IN BRIEF

TENNIS

Serena Williams wins, plays Sharapova next

Serena Williams set up a quarterfinal match against Maria Sharapova at the Family Circle Cup, overcoming a sprained ankle and sluggish performance Thursday to beat Katarina Srebotnik 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in Charleston, S.C.

The second-seeded Sharapova beat Tatiana Perebiynis, 7-5, 6-2. The Russian star, coming off her first clay-court title last week at Amelia Island, is looking for her fourth tournament victory of the year.

The fifth-seeded Williams slipped and fell near the net when trailing 4-3 in the first set.

Sharapova and Williams have met six times, with Williams having a 4-2 advantage. But the two have never met on clay.

Also: Roger Federer beat Victor Hanescu 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals of the clay-court Estoril Open in Oeiras, Portugal.

Federer is beginning the European clay-court season after failing to reach a final in four tournaments this year.

Top-seeded James Blake beat 15-year-old Ryan Harrison 6-3, 6-2 to move into the quarterfinals of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship in Houston.

Blake needed 50 minutes to eliminate the Texas teenager, who this week won his first tour match.

ESPN will televise part of Wimbledon through 2013, agreeing to a six-year contract extension with The All England Club.

The network announced that ESPN2 will air about 100 hours of the tournament each year, including one men's and one women's semifinal.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Congressmen want investigation into BCS

Three members of Congress want the Justice Department to investigate whether the Bowl Championship Series is an illegal enterprise.

Reps. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., and Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, are introducing a resolution rejecting the oft-criticized bowl system as an illegal restriction on trade because only the largest universities compete in most of the major bowl games. The resolution would require Justice's antitrust division to investigate whether the system violates federal law.

The measure also would put Congress on record as supporting a college football playoff.

Also: Former New Mexico assistants Lenny Rodriguez and Grady Stretz have been implicated in an academic fraud investigation, The Associated Press has learned, and both are expected to attend a NCAA infractions committee hearing in Indianapolis today.

Rodriguez and Stretz are accused of helping four prospective student-athletes and one student-athlete already enrolled at New Mexico improperly obtain credits through correspondence courses at Fresno Pacific University.

MISCELLANEOUS

UNLV women's golf third at MWC tourney

The UNLV women's golf team shot 16-over-par 308 to place third after the first round of the Mountain West Conference Championships in Albuquerque, N.M.

Rebels freshman Therese Koelbaek was second in the individual standings after shooting par 73.

New Mexico, playing on its home course, shot 6-over 298 to take the lead. Brigham Young was second at 15-over 307.

Jodi Ewart of New Mexico shot 1-under 72 to take the individual lead.

Also: The UNLV softball team lost 5-1 to Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo.

The Rebels (21-28-1) had five hits against the Bears (8-31), who scored four runs in the third and one in the fourth.

UNLV's Stephanie Bregante (12-14) allowed four earned runs on 11 hits in six innings.

Season points leader Helio Castroneves took the pole for Saturday's Indy Japan 300 in Motegi, Japan, when rain washed out qualifying, his third straight top starting position on the 1.5-mile Twin Ring Motegi oval.