Briefs | College Basketball: Gators' Billy Donovan finally signs

College basketball

Waiting game ends: Florida coach Billy Donovan signed his six-year contract extension Friday, 16 months after he returned to Gainesville after a brief stint with the NBA Orlando Magic. The deal is worth more than $19.5 million before incentives.

Donovan, 285-115 in 12 seasons with the Gators, accepted the job with the Magic in May 2007 before returning to Florida a few days later after a much-publicized change of heart. He agreed in principle to the extension and earned about $3.1 million last season. It was unclear what caused the delay in signing the contract.

Donovan, 43, guided Florida to NCAA titles in 2006 and 2007.

Tennis

Williams beats Safina in quarterfinals: American Venus Williams beat Dinara Safina of Russia 6-4, 6-2 at the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, to set up a semifinal with Jelena Jankovic of Serbia today. Jankovic will replace Serena Williams, Venus' younger sister, at No. 1 in next week's world rankings.

Jankovic rallied from a break down in each set to beat Vera Zvonareva of Russia 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (7-5).

In another quarterfinal, Olympic champion Elena Dementieva of Russia lost to 19-year-old Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 6-1. Azarenka, grunting loudly on almost every point, advanced to face Russian Nadia Petrova, who beat Li Na of China 6-2, 6-3.

Del Potro beats Ferrer: Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina upset top-seeded David Ferrer of Spain 6-1, 7-5 to advance to the semifinals of the Japan Open in Tokyo.

In the semifinals, del Potro will play Richard Gasquet of France and American Andy Roddick will take on Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.

In the women's semis, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark will face Jarmila Gajdosova of Slovakia and Kaia Kanepi of Estonia will play Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada.

Soccer

Miffed: Joe Kinnear, manager of Newcastle of the English Premier League, launched into a torrent of verbal abuse at reporters before his first match in charge. He cursed 52 times in a tirade that reminded some people of a legendary postgame meltdown by Lee Elia 25 years ago, when he managed the Chicago Cubs baseball team.

Kinnear, 61, said he thought reporters had ridiculed him after he showed up at the training facility earlier this week and none of Newcastle's first-team players were there.

Moggi to stand trial: Former Juventus executive Luciano Moggi, a leading figure in a match-fixing scandal that shook Italian soccer, has been ordered stand trial on charges of sports fraud and criminal association. The trial is to begin Jan. 20 in Naples.

Horse racing

Dream Empress, Forever Together triumph: Dream Empress and Forever Together won Grade I races on the opening day of the fall season at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

Dream Empress beat Be Smart by 4-¼ lengths in the $500,000 Darley Alcibiades for 2-year-old fillies. Dream Empress, trained by Ken McPeek and ridden by Robby Albarado, ran 1-1/16 miles on the synthetic main track in 1 minute, 43-4/5 seconds and paid $6.80 to win.

Forever Together, a 4-year-old filly trained by Jonathan Sheppard and ridden by Julien Leparoux, beat Precious Kitten by 1-½ lengths in the $400,000 First Lady. Forever Together ran a mile on firm turf in 1:35 and paid $7 to win.

Earlier on the card, jockey John Velazquez was hospitalized after a spill that also involved rider Jamie Theriot. According to the official chart, Theriot's mount, Whacka Whacka, clipped Rapid Mon's heels in the upper stretch and fell. Tap Dancing collided with Whacka Whacka and unseated Velazquez. No horse was seriously injured, according to track veterinarians.

Velazquez, who was motionless on the track for several minutes, later moved his arms and legs. He was taken to a hospital for evaluation.

Theriot, who said he was a bit sore, was cleared to ride after a visit to the track's first-aid center.

Rowing

Program planned: U.S. Rowing plans to open a year-round program in Oklahoma City to train the nation's top young rowers. The program is intended to develop Olympians.

Surfing

Slater triumphs: American Kelly Slater, 36, clinched an unprecedented ninth world championship in Mundaka, Spain.

"I'm stoked," he said.

Seattle Times news services