Williams sisters to vie in final

TENNIS

Williams sisters to vie in final

DOHA, Qatar - The Williams sisters are headed for another title matchup.

Venus, the defending champion, defeated Jelena Jankovic 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in one semifinal yesterday at the Sony Ericsson Championships. Caroline Wozniacki retired against Serena in the other because of an apparent abdominal injury while trailing 6-4, 0-1.

Serena, who secured the year-end No. 1 ranking this week, will play for the title today. She is returning to the final of the tournament for the first time since 2004. She was knocked out in the group stage the last two years but was the only player to go undefeated through the round-robin rounds this time.

Wozniacki received medical treatment on her stomach in the first set and quit after breaking Williams to start the second. The 19-year-old Dane has been battling injuries all week and said Friday her aching abdominal muscles were affecting her serve.

Meanwhile, Serena Williams withdrew from the U.S. team that will face Italy in the Fed Cup final, deciding she needs to rest after a long season.

Williams informed U.S. Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez she won't play in the Nov. 7-8 matches, U.S. Tennis Association spokesman Chris Widmaier said.

Vania King replaces Williams on the roster, joining surprise U.S. Open quarterfinalist Melanie Oudin, Liezel Huber and Alexa Glatch.

Safin falls to qualifier

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - Two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin lost to qualifier Andriy Stakhovsky 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the St. Petersburg Open semifinals.

Safin won back-to-back titles in St. Petersburg in 2000-01. The Russian is playing his last season on the ATP Tour and will enter his last competitive tournament - the Paris Masters - on a wild card.

The 93rd-ranked Stakhovsky advanced to his second career ATP final. The Ukrainian will play eighth-seeded Horacio Zeballos, who reached his first tour final by beating Igor Kunitsyn 7-6 (9-7), 6-3.

• Ivan Ljubicic defeated Arnaud Clement 6-2, 6-4 to reach the final of the Lyon (France) Grand Prix, where he'll play wild card Michael Llodra. Llodra beat fellow Frenchman and second-seeded Gilles Simon 6-7 (7-4), 6-3, 7-6 (7-1).

• Top-seeded Marin Cilic and Jurgen Melzer won semifinal matches and will play for the BA Tennis Trophy title in Vienna. Cilic beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 7-6 (7-4). Melzer, seeded seventh, rallied past Janko Tipsarevic 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

GOLF

Kim to meet Fisher in final

CASARES, Spain - Ross Fisher beat Masters champion Angel Cabrera on the third playoff hole to set up a World Match Play Championship final against Anthony Kim. Fisher won 1-up after Cabrera needed five shots to reach the green on the final hole. Fisher had sent his second shot from 244 yards within 5 feet of the pin in fading light at the Finca Cortesin golf course.

Kim advanced by beating Robert Allenby 5 and 4. Kim, who beat the Australian 5 and 3 at the Presidents Cup, rallied from an early two-hole deficit, pulling away at the 27th hole when he sank an approach from 101 yards.

Today's 36-hole final will be both players' first in their debut appearance in the event, with a $1.1 million prize on the line.

Choi, Tseng share lead

INCHEON, South Korea - Na Yeon Choi shot a 71 and Yani Tseng shot a 70 to share the lead at 5-under par after a wet and windy second round of the LPGA Tour's KOLON Championship.

Choi and Tseng finished at 139 and were among seven players to go under par for the round as poor weather forced play to be suspended for almost an hour.

Maria Hjorth (72) and Jimin Kang (73) were tied at 4 under for the tournament.

Cook leads by six

SONOMA, Calif. - John Cook shot a 5-under 67 take a six-stroke lead in the Champions Tour's season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship. Cook, who shot a tournament-record 62 on Friday, had a 19-under 197 total on the Sonoma Golf Club course, the best three-round score in a 72-hole tournament on the senior circuit since Jack Nicklaus also had a 197 total in the 1990 Senior Players Championship.

Cook's six-stroke lead is the largest after three rounds on the Champions Tour since Jay Haas had a six-stroke lead in the 2005 Schwab Cup Championship. Cook won the Administaff Small Business Classic two weeks ago in Texas. Russ Cochran (68) was second at 13 under. Tom Watson (71), who began the day four shots behind Cook, and Brad Bryant (69) were 12 under.

• In Madison, Wis., PGA Tour officials canceled the weather-stricken Viking Classic because of unplayable course conditions. There will be no makeup date and players will move on to the final event of the season, the Children's Miracle Network Classic on Nov. 12-15 in Orlando, Fla.

This is the first time a tournament has been scrapped because of weather since the 1996 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

ELSEWHERE

• Former Iowa football coach Forest Evashevski, who led the Hawkeyes to two Rose Bowls in the 1950s, has died. He was 91. Mr. Evashevski's son, Forest Evashevski Jr., said his father died Friday night from cancer at his home in Petoskey, Mich. His five sons, two daughters and wife Ruth were at his bedside.

Mr. Evashevski was hired at Iowa in 1952, seven years after its last winning season. He inherited a program that had languished near the bottom of the Big Ten, but by 1956 had the Hawkeyes headed to the Rose Bowl and a win over Oregon State. Two years later, Iowa beat California 38-12 in the Rose Bowl.

Apprentice jockey Amanda Casey remains in intensive care after being kicked in the side by a horse at Aqueduct in New York. Joe Ceraulo, her agent, said Casey had a bruised liver and internal bleeding after being kicked by Karakorum Jete before the ninth and final race on Friday. She was taken by ambulance to North Shore University Hospital. Ceraulo said doctors didn't have to perform surgery. He expects the 26-year-old Casey to remain hospitalized for at least a week. - From Wire Reports