IN BRIEF

MOTOR SPORTS

Arend claims NHRA Funny Car victory

Jeff Arend and Funny Car team owner and NHRA icon Connie Kalitta celebrated an emotional, tearful victory Monday at the rain-delayed O'Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals in Memphis, Tenn.

Arend, who replaced Kalitta's late son, Scott Kalitta, in the DHL Solara, turned in a 4.091-second run at 310.41 mph in the final round to easily outrun Tony Pedregon's trailing 16.659 at 37.81. The speed was the fifth-fastest 1,000-foot Funny Car run recorded.

Meanwhile, by reaching the semifinals, Ashley Force Hood ascended into first place in Funny Car at the halfway point of the NHRA's six-race playoff, the Countdown to 1. The 26-year old daughter of John Force is seeking to become the first woman in history to win a championship in NHRA's ultra-competitive Funny Car division.

Joining Arend in the winner's circle were Morgan Lucas (Top Fuel), Jason Line (Pro Stock) and Michael Phillips (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

UNLV

Two Rebels advance in men's tennis tourney

UNLV's Luca Barlocchi and Mehdi Bouras won their opening singles matches in the qualifying draw for the D'Novo ITA Men's All-American Tennis Championships in Tulsa, Okla.

Barlocchi beat Louisiana State's Sebastian Carlsson 6-4, 6-3, and Bouras earned a 6-4, 6-2 win over Baylor's Julien Bley.

Also: The UNLV women's golf team was in eighth after two rounds of the 15-team Windy City Collegiate Classic in Glenview, Ill.

The Rebels had a 21-over 597 total, with Purdue -- the only team under par -- leading at 12-under 564, paced by individual leader Maude-Aimee LeBlanc (7-under 137).

UNLV's Therese Koelbaek and Natasha Krishna were tied for 19th at 3-over 147 heading into today's final round.

MISCELLANEOUS

Top-ranked Safina dealt stunning upset loss

Dinara Safina lost to Chinese wild card Zhang Shuai 7-5, 7-6 (5) in the second round of the China Open in Beijing, a result that could lead to Serena Williams taking the No. 1 ranking.

The WTA reported that the upset made No. 226 Zhang the lowest-ranked woman ever to defeat a world No. 1.

Venus Williams fell to teenager Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, the second time in a week the Russian has beaten her.

Safina would lose her top ranking if she finishes behind No. 2 Serena Williams in this tournament. Williams won her first-round match Saturday against Estonia's Kaia Kanepi and next faces Russia's Ekaterina Makarova today.

Also: Clint Dempsey will miss the U.S. men's soccer team's World Cup qualifier at Honduras on Saturday because of a sprained right shoulder.

Dempsey has five goals during the qualifying stage for next year's tournament.

Phoenix Suns center Robin Lopez will have surgery to repair a broken bone in his left foot and is expected to miss six to eight weeks.

Lopez broke his fifth metatarsal -- the long bone on the outside of his foot that connects to the little toe -- in the second half of the team's intrasquad scrimmage Saturday in San Diego.

A judge in Iowa City, Iowa, ruled the man accused of gunning down renowned high school football coach Ed Thomas is mentally competent to stand trial.

Butler County District Judge Stephen Carroll filed an order that said 24-year-old Mark D. Becker can appreciate the charges against him, understand the proceedings and assist with his defense.