Briefs | Venus Williams takes hiatus, doesn't give reason

Tennis

Williams says she wants to play in French Open: American Venus Williams, a winner of six major titles, will be sidelined indefinitely but did not say why she will be out of action.

"I've just been having some issues that I need to resolve, so I'm working on that at the moment and I'm hoping to be back playing as soon as possible," Williams said Tuesday at the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Fla. "I'm not going to get any further into it, but of course I love the sport."

Williams said last week she was dealing with a medical issue when she announced her withdrawal from the Bausch & Lomb tournament. She played last week in the Sony Ericsson Open, losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in the quarterfinal round.

Williams, 27, will not play for the United States in the Fed Cup semifinal against Russia on April 26-27. She did not rule out any other events and said she wants to compete in the French Open, which starts May 25 in Paris.

Soccer

Liverpool defeats Arsenal in UEFA Champions League: Steven Gerrard converted a tiebreaking penalty kick to help Liverpool earn a spot in the UEFA Champions League semifinals.

Gerrard scored in the 85th minute and Ryan Babel added an injury-time goal to give host Liverpool a 4-2 quarterfinal victory over Arsenal in a meeting of English teams.

Liverpool won the home-and-home series on a 5-3 aggregate and advanced to a semifinal matchup with Chelsea of England. Chelsea beat visiting Fenerbahce of Turkey 2-0 for a 3-2 aggregate victory.

Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor scored in the 84th minute to tie the score at 2 and give Arsenal a 2-1 lead in away goals.

Auto racing

Newman, Penske are penalized: Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman was penalized by NASCAR, losing 25 points because his car failed inspection after a fourth-place finish in Sunday's Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Newman's No. 12 Dodge was too high when NASCAR inspected it, an adjustment that could provide additional downforce to his car.

The penalty dropped Newman from eighth to 10th in Sprint Cup Series standings.

Also penalized were car owner Roger Penske, who was docked 25 points, and crew chief Roy McCauley, fined $25,000 and placed on probation until the end of the year.

Cooper is Petty's crew chief: Stewart Cooper was hired as crew chief for Kyle Petty, taking over the No. 45 Dodge after the car didn't qualify for the past two Sprint Cup races.

Cooper replaces Billy Wilburn.

Sauter replaces Mayfield: Jeremy Mayfield parted ways with Haas CNC Racing, and Johnny Sauter will drive the No. 70 in an attempt to qualify for Saturday's Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

College football

Penn State's Bell is kicked off team: Suspended receiver Chris Bell of Penn State was kicked off the team after university police charged him with threatening another player with a knife.

Bell, 21, faces charges including terroristic threats and simple assault, both misdemeanors, after the encounter Monday at a team dining facility. No one was injured.

Cycling

Trek sues to cut ties with LeMond: Bicycle company Trek has sued to sever ties with Greg LeMond, a three-time Tour de France winner, saying LeMond's outspokenness about doping in the sport weakened the brand.

Swimming

LZR Racer suit is legal: The International Swimming Federation ruled Speedo's high-tech LZR Racer suit is legal. The LZR has been worn for 18 of the 19 world records set since it was introduced in February.

Curling

U.S. drops to 3-4: The U.S. team, with skip Craig Brown, lost to Australia 6-4 and France 6-5, falling to 3-4 in round-robin play at the men's world championship in Grand Forks, N.D. Each team plays 11 round-robin games.

Women's hockey

Finland beats U.S. in overtime: Heidi Pelttari scored a power-play goal 3:42 into overtime as Finland defeated the United States 1-0 in the world-championship tournament in Harbin, China.

The U.S. team plays Canada on Thursday in its final qualifying-round game before the medal games.

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