPN's “Sunday Night Baseball” or work for the New York Mets front office after signing a contract extension with the network.

MAMARONECK, N.Y. — Roger Kahn, the writer who wove memoir and baseball and touched millions of readers through his romantic account of the Brooklyn Dodgers in "The Boys of Summer," has died. He was 92.

OTTAWA — One week after signing their new No. 1 quarterback to a two-year deal, the Ottawa Redblacks introduced Nick Arbuckle to the media Friday morning. Not that he needed an introduction.

The Toronto Wolfpack saw their 23-game winning streak snapped last Sunday in a 28-10 loss to Castleford Tigers in their Betfred Super League debut.

TORONTO — The Toronto Maple Leafs placed defenceman Cody Ceci on injured reserve and recalled blue-liner Timothy Liljegren from the team's American Hockey League affiliate Friday.

CALGARY — Denny Morrison leaves speedskating a king of comebacks and the beneficiary of a teammate's generosity. Winner of Olympic gold and silver medals in team pursuit and a silver and a bronze in individual distances, the 34-year-old from Fort St.