Paris — Lleyton Hewitt lunged and whiffed at some serves, his racket hitting only air. He simply stood and watched other balls whirr past.

Over and over and over again Sunday, Hewitt’s opponent in the French Open’s first round, the 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic, smacked aces from on high, finishing with a tournament-record 55. Those easy points helped Karlovic take the first two sets — and made Hewitt think back to the day in 2003 when he was the defending champion at Wimbledon and lost his opening match to the tallest player in tour history.

“The angle he gets, you can’t touch a lot of his serves,” Hewitt said. “It’s physically impossible.”

This time, as the 26th-seeded Karlovic tired in heat that topped 80 degrees, Hewitt grew more and more comfortable, and the two-time major champion’s bothersome hip looked fine while he climbed all the way back for a 6-7 (1), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 6-4, 6-3 victory.

How could a player who compiles 55 aces possibly lose?

“Don’t know,” was Hewitt’s simple reply.

Karlovic was similarly befuddled, saying: “It is difficult to explain.”

Tennis

Ivanovic advances

Paris — Defending champion Ana Ivanovic struggled on the important points in her opening match at the French Open before beating Sara Errani of Italy, 7-6 (3), 6-3, Sunday to reach the second round.

College baseball

Regional sites announced

Top-ranked UC Irvine was selected Sunday to host an NCAA college baseball regional for the first time in school history.

The Anteaters (43-13), a College World Series participant two years ago, joined Louisville and TCU as first-time hosts.

Each of the 16 host schools selected by the NCAA’s Div. I baseball committee are guaranteed berths in the 64-team tournament, which starts Friday.

The Atlantic Coast Conference led the field with four schools — Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech and North Carolina — selected as hosts. The Southeastern Conference was next with three: Florida, LSU and Mississippi.

The other hosts are: Arizona State, Cal State Fullerton, East Carolina, Oklahoma, Rice and Texas.

Auto racing

Coca-Cola 600 postponed

Concord, N.C. — NASCAR’s longest race of the season spilled into a second day Sunday night when the Coca-Cola 600 was postponed by rain for the first time in 50 years.

The race will run at noon today. It’s the first time it will be held on Memorial Day.

Ferrari rebounds at Monaco

Monaco — Ferrari rebounded from its worst start to a Formula One season at the Monaco Grand Prix. Now it may just be on the verge of overtaking Red Bull as Brawn GP’s main challenger.

Kimi Raikkonen finished third on Sunday for the Italians’ first podium of the season, while Felipe Massa was just one place behind to bring home 11 points — the scuderia’s best single-race haul after six races.

Brawn GP’s Jenson Button leads with 51 points, while Raikkonen has nine and Massa eight.

F-1 agreement near

Monaco — FIA president Max Mosley says an agreement is near with Formula One teams over the disputed budget cap.

Mosley had wanted teams to agree to a $60 million cap from 2010, but that is expected to be pushed back a year after a weekend of negotiations.

Cycling

Leipheimer looks for lead

Faenza, Italy — Levi Leipheimer has another chance to shed his “perennial runner-up” label today in stage 16 of the Giro d’Italia.

The Montana native battled through 95-degree heat and hung with the other leaders in the 15th stage Sunday. He enters the potentially decisive uphill leg to Monte Petrano third overall, 43 seconds behind race leader Denis Menchov.

Danilo Di Luca of Italy is second overall, 34 seconds behind Menchov.

Valverde wins in Spain

Barcelona, Spain — Alejandro Valverde of Spain won the Volta of Catalunya on Sunday, six days after receiving a two-year suspension from competing in Italy.

Valverde was banned from Italy after being implicated in the blood-doping case known as Operation Puerto.

NFL

Miami DE charged

Miami Beach, Fla. — Miami Dolphins defensive end Randy Starks has been charged with using his truck to hit a police officer who tried to stop the vehicle on foot.

Miami Beach Police say the officer tried to stop the 25-year-old player when he was driving a truck packed with 13 people early Sunday in heavy traffic.

Shockey taken to hospital

New Orleans — A New Orleans Saints team spokesman says tight end Jeremy Shockey was taken to a hospital, but is doing fine after being treated for dehydration.

Greg Bensel confirmed Sunday that the team was aware that Shockey was released from the hospital, but did not release many details.

TMZ.com first reported that paramedics wheeled Shockey out on a stretcher from a pool party at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas after he was found unconscious Sunday afternoon.

Golf

Sabbatini sets Nelson record

Irving, Texas — Rory Sabbatini won the Byron Nelson Championship on Sunday, holding on for a two-stroke victory over late-charging Brian Davis. Sabbatini shot a 6-under 64 to finish with a tournament record 19-under 261 for his fifth PGA Tour victory.

Tseng prevails by 1 shot

Corning, N.Y. — Yani Tseng of Taiwan won the LPGA Corning Classic by one shot over Soo-Yun Kang and Paula Creamer.

Casey bags another victory

Virginia Water, England — Paul Casey of England joined elite company Sunday with birdies on his last two holes for a one-shot victory in the BMW PGA Championship, his third win this year moving him up to No. 3 in the world rankings.

Daly honors Amy Mickelson

Virginia Water, England — John Daly wore bright pink trousers during Sunday’s final round of the BMW PGA Championship in a gesture of support for Phil Mickelson’s wife, Amy, after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I had a pair, so I figured I’d do that for her today. I thought it would be a good gesture,” Daly said. “I know Phil very well, and I know Amy. I’ve known them for a long time — we’ve played the Tour together. She’s a great lady. She has always been a sweetheart to everybody.”

Allen holds off Mize

Beachwood, Ohio — Journeyman pro Michael Allen ended his long victory drought with two late birdies Sunday, shooting a 3-under 67 to hold off Larry Mize by two shots and win the Senior PGA Championship.