ON THE GULF OF MEXICO - Icelike crystals had formed Saturday on the 300-ton blowout preventer that failed to stop oil from spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, forcing BP crews to wait before they could safely hoist the device to the surface.

The hydrates - which caused the oil giant problems when the company was trying to contain the oil spilling into the Gulf - need to melt because they are combustible.

"We don't want to lift it and risk an uncontrolled release of gas because that's inherently dangerous," Darin Hilton, the captain of the Helix Q4000 vessel that's raising the device with a giant crane, told The Associated Press.

NEW YORK - American upstart Beatrice Capra got blown away Saturday - by the excellence of Maria Sharapova and the bad, blustery conditions caused by the remnants of Hurricane Earl.

Treating the wind and an opponent with nothing to lose as mere annoyances, Sharapova put a 6-0, 6-0 thumping on Capra at the U.S. Open, ending the 18-year-old's attempt to fashion a 2010 version of the Melanie Oudin story.

Last year in the third round, 17-year-old Oudin went into Arthur Ashe Stadium and beat Sharapova - a remarkable moment on the way to the young American's trip to the quarterfinals.