INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers are sticking with the coach who got them to the playoffs.
A person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Indiana will make interim coach Frank Vogel the team’s permanent head coach.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the move had not been made official yet by the team.
The Indiana Pacers did announce they had a news conference with Vogel scheduled for today. He will be joined by Larry Bird, the Pacers’ president of basketball operations.
Bird called Vogel the favorite to get the job from the beginning of the search after the Pacers finished strong last season and made the playoffs.
Top-seeded Wozniacki advances
BASTAD, Sweden — Top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the second round of the Swedish Open by defeating Alize Cornet of France 6-4, 6-4.
The Dane will next face Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden, who beat Andrea Hlavackova 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 in the clay-court WTA tournament.
In other first-round action, second-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy defeated Australia’s Olivia Rogowska 6-2, 7-5, while sixth-seeded Iveta Benesova of Russia crashed out of the tournament with a 6-2, 6-0 loss to Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.
• American John Isner needed just 63 minutes to beat Karol Beck, 6-3, 6-2, in a first-round Hall of Fame Championship match in Newport, R.I.
Nicolas Mahut was even faster, beating Sebastian Decoud, 6-1, 6-0, in just 51 minutes.
“It’s something we’re not used to,” Isner said, breaking into a smile.
Sprinter Gay off relay team
INDIANAPOLIS — The U.S. track team left Tyson Gay out of the group of eligible runners for the relays at world championships.
Last month, Gay pulled out of national championships after the first round of the 100 with a hip injury. He did not run in the 200 either, meaning his only chance at competing at worlds was as part of a relay team.
The top four finishers in the 100 and 400 meter races at nationals are all guaranteed spots in the relay pool.
• Former two-time Olympian and sprinting coach Pablo McNeil, who mentored 100-meter world record-holder Usain Bolt, has died in Kingston, Jamaica. He was 71.
Footnotes.
South Carolina first baseman Christian Walker, who was the hero of the 2011 College World Series, had surgery on his injured left wrist in Columbia, S.C.
• Texas Christian hired Rob Evans, a former head basketball coach at Arizona State and Mississippi, as an assistant coach on Jim Christian‘s staff.
• Featherlite Inc. founder Conrad Clement and his family purchased the Iowa Speedway in Newton in a sale that officials said won’t affect the daily operations of the popular track.
• Former Boston Red Sox shortstop Don Buddin has died at age 77 in Olanta, S.C.
The Associated Press
