Craybas stuns Clijsters at Nasdaq-100

Tennis
Playing for the first time in more than a month, Kim Clijsters said she felt rusty, and it showed. The defending champion at the Nasdaq-100 Open squandered leads in the first and final sets and lost yesterday in Key Biscayne, Fla., to Jill Craybas of East Greenwich, R.I., 7-5, 3-6, 7-5. Clijsters double-faulted 11 times and committed 78 unforced errors. The reigning US Open champion received a first-round bye and was playing for the first time since Feb. 19. She has yet to win a title this year while battling hip and ankle injuries. On the men's side, defending champion Roger Federer overcame an uncharacteristic tiebreaker lapse and beat Arnaud Clement, 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 6-0. The top-seeded Federer was three points from victory leading, 4-0, in the tiebreaker before Clement rallied with seven consecutive points to force a third set. Federer had been 8-0 in tiebreakers this year. No. 9 James Blake was a 6-0, 6-0 winner over Carlos Berlocq, who defeated 16-year-old Donald Young by the same score in the first round. Blake lost only seven points in the opening set. Unseeded Tim Henman beat No. 13 Lleyton Hewitt for the first time in their nine meetings, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

Baseball

Barry Bonds was scratched from the San Francisco Giants' lineup for an exhibition game in Scottsdale, Ariz., with a strained left elbow. Giants trainer Stan Conte stressed the move was strictly a precaution for the seven-time NL MVP, who is closing in on Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron atop baseball's career homers list. Bonds went to the Giants' training room for treatment after taking batting practice before the Giants' game against the Chicago White Sox. He left Scottsdale Stadium quickly after treatment, and wasn't expected to be back . . . Oakland designated hitter Frank Thomas was cleared for game action in Phoenix, following an examination of his left ankle by the team doctor. It was as simple as watching him run on dirt with spikes. ''It's the first time he used spikes," Dr. Jerrald Goldman said. ''Either it works or it doesn't work. We needed to talk to him and make sure the trainers said he ran well and without any problems. As far as I know he'll play [today]." Thomas, who has not played since last July with the White Sox because of a fracture in his left ankle, has been participating in games at the A's minor league complex. Thomas signed with the A's in January.

Basketball

Jamie Dixon is staying as men's basketball coach at Pittsburgh, agreeing to a contract extension after Arizona State and Missouri approached him following the Panthers' elimination from the NCAA Tournament last weekend. Dixon, one of the Big East's lower-paid coaches during his first three seasons, will move closer to being one of the conference's higher-paid coaches. He previously made between $500,000 and $600,000 a season in salary under a contract that ran through 2010. The new deal runs through the 2012-13 season and is believed to boost him closer to the $800,000- to $900,000-a-year level next season. The 40-year-old Dixon is 76-22 at Pitt, and will return eight of the top 10 players from this season's 25-8 team in 2006-07 . . . The Toronto Raptors signed point guard Andre Barrett to a second 10-day contract. Barrett first signed March 15. He's appeared in five games, averaging 4.0 points and 2.8 assists in 17.2 minutes.

Miscellany

Forward Mikael Samuelsson signed a three-year contract extension with the Detroit Red Wings, general manager Ken Holland said. Holland said the journeyman right wing has been a key player this season, earning the opportunity to stay in Detroit. Samuelsson has posted 21 goals, 17 assists and 38 points -- all career highs -- in 58 games with Detroit. He played with the San Jose Sharks, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Florida Panthers before joining the Red Wings in September . . . Argentine soccer great Jorge Valdano was injured along with seven others in a helicopter crash in Mexico City, police said. The helicopter crashed in a street in the capital's business district, but police said there were no fatalities. All six passengers, along with the pilot and co-pilot, were taken to the hospital. Valdano, 50, for many a soccer legend, was part of the Argentine team that won the 1986 World Cup in Mexico . . . As many as 7,000 troops will be on call in case of emergency at the World Cup, the German defense minister said in remarks released in Berlin. Officials have said troops could be called in to help deal with major incidents such as a terrorist attack during the June 9-July 9 event. ''The army will keep up to 7,000 ready in case they are needed to protect our population and our guests," Franz Josef Jung said in an interview to appear in today's Bild am Sonntag newspaper. Officials said the army could provide medical services assistance . . . West Newton's Mary Harada set a world record in the 70-74-year-old women's mile at the US Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Reggie Lewis Center. Harada, 70, won in 7 minutes 12.59 seconds, beating the 2001 mark of 7:19.44 set by American Toshiko D'Elia. Jazz trumpeter Nolan Shaheed set a world record in the men's 55-59 mile with a 4:42.89, besting the 2004 mark of 4:49.33 set by Alston Brown of Jamaica . . . Emily Cook of Belmont finished third in the Sprint US Freestyle Skiing Championships in Killington, Vt. The women's event was won by Kate Reed of Montrose, Colo., with 160.43 points. Cook had 142.55.