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Sports Log

Serena Williams will sit out Fed Cup

November 1, 2009

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Tennis
Serena Williams withdrew yesterday from the US team that will face Italy in the Fed Cup final, deciding she needs to rest after a long season. Williams informed US Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez she won’t play in the Nov. 7-8 matches, US Tennis Association spokesman Chris Widmaier told the Associated Press. Vania King replaces Williams on the roster, joining surprise US Open quarterfinalist Melanie Oudin, Liezel Huber, and Alexa Glatch. Fernandez had announced last week that Williams would play in the Fed Cup for the first time since 2007 . . . Venus Williams has reached her second straight Sony Ericsson Championships final by defeating Jelena Jankovic, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, in Doha, Qatar. She will face her sister Serena, who won the other semifinal when Caroline Wozniacki quit because of an abdominal injury while trailing, 6-4, 0-1 . . . Two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin lost to qualifier Andriy Stakhovsky, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, in the St. Petersburg Open semifinals. The 93d-ranked Stakhovsky advanced to his second career ATP final. The Ukrainian will play eighth-seeded Horacio Zeballos, who defeated Igor Kunitsyn, 7-6 (7), 6-3 . . . Ivan Ljubicic defeated Arnaud Clement, 6-2, 6-4, to reach the final of the Lyon Grand Prix in France. Ljubicic will play for the title today against wild card Michael Llodra, who beat fellow Frenchman and second-seeded Gilles Simon, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-1).

Golf
Fisher and Kim reach Match Play final
Ross Fisher beat Masters champion Angel Cabrera on the third playoff hole to set up a World Match Play Championship final in Casares, Spain, against Anthony Kim. Fisher won, 1-up, after Cabrera needed five shots to reach the green on the final hole. Kim advanced by beating Robert Allenby, 5 and 4. Kim rallied from an early two-hole deficit, pulling away at the 27th hole when he holed an approach from 101 yards . . . PGA Tour officials have canceled the weather-stricken Viking Classic because of unplayable conditions in Madison, Miss. There will be no makeup date and players will move on to the final event of the season, the Children’s Miracle Network Classic Nov. 12-15 in Orlando, Fla. . . . Joey Sindelar withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Sonoma, Calif., and was taken to a hospital for further tests after complaining of dizziness during the third round. John Cook shot a 5-under 67 to take a six-stroke lead in the Champions Tour’s season-ending event . . . England’s Ian Poulter slipped into a tie with Thomas Levet and Kodai Ichihara for the clubhouse lead before thunderstorms cut short play in the third round of the Singapore Open . . . Na Yeon Choi of South Korea shot a 71 and Taiwan’s Yani Tseng had a 70 to share the lead at 5 under par after the second round of the LPGA Tour’s KOLON Championship in South Korea . . . Bill Britton shot a 7-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead over Paul Daniels after the third round of the Senior PGA Professional National Championship at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

Miscellany
Chiefs reduce Johnson’s suspension
Peter Schaffer, the agent for Larry Johnson, says he has reached an agreement with the Chiefs to cut the running back’s two-week suspension in half. Schaffer said nothing had been signed, but he expected it to be. Johnson was suspended for two weeks until Nov. 9 after twice using a gay slur and questioning coach Todd Haley’s qualifications on his Twitter account. The agreement will save Johnson about $330,000 . . . American cyclist Floyd Landis has told a New Zealand newspaper it is unlikely he will compete again in the Tour de France because of politics in cycling. Landis won the 2006 Tour de France, but was disqualified and banned for two years when doping tests revealed abnormally elevated testosterone levels . . . The Kitchener Rangers said defenseman Ben Fanelli is in critical but stable condition with skull and facial fractures he received in a boarding incident Friday. He also suffered a cut above the eye but was conscious as he was taken off the ice . . . Apprentice jockey Amanda Casey remains in intensive care after being kicked in the side by a horse at Aqueduct Friday . . . Forest Evashevski, the former Michigan football star who coached Iowa to two Rose Bowl victories in the 1950s, has died. He was 91.