Briefs | Federer, Sharapova win in Pacific Life Open

Tennis

Federer, Sharapova win in Pacific Life Open: Roger Federer needed just 53 minutes to end his third-round match, and Maria Sharapova extended her perfect start to the year by winning her 17th consecutive match Tuesday in the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, Calif.

Three-time Indian Wells champion Federer, continuing to show strong signs that he's completely recovered from the mononucleosis that hindered him earlier in the season, breezed to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Nicolas Mahut in their third-round match.

Sharapova, whose streak includes triumphs in the Australian Open and at Doha, outlasted Alona Bondarenko 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 to move into the women's quarterfinals.

Mardy Fish upset Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 6-2 to join James Blake as the lone U.S. players to make the fourth round.

Figure skating

Americans fifth in World Championships: Things didn't go quite as planned for the favorites on the first day of the World Figure Skating Championships in Goteborg, Sweden.

A rare fall in the ice-dance compulsories left Americans Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto in fifth place, five points behind leaders Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder of France. Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao of China led the pairs, executing a flawless short program after Grand Prix final champions Alina Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy made two minor errors.

High schools

Prep star Pryor to make choice today: Terrelle Pryor, the No. 1 overall high-school football recruit, will announce today where he's headed to college. It's down to two schools, and Penn State is not one of them.

According to two sources close to Pryor, Penn State is out. Ohio State and Michigan remain, and the Buckeyes are "the pick unless he changes his mind between now and when he announces," said one source.

On Feb. 6, Pryor, a 6-foot-6, 220-pound quarterback, was set to announce he was headed to Ohio State on national signing day.

But the senior from Jeannette (Pa.) High, located 20 minutes outside Pittsburgh, decided to extend the process in deference to his father, Craig, who favored the Nittany Lions, and also because Pryor was still playing basketball.

Women's basketball

U.S. wins in Spain: Lindsay Whalen scored 14 points and Katie Douglas added 13 to help the U.S. select team rally past Ros Casares 82-72 in an exhibition game in Valencia, Spain.

American stars Lisa Leslie, Diana Taurasi and Storm guard Sue Bird didn't make the trip.

"We're a work in progress and we have to do the best we can do in the time we have together," U.S. coach Anne Donovan said.

NASCAR

New crew chief for Yeley in Cup: Steve Boyer has replaced Brandon Thomas as crew chief at Hall of Fame Racing, which fields the No. 96 Toyota for driver J.J. Yeley.

Horse racing

Stats show fatality rates similar on synthetic, turf surfaces: Preliminary statistics from a new on-track injury reporting program showed fatality rates among horses that race on synthetic surfaces are nearly identical to the fatality rates of those that run on traditional dirt tracks.

Synthetic tracks averaged 1.95 deaths per 1,000 starts during the full reporting period, compared to 1.96 deaths per 1,000 starts for horses that ran on dirt.

Hockey

Islanders' DiPietro out for season: For the second time in two seasons, Islanders franchise goaltender Rick DiPietro will have season-ending hip surgery today. DiPietro is expected to recover in time for training camp.

Swimming

Netherlands women set 400-meter world record: The Netherlands set a world record in the women's 400-meter freestyle relay at the European swimming championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands, with a time of 3 minutes, 33.62 seconds.

Seattle Times news services