Women's world number two Maria Sharapova reached the quarter-finals of Stuttgart's WTA tournament on Wednesday while ex-world number one Ana Ivanovic suffered a shock first-round exit.

Sharapova progressed to the last eight of the clay-court tournament after French qualifier Alize Cornet was forced to retire after the first game of the second set with a shoulder injury in the second-round tie.

Rafael Nadal began his title defense at the Barcelona Open on Wednesday with a 6-1, 6-2 defeat of compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who had defeated the king of clay two years ago in Thailand.

Top seed Nadal, champion at the Real Club de Tenis in six of the last seven editions - he missed 2010 with knee trouble - claimed his 30th match victory in a row at his home event.

Chicago, already assured of the top seed in the NBA's Eastern Conference playoffs, used Derrick Rose and other key players in their 92-87 victory over playoff-bound Indiana.

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said injuries throughout the season had left his preferred starting unit of Rose, Richard Hamilton, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer, and Joakim Noah needing more playing time together.

Growing up as the odd one out may be what gives left-handed people an advantage in the sports arena, where they have the element of surprise, said a study published Wednesday.

About one in ten people are left-handed, but in a number of sports like boxing, fencing and table tennis, they were overrepresented to the tune of about one in five, study co-author Mark Panaggio told AFP.

Juventus and AC Milan's thrilling tussle for the Serie A title continued on Wednesday as they both scraped 1-0 wins against struggling sides.

Juventus maintained their three points lead over Milan as a late goal by Marco Borriello - his first in 17 games for the club - was enough to defeat Cesena and consign the losers to Serie B for next season.

Manuel Neuer was the hero for Bayern Munich on Wednesday as his side went through to the Champions League final after beating RealMadrid 3-1 on penalties in the Santiago Bernabeu.

They will face Chelsea in their own Allianz Arena in Munich on May 19th after losing their return leg 2-1 after extra-time, to send the tie into penalties with the Germans having won by the same score in the first game.

Arsenal's Per Mertesacker has handed Germany coach Joachim Loew a pre-Euro 2012 boost by declaring himself fit for June's European Championships.

The 27-year-old center-back has been out since damaging ankle ligaments in the Gunners' 2-1 Premier League win over Sunderland in February, but expects to be fully fit for Euro 2012 which starts on June 8.

Paul Millsap scored 26 points as the Utah Jazz beat the Phoenix Suns 100-88 to clinch a Western Conference playoff berth.

The win snapped the Jazz's seven-game losing streak to the Suns.

Real Madrid are confident a hostile home support can help them overturn a 2-1 deficit against Bayern Munich on Wednesday in the second leg of their Champions League semifinal.

Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo spoke of the importance of the crowd at the Santiago Bernabeu after edging his side closer to their first Spanish league title in four years on Saturday with the decisive goal in a 2-1 win over Barcelona.

NBA disciplinary officials slapped Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace with a seven-game suspension for a vicious elbow to the head of Oklahoma City guard James Harden.

The ban came two days after World Peace, formerly known as Ron Artest, drove his left elbow into the side of Harden's head during a game at Staples Center arena.