IN BRIEF

TENNIS

Davydenko, Verdasco in Malaysia Open final

Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia overcame a sloppy first set to beat Robin Soderling of Sweden 1-6, 7-6 (1), 6-2 on Saturday and set up a Malaysia Open final today against Fernando Verdasco of Spain.

The second-seeded Verdasco beat Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-4, 7-5 in Kuala Lumpur to reach his third ATP final of the year.

Davydenko struggled with unforced errors in the first set. He got his serve under control in the second as the players broke once apiece before Davydenko dominated the tiebreaker.

He then capitalized on the third-seeded Swede's poor serve in the decider, breaking twice to snap a four-match losing streak to Soderling.

Also: Viktor Troicki of Serbia upset defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 to reach today's final of the Thailand Open in Bangkok.

The fourth-seeded Troicki will face Frenchman Gilles Simon, who beat Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-4, 7-6 (3) in the other semifinal.

Tsonga, ranked No. 7 and seeded No. 1, unraveled after easily winning the first set. He dropped serve twice in each of the following two sets.

Ana Ivanovic withdrew from this week's China Open due to an upper respiratory infection, saying it seems like a fitting end to the season she has had.

The 21-year-old Serbian said in a statement that her body was "quite fragile" following a combination of too much training and not enough recuperation.

Ivanovic, who won the French Open in 2008 and has reached two other Grand Slam finals, said she had to rework her serve after Wimbledon to accommodate a sore shoulder.

UNLV ATHLETICS

Sifuentes, Swanson lift men's soccer to victory

Stephen Sifuentes scored with about five minutes to play as the Rebels men's soccer team beat UC Riverside 1-0 in Riverside, Calif.

Goalkeeper Roland Swanson had three saves for the Rebels (5-2-2).

Also: The Rebels volleyball team lost to Brigham Young 25-17, 25-17, 25-21 in a Mountain West Conference match at Cox Pavilion.

Cursty Jackson had 11 kills for UNLV (3-10 overall, 2-4 MWC).

Rebels men's tennis player Mehdi Bouras reached today's third round of the D'Novo ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla., with a 6-2, 7-5 second-round victory over Rusty Turpin of Tulsa. Bouras had a first-round bye.

Rebels women's tennis player Kristina Nedeltcheva won two matches in singles and teamed with Nives Pavlovic to win an opening doubles match in pre-qualifying for this week's Riviera All-American Tennis Championships in Pacific Palisades, Calif.

MISCELLANEOUS

Beckham discussing return to AC Milan

David Beckham is in talks with the Los Angeles Galaxy about going to AC Milan on another loan and then returning to Major League Soccer again.

The 34-year-old midfielder must join a European club on loan in January to be considered for England coach Fabio Capello's squad for June's World Cup.

"That deal I think hasn't been fully finalized yet, but I know he is interested in going to Milan and he's in conversation with the L.A. Galaxy about doing a loan again and discussing coming back," MLS commissioner Don Garber said.

Beckham confirmed he is close to returning to Milan.

"There are other options available," he told the London Mail newspaper. "But none of that will stop me from going to Milan."

Also: Kansas junior guard Brady Morningstar was suspended from the basketball team for the first semester after his arrest on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

Kansas Turnpike spokeswoman Lisa Callahan said Morningstar was stopped early Saturday on the Kansas Turnpike near the East Lawrence interchange.

He was arrested about 3:25 a.m. CDT and booked into the Douglas County Jail.

Online jail records show he was released on $250 bond at 6:01 a.m.