IN BRIEF

PRO BASKETBALL

Arbitrator rules Cuban owes Nelson $6 million

Mavericks owner Mark Cuban must immediately pay Don Nelson $6.3 million, an arbitrator ruled in settling a long-running battle over the former Dallas coach's compensation package.

Nelson, now the Golden State Warriors' coach, claimed the money was owed to him from his time with the Mavericks from 1997 to 2005.

Also: Mavericks forward Josh Howard was arrested in his hometown of Winston-Salem, N.C., after police said he was drag racing at nearly 40 mph above the posted speed.

Howard was charged with going 94 mph in a 55 mph zone, careless and reckless driving and speed competition.

The Los Angeles Clippers and forward Nick Fazekas have agreed to the withdrawal of the team's qualifying offer from June 25, making Fazekas an unrestricted free agent.

Signed by the Clippers as a free agent March 18, Fazekas appeared in 26 games last season, averaging 4.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 0.4 assists in 10.3 minutes.

GOLF

Singh shoots 64, leads Bridgestone tourney

Vijay Singh twice escaped from the trees on his closing holes at Firestone in Akron, Ohio, on his way to a 4-under-par 66 at the Bridgestone Invitational, putting his name atop the leaderboard for the first time in more than four months.

Singh, at 7-under 133, was one shot ahead of Phil Mickelson, who holed a 20-foot par putt to finish off a 66 that put him in the final group with Singh.

Lee Westwood had a 65 and joined a group at 5-under 135 that included Sean O'Hair (67), former Masters champion Zach Johnson (68) and Peter Lonard (66).

Also: Yuri Fudoh of Japan and Ji-Yai Shin of South Korea shot 4-under 68s to lead by one stroke and equal the halfway record at the Women's British Open in Sunningdale, England, while Annika Sorenstam's 72 was just enough to make the cut.

Fudoh and Shin were at 10-under 134 to tie the record set by South Korean Jeong Jang, who won three years ago at Royal Birkdale.

Michelle Wie failed in her eighth attempt to make the cut on the PGA Tour, shooting a second-round 80 at the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open in Reno.

Parker McLachlin tied the course record with a 62 to take a four-stroke lead over 1987 Masters winner Larry Mize and three others.

Wie, 18, shot 1-over 73 Thursday as she attempted to become the first woman since Babe Zaharias in 1945 to make the cut on the PGA Tour. But a quintuple-bogey 9 Friday helped push her to 9-over 153.

McLachlin birdied seven of the last 10 holes and had 11 on the day in a bogey-free round that left him at 14-under 130.

Fred Funk took the lead at the halfway mark of the U.S. Senior Open in Colorado Springs, Colo., after shooting 1-under 69.

Difficult pin placements and faster, drier greens wreaked havoc on the field as only five golfers shot below par. Funk is at 6-under 134, two shots ahead of Eduardo Romero, who also shot a 69.

OLYMPICS

U.S. swimmer Hardy withdraws from team

Swimmer Jessica Hardy withdrew from the U.S. Olympic team, four weeks after testing positive for a banned substance at the national trials.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency announced Hardy's decision, saying she did so "in the best interests of the team."

The 21-year-old from Long Beach, Calif., could have contested the drug test results before the American Arbitration Association and potentially filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which would have kept her Olympic berth in doubt until the eve of the games that will open Friday.

Hardy tested positive for a low level of clenbuterol, a prohibited anabolic agent, at the trials July 4.

Also: Dwyane Wade scored 19 points, Dwight Howard 17 and LeBron James 15 to help the U.S. men's basketball team roll to a 120-84 exhibition victory over Lithuania in Macau.

The star-studded American team raced to a big early lead, then pulled away again after Lithuania got within single digits early in the second half. Kobe Bryant finished with 13 points, nine during the big U.S. first quarter.

The International Olympic Committee stripped gold medals from the U.S. men's 1,600-meter relay team that competed at the 2000 Olympics. The move follows Antonio Pettigrew's doping admission two months ago.

Pettigrew gave up his gold medal in June after he admitted to using EPO and human growth hormone from 1997 to 2003.

Tim McNeill received a warning for getting a prescribed anti-inflammatory shot without the proper clearance from anti-doping authorities.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said McNeill tested positive May 24 at the U.S. gymnastics championships for a glucocorticosteroid, a cortisonelike drug that is only allowed during competitions with an exemption.

An appeal by Greco-Roman wrestler Joe Warren to reduce his two-year doping suspension was dismissed by a three-person panel with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Warren was suspended after testing positive for marijuana.

MISCELLANEOUS

Nadal one step closer to dethroning Federer

Rafael Nadal moved one step closer to unseating Roger Federer as the reigning king of men's tennis.

The 22-year-old Spaniard made a change at the top inevitable by advancing to the semifinals of the Cincinnati Masters in Mason, Ohio. He beat Nicolas Lapentti 7-6 (3), 6-1 for his 32nd straight win, setting up a seismic shift in the world rankings.

After three years of chasing Roger Federer, he's about to pass him.

Nadal will take over the top spot in next week's rankings if he wins the tournament. Even if he fails, he now has piled up enough points in Cincinnati to overtake Federer when the rankings come out Aug. 18.

Also: Jelena Jankovic was upset by 19-year-old Dominika Cibulkova 7-5, 6-2 at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, losing yet another opportunity to claim the top ranking.

Jankovic could have claimed the No. 1 spot from Ana Ivanovic if she had reached the final.

Unbeaten Jorge Teron successfully defended his WBO lightweight title by stopping Michael Lozada at 1:23 of the sixth round in a scheduled 10-round fight in New York.

It was the seventh KO in the last 11 fights for Teron (22-0-1), a New Yorker. Lozada, from Mexico, is 29-5-1.

On the undercard, Las Vegan Ishe Smith (20-3) won a 10-round decision over Pawel Wolak (22-1).

Joshua McCollum hit a grand slam and drove in six runs as Paseo Verde of Henderson beat Southern California representative Aliso Viejo 11-0 in an opening-day pool play game of the Little League West Regional in San Bernardino, Calif.

Michael Blasko allowed one hit as Paseo Verde won in a game called after four innings on the mercy rule.