SPORTS BRIEFS: Albany-area Georgia Tech Alumni Network hosts Ted Roof

Albany-area Georgia Tech Alumni Network hosts Roof

The Albany-area Georgia Tech Alumni Network will host a scholarship fundraiser with Georgia Tech defensive coordinator Ted Roof Monday night at the Flint RiverQuarium. The event cost runs from to 6-8 p.m. and the cost is $25.

Exhibits will be open for touring. Monies raised go to support the Albany Area GT Network Scholarship Fund.

Djokovic outduels Federer to win Rome Masters

Novak Djokovic won the Rome Masters for the fourth time by outwitting old rival Roger Federer on Sunday.

The pair were meeting for the 39th time and top seed Djokovic narrowed Federer’s lead to 20-19 as he won 6-4 6-3, two months after also beating the Swiss at the Indian Wells final.

The first set went with serve until the final game, when Djokovic rifled a return winner that clipped the edge of the tramline and converted his first set point.

The Serb never looked in danger after breaking again in the second game of the second set and wrapped up the title when Federer hit a forehand out on match point.

Earlier, Russian Maria Sharapova ground down Carla Suarez Navarro 4-6 7-5 6-1 to win the women’s final, the 35th WTA Tour title of her career.

Third seed Sharapova looked sluggish against her Spanish opponent in the first set and Suarez Navarro fought back from 1-3 and 3-5 down in the second to level at 5-5.

But Sharapova reeled off the next two games and tore through the decider against the tiring 10th seed, sealing victory in more than two and a half hours with her 39th winner.

Hamilton said Angels wouldn’t let him talk to owner

Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton, wanting to finally put his two miserable years in Los Angeles behind him, said the Angels front office prevented him from talking to owner Arte Moreno.

Hamilton, who turns 34 on Thursday, played five seasons with the Rangers before signing a five-year contract worth $125 million with the Angels in December 2012.

Hamilton hit just .255 with 31 homers and 123 RBI in two seasons with the Angels before they traded him to the Rangers in April for cash considerations.

“I told everybody from MLB to (manager) Mike Scioscia, even when I was there and wasn’t playing in 2013, I wasn’t being the guy that I was supposed to be,” Hamilton said Saturday in Frisco, Texas, before his game with the Double-A Frisco RoughRiders.

“In 2014, same thing. I tried to reach out to the owner, Arte, and talk to him and tell him, ‘You know what? I’m working my butt off, and I want to be the guy that played against you for all these years.’ I was always turned down by the general manager and team president. They said they would let him know.”

Hamilton, who has been out all season since undergoing shoulder surgery in February, admitted to Major League Baseball that he had a drug and alcohol relapse in late February.

“Same thing after this incident and after surgery,” Hamilton said. “I talked to (Angels GM) Jerry DiPoto. ‘You know Jerry, I’d love to talk to Arte and reassure him that things are OK,’ and he turned me down again.

“I did what I needed to do to be a responsible man and employee and reach out to him, and I was always denied that opportunity, so my hands are clean.”

A spokesman for the Angels told ESPN.com that the team would not comment on Hamilton’s remarks.