in brief

Svetlana Kuznetsova had a succinct explanation for losing her first match at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.

"The tennis ball is perfect. I am not perfect," the top-seeded Russian said after a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 loss to Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro in the second round Saturday.

Kuznetsova, who hadn't played in a month and had a first-round bye, made 69 unforced errors and double-faulted seven times against Suarez Navarro, who arrived ranked No. 42 in the WTA Tour after reaching the semifinals at Acapulco last month.

Two-time champion Kim Clijsters of Belgium won her second-round match, beating Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-1, and reigning champion Vera Zvonareva of Russia fought off 16-year-old American Sloane Stephens, winning, 6-4, 7-5.

Reigning men's champion Rafael Nadal, the No. 3 seed, followed Clijsters on the court and worked his way to a 6-4, 6-4 win over German Rainer Schuettler, a semifinalist here in 2003 but a qualifier this year.

No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia took a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Ernests Gulbis of Latvia. Americans John Isner (15) and Sam Querrey (17) won and will meet in the third round.

In the late match, No. 2 Novak Djokovic of Serbia beat American Mardy Fish 6-1, 0-6 6-2 in a rematch of the 2008 final, also won by Djokovic.

WINTER SPORTS

Islanders captain Weight set
for season-ending surgery

New York Islanders captain Doug Weight will have shoulder surgery that will certainly finish his season and could also end the center's 18-year NHL career.

Weight, 39, has a torn rotator cuff and labrum in his left shoulder, injuries sustained in November. He has played through the pain, but said Saturday before the Islanders' morning skate in advance of their game against New Jersey that he will undergo surgery Thursday.

Weight had only one goal and 16 assists in 36 games this season. New York began Saturday in 14th place in the Eastern Conference, 11 points off the playoff pace with 15 games remaining.

Weight, a second-round pick of the New York Rangers in 1990, has 276 goals and 1,024 points in 1,220 NHL games. He was in the lineup Thursday when the Islanders lost 2-1 in a shootout to the St. Louis Blues, one of Weight's former teams.

Also: Olympic champion Maria Riesch of Germany won her second straight slalom World Cup title with a third-place finish in the season finale in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

Marlies Schild of Austria won the race by a big margin, with teammate Kathrin Zettel placing second. But Riesch's third-place effort was enough to give her the slalom title with 493 points, three ahead of Zettel.

Reinfried Herbst gave Austria its only men's World Cup skiing title of the season, clinching the slalom crystal globe in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

American Ted Ligety, who clinched the giant slalom title Friday, clipped the first gate of the second run and dropped out. Felix Neureuther delighted his hometown crowd by posting the fastest second run for a winning combined time of 1 minute, 43.63 seconds.

MISCELLANEOUS

Oregon heptathlete sets record;
Gators, Ducks win indoor titles

Oregon's Ashton Eaton broke Dan O'Brien's 17-year-old world record in the indoor heptathlon, and the Florida men and Oregon women claimed team titles at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark.

Eaton set a mark of 6,499 points, passing O'Brien's record of 6,476.

Eaton finished the final event of the heptathlon, the 1,000 meters, in 2 minutes, 32.67 seconds, nearly two seconds faster than he needed for the world mark.

But his performance wasn't quite enough to lift the Ducks to the team title, as they finished second with 44 points, behind Florida's 57. Oregon rolled to the women's crown with 61 points, 25 ahead of second-place Tennessee.

Also: LoLo Jones recovered from near-elimination in the semifinals to successfully defend her title in the 60-meter hurdles in Doha, Qatar, setting the meet record at the world indoor championships and running the third-best time ever.

Jones clocked 7.72 seconds, 0.03 seconds better than Perdita Felicien of Canada at the 2004 worlds.

Olympic champion Bryan Clay also held on to his heptathlon title, adding to a successful day for the U.S. team. Christian Cantwell won his third shot put title, and Debbie Dunn added gold in the 400 meters.

Marco Huck (28-1) of Germany retained his WBO cruiserweight title by knocking out American Adam Richards (23-3) in the third round in Berlin.