Briefs | Tennis: Serena Williams beats Venus in sister showdown

Tennis

Serena wins battle of Williamses: Serena Williams retained the No. 1 world ranking by being the best player in her family Thursday night.

Williams defeated older sister Venus 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fla. It was their 20th sibling showdown, and each has won 10 times.

Serena needed to reach the final to retain the top ranking she has held since Feb. 2. Otherwise she would have been supplanted next week by No. 2 Dinara Safina.

Serena's opponent Saturday will be 19-year-old Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.

Serena jumped to a 4-1 lead in the final set against Venus and broke serve for the sixth time in the final game. When she closed out her victory, she hopped in delight, raised a fist and shouted "Yes!" She then met her sister at the net.

Top-ranked Rafael Nadal lost in the men's quarterfinals to 20-year-old Argentine Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3). The upset delighted a partisan crowd that included many transplants from Argentina.

The sixth-seeded del Potro's opponent today will be No. 4 Andy Murray, who beat No. 8 Fernando Verdasco 6-1, 6-2.

Davis Cup fines Sweden: The Swedish tennis federation was fined $25,000 and the city of Malmo was banned from hosting Davis Cup matches for five years because of the decision to play Israel behind closed doors.

The Davis Cup Committee also said Sweden will lose its choice of venue if a similar situation happens again.

Soccer

Mexico fires coach: Fourteen months shy of the World Cup tournament that it now appears unlikely to qualify for, Mexico's national men's team is once again in disarray after firing its second coach in less than a year.

Sven-Goran Eriksson was dismissed less than 24 hours after Mexico lost to Honduras in a World Cup qualifying match.

Skiing

Ligety not expected to need surgery: Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety will be in a brace for two weeks but is not expected to need surgery after injuring ligaments in his right knee at the U.S. Alpine Championships last weekend in Alaska.

Sailing

U.S. club challenger for America's Cup: American software billionaire Larry Ellison scored a significant victory in his quest to win the America's Cup when San Francisco's Golden Gate Yacht Club was declared the Challenger of Record.

The unanimous ruling by New York's top court gives Golden Gate, which backs Ellison's BMW Oracle Racing, the right to negotiate race terms with Societe Nautique de Geneve, the Swiss club that backs two-time defending champion Alinghi.

The next America's Cup had been scheduled for this summer but was delayed because of this protracted case that had entangled yachting's showpiece event. It is still unclear when competition will actually begin.

NHL

Canucks go down: Corey Perry scored the only shootout goal as the Anaheim Ducks overcame a pair of two-goal deficits to beat the host Vancouver Canucks 6-5 in a shootout.

Vancouver's top line of Alex Burrows and identical twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin all scored for the Canucks, who clinched a playoff spot with the single point, which also put them into a tie with Calgary atop the Northwest Division.

Kyle Wellwood and Ryan Kesler also scored for the Canucks, who returned from a 12-day, six-game road trip to see their home-ice win streak end at 11 games.

Lightning's Lecavalier will have wrist surgery: Tampa Bay Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier will have wrist surgery and miss the last five games of the season.

NBA

Cavaliers' winning streak ends at 13: Gilbert Arenas and the host Washington Wizards recovered after blowing a 14-point second-half lead and ended the franchise-record 13-game winning streak of LeBron James and Cleveland Cavaliers with a 109-101 victory.

Blazer assistant Lucas has cancer surgery: Former Portland Trail Blazers star Maurice Lucas, 57, has undergone surgery for bladder cancer. Lucas is now an assisant coach on the team he helped lead to the 1977 NBA title.

Auto racing

Hamilton stripped of third place: Defending Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix for giving misleading evidence to race stewards.

The McLaren driver was awarded third place after the season-opening race in Melbourne last weekend when stewards ruled Toyota's Jarno Trulli breached regulations by passing Hamilton during a safety-car period.

Trulli was reinstated to his original third-place finish, while Hamilton and McLaren were excluded from the results and receive no points.

A new hearing into the matter was convened by governing body FIA.

Boxing

Klitschko's defense against Haye set: David Haye can become a heavyweight world champion in only his second fight at that class.

The British former cruiserweight world champ announced he has finalized a deal to fight IBF and WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko of Ukraine on June 20 in Germany.

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