Tennis

RODDICK LOSES: His back and shoulder aching, Andy Roddick lost in the Paris Masters semifinals Saturday and now is unsure if he'll be ready for the season-ending Masters Cup.

Roddick, seeded first, fell 6-3, 7-5 to Ivan Ljubicic, who will play Tomas Berdych in Sunday's final. Berdych defeated eighth-seeded Radek Stepanek 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in the other semifinal.

Roddick twice needed long massages on his lower back and left shoulder and was unable to serve with his customary brilliance. He lost his opening service game and also dropped serve in the 11th game of the second set.

"I woke up this morning and felt OK," Roddick said. "But as soon as I started moving it really stiffened up. After a couple of games I didn't feel so good about my chances."

It was the American's second straight defeat to Ljubicic following a five-set Davis Cup match against Croatia in March.

"It's the best performance of my life," Ljubicic said. "I never felt in any trouble, and I felt I had three or four chances to break him in the second set. I was really confident and relaxed on all my shots."

Roddick has qualified for the eight-player Masters Cup in Shanghai, China, on Nov. 13-20. But he's uncertain if he will be fit.

"I'm not as optimistic as I was two days ago, that's for sure," he said. "We're going to have it evaluated here and again when I get home. If I feel like I can go, then I'll go. If not, then I won't."

Baseball

FOUR TO DO BOSOX WORK: First came closer by committee. Then the Boston Red Sox tried to anoint themselves co-division champions.

Now the Red Sox are adopting a new kind of job share, sending four people to baseball's general managers' meetings next week while they search for a singular successor to Theo Epstein.

"We really are going to work as one group," said Jed Hoyer, the general manager's assistant without a general manager to assist. "We are really going to be no different from the 29 other teams out there."

Well, not exactly.

The Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers are the only teams that don't have a general manager as next week's GM meetings in Indian Wells, Calif., approach. Boston will send Hoyer along with director of player development Ben Cherington, special assistant to the general manager Craig Shipley and director of baseball operations Peter Woodfork.

Soccer

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NO FANS ALLOWED: Serbia-Montenegro was ordered Friday to play its next home game in an empty stadium because of crowd disturbances during last month's World Cup qualifier against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

FIFA, soccer's governing body, also fined Serbia-Montenegro's soccer association $27,000 and Bosnia-Herzegovina's $30,000 for the problems at the Oct. 12 match.

Serbia-Montenegro beat its Balkan rival 1-0 to qualify for next year's World Cup. Despite tight security at Belgrade's 55,000-seat Red Star Stadium, 17 fans and two police officers were injured.

FIFA also fined Croatia $30,000 for the conduct of its fans during its Oct. 12 World Cup qualifier at Hungary.

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