IN BRIEF

CYCLING

Petacchi leads Giro; Armstrong moves up

Alessandro Petacchi of Italy won his second straight stage in the Giro d'Italia on Monday, taking the overall lead from Mark Cavendish of Britain.

Lance Armstrong, competing in his first Giro, finished in the main pack in 50th place, with the same time as Petacchi. The seven-time Tour de France winner advanced to fifth place from 10th overall, 31 seconds behind Petacchi.

"I just tried to stay out of trouble again," Armstrong said. "We had another dangerous circuit. The best place to be is in the front if you can, avoid the crashes, avoid the things we saw today. I heard a couple but missed them all, thank goodness."

Petacchi beat Tyler Farrar of the United States and Francesco Gavazzi of Italy in a sprint finish to end the 123-mile third stage to Valdobbiadene, Italy. Petacchi leads Farrar by eight seconds.

Meanwhile, Armstrong's Astana team must straighten out its financial crisis by May 31 or risk being suspended.

TENNIS

Gasquet suspended for failed drug test

French men's tennis star Richard Gasquet was suspended following a positive cocaine test and will miss the French Open.

The International Tennis Federation expects to have a panel in place within 60 days for a hearing. Gasquet could face a two-year ban if found guilty.

The 22-year-old player, ranked 21st, is gathering evidence to prove his innocence despite two samples testing positive. He said a separate test of his hair samples May 7 showed no trace of cocaine. Cocaine traces were found in Gasquet's urine sample at the Sony Ericsson Open, in Key Biscayne, Fla., in March.

Also: Serena Williams pulled out of the Madrid Open after aggravating an injury to her right knee during a first-round match against Francesca Schiavone.

The second-seeded Williams retired after losing the first set 6-4. She declined to detail the extent of the problem, but said it would not keep her out of the French Open.

Maria Sharapova plans to be back in action next week.

Sidelined by shoulder surgery, Sharapova wrote on her Web site that she will play her first competitive singles match in nearly 10 months at the May 18-23 clay-court tournament in Warsaw, Poland.

ESPN Classic will air live coverage of Sunday's exhibition matches under Wimbledon's new Centre Court roof.

Past Wimbledon champions -- and married couple -- Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf are scheduled to play, as are Tim Henman and Kim Clijsters. The event is being called "A Centre Court Celebration" and will be a test of the All England Club's new retractable roof and ventilation system.

ESPN Classic will air 31/2 hours of the British Broadcasting Corp. feed, starting at 6:30 a.m. PDT.

MISCELLANEOUS

UCLA's Pauley Pavilion set for renovation

UCLA is giving Pauley Pavilion a $185 million facelift in hopes of putting one of college basketball's most recognized arenas on the national map again.

The renovation plans will include a new entrance, locker rooms for both the men's and women's basketball teams, and over 1,000 additional seats to bring its capacity to nearly 14,000.

The construction, expected to start in February 2010 and finish in the fall of 2012, will displace the men's and women's teams for the 2011-12 season.

The Bruins haven't settled on a playing location for 2011-12, but are looking at the Staples Center, as well as the Honda Center in Orange County and the Forum in Inglewood as potential sites.

Also: Olympic triple gold medalist Usain Bolt said he is ready to return to the track after his recent car crash and will run in England on Sunday.

The 22-year-old returned to training last week after crashing his car into a ditch along a Jamaican highway April 29. Bolt will compete in a 150-meter street race.

Michelle Wie will play at the Women's British Open. The LPGA Tour rookie confirmed she will be in the field at Royal Lytham on July 30-Aug. 2.

Mississippi State center Jarvis Varnado will return for his senior season.

The nation's leading shot blocker for two straight seasons will make a run at the NCAA record for career blocks. He 142 from passing the mark of 535 set from 1999-2002 by Louisiana-Monroe's Wojciech Mydra.

The coach of Quinnipiac University's volleyball team testified Monday that the Connecticut school manipulated the rosters of its athletic teams to make them appear more in line with the gender makeup of the school's population.

Robin Sparks appeared in court in Bridgeport as part of a lawsuit she and several team members filed last month that accuses the school of failing to provide female students with equal opportunity to participate in varsity intercollegiate athletics.

The UNLV softball team had four players named to the All-Mountain West Conference team.

Junior Jaci Hull (11 home runs, 50 RBIs overall) made the squad for the third straight year. Junior Marissa Nichols (10 doubles, 10 homers overall), junior Kendall Fearn (.614 conference slugging percentage) and sophomore Ashli Holland (.413 conference batting average) made the squad for the second time.