MASON, Ohio — Rafael Nadal needed little time to win his 30th straight match.

The Spaniard spent only 48 minutes on court and earned a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Florent Serra in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters. Nadal has won 30 consecutive matches since May.

Nadal, 22, has been on quite a tear the past two months, which included his epic five-set victory over Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final. In his first match on Cincinnati’s fast courts, he hardly missed a shot.

Maria Sharapova backs out of Rogers Open

MONTREAL — Third-seeded Maria Sharapova withdrew from the Rogers Open after her second-round victory because of a shoulder injury, possibly jeopardizing her participation at the Beijing Olympics.

Sharapova of Russia defeated Marta Domachowska of Poland 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 in a match that took nearly three hours. She will have an MRI today.

Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic, playing with a swollen thumb, advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over Petra Kvitova.

Trailing 3-4 in the second set, Sharapova had the trainer come out to look at her right shoulder, an injury that might have contributed to her committing 17 double faults in the match. Though she eventually lost the second set, Sharapova won the first four games of the final set to lock up the match.

PRO FOOTBALL

Packers President meets with Favre

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Green Bay Packers president Mark Murphy traveled to Mississippi to meet with quarterback Brett Favre and his agent James “Bus” Cook, in an apparent attempt to talk Favre out of reporting to camp later this week.

Meanwhile, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell took no action on Favre’s request for reinstatement — giving the sides more time to work out a resolution.

“The commissioner is taking no action today,” league officials said in a statement issued by NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. “He wants to give both the Packers and Brett an appropriate amount of time to make decisions, including decisions impacting the team’s roster and salary cap. When Brett is reinstated by the commissioner, we will announce it.”

Cook told reporters outside his office in Hattiesburg, Miss., that Favre, who has been throwing to players at a nearby high school to stay in shape, could be in Green Bay on Friday.

“He would love to go back in Green Bay,” Cook said, in comments broadcast by ESPNEWS. “I mean, that’s why he started working out. But right now, it looks like he’ll be the quarterback at Oak Grove High School.”

OLYMPICS

Captains chosen for U.S. Olympic team

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Five-time Olympian Dara Torres, four-time Olympian Amanda Beard and Natalie Coughlin, who won five medals four years ago in Athens, were chosen as captains of the U.S. Olympic women’s swimming team.

Three-time Olympians Erik Vendt and Jason Lezak, along with two-time Olympian Brendan Hansen, were selected as captains of the men’s team in Beijing.

The captains announced Wednesday were decided in a team vote at the U.S. training camp in California last week.

The U.S. team is training in Singapore before leaving Monday for Beijing.

The Olympic swimming competition begins Aug. 9.

Russian athletes suspended for doping

MONTE CARLO, Monaco — Seven Russian female athletes, including an indoor world record holder and a two-time world champion, were provisionally suspended today by the IAAF for doping-related matters.

Yelena Soboleva, who set a world record in the 1,500-meter race at this year’s indoor world championships, was one of the seven charged “for a fraudulent substitution of urine which is both a prohibited method and also a form of tampering with the doping control process.”

Two-time world 1,500 champion Tatyana Tomashova was also suspended, along with middle-distance runners Yulia Fomenko, Svetlana Cherkasova and Olga Yegorova, and hammer thrower Gulfiya Khanafeyeva and discus thrower Darya Pishchalnikova.

Two Iraqi athletes to compete in Olympics

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Two Iraqi rowers will be allowed to take part in the Beijing Olympics, the International Rowing Federation said Wednesday.

The two rowers, Haidar Nozad and Hamzah Hussein Jebur, were allowed back in the men’s double sculls because their places had not been given to competitors from other countries, said Matt Smith, International Rowing Federation’s executive director. “No one is kicked out,” he said.

The readmission was possible because North Korea declined to take up the slots after it was offered them last week, IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said.

The International Olympic Committee readmitted Iraq to the Olympics on Tuesday, six days after the deadline to enter athletes for the rowing, judo, archery and weightlifting competitions had passed.

HOCKEY

Red Wings sign Filppula

DETROIT — The Detroit Red Wings made a subtle move that could prove to be a spectacular one if Valtteri Filppula lives up to his potential.

Filppula signed a $15 million, five-year contract with the Red Wings that keeps a talented forward on the roster for a while.

FOOTBALL

Moon pleads guilty to negligent driving

KIRKLAND, Wash. — The lawyer for Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon says Moon has pleaded guilty to negligent driving, a reduced charge from the drunken driving count that followed his Dec. 28 arrest by police in Medina, Wash.

Attorney Jon Scott Fox said Wednesday that the 51-year-old Moon received a 90-day jail sentence, with 88 of those days suspended. Moon was sentenced Tuesday by Kirkland Municipal Judge Michael Lambo.

Fox says Moon must serve either two days in jail or opt for five days of being electronically monitored at home.

MEDIA

Oregonian writer dies

PORTLAND — Brian Meehan, a sports writer and columnist for The Oregonian newspaper, has died after complications from heart surgery. He was 57.

Meehan died Tuesday at St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash., where he had undergone valve replacement surgery last week, the newspaper reported on its Web site.

Meehan joined the Oregonian in 1989 and covered such events as the Thurston High School shootings and the shipwreck of the New Carissa. He moved to the sports department as a columnist in 1999.

“The thing that struck me most about Brian was he was someone who was able to do his job and still maintain his passion for the game,” said the Oregonian’s sports editor, Mark Hester.

During his career, Meehan also worked at the Morristown (N.Y.) Daily Record, the Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot-News and the Hartford Courant.

Meehan was a native of Rockville Centre, N.Y., and a 1973 graduate of Hofstra University. He coached youth baseball and football in the Lake Oswego community.