French second division club Clermont on Wednesday named Helena Costa as coach, making the Portuguese the highest-level woman in charge of a men's team in the major European championships.

Costa, 36, has been the coach of the women's national sides in Qatar and Iran.

Austrian qualifier Dominic Thiem scored the biggest victory of his young career on Tuesday when he rallied for a 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over third-ranked Stanislas Wawrinka at the Madrid Open.

The 20-year-old Thiem showed composure beyond his years in knocking the Australian Open champion out of the clay court event to reach the third round.

Defending champion Miami and perennial power San Antonio asserted their claims to the NBA title with authoritative wins on Tuesday in the opening games of their NBA second-round playoff series.

Miami was too good for its bogey team Brooklyn, beating the Nets 107-86, while San Antonio led from start to finish in beating Portland 116-92.

Manchester United unearthed a potential star of the future and perhaps had one last glimpse of a great of its recent past in a 3-1 win over Hull on Tuesday that kept alive the team's chances of European football next season.

Highly rated striker James Wilson, 18, marked his senior debut for United with predatory strikes in either half, setting the deposed champions on their way to a victory in their final home game of a forgettable Premier League campaign.

Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal will undergo knee surgery Wednesday, just five weeks before his country's first match at the World Cup.

Vidal visited specialist surgeon Ramon Cugat in Barcelona on Tuesday, accompanied by doctors from Chile's national team as well as those from his club Juventus.

Germany coach Joachim Loew has admitted to dreaming of guiding his team to the final of the upcoming World Cup and also trumping Italy on football's biggest stage.

In an interview to appear in Thursday's Stern daily newspaper, Loew said: "We've still never beaten Italy in a World Cup.

Roger Federer withdrew from the Madrid Open on Tuesday to spend more time with his family ahead of the birth of his third child.

Federer said on his webpage on Tuesday he was pulling out of the tournament "to be with my wife Mirka during these next few exciting weeks for our family." The fourth-ranked Swiss player, who already has twins, said he would "rejoin the tour soon."

Chris Paul made a career-high eight 3-pointers and scored 32 points to help the Los Angeles Clippers beat Oklahoma City 122-105 on Monday in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal.

In the Eastern Conference semifinals opener, Bradley Beal scored 14 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter and Trevor Ariza added 22 to lead the Washington Wizards past the top-seeded Indiana Pacers 102-96.

Liverpool regained the lead in the English Premier League but the crown slipped further from its grasp as it threw away a three-goal lead in a 3-3 draw away to Crystal Palace on Monday.

The stunning outcome put Liverpool a point above Manchester City, but City has a game in hand and can win its second title in three years with four points from its last two games.

Juventus gave its fans celebrating a third successive Serie A title another reason to revel in Turin by beating Atalanta 1-0 on Monday.

Juventus clinched its 30th league title the day before when second-place Roma lost 4-1 at Catania.