IN BRIEF
TENNIS
Venus Williams upset in first round of tourney
Top seed and defending champion Venus Williams was upset Tuesday night by qualifier Petra Kvitova in the opening round of the WTA's Cellular South Cup in Memphis, Tenn.
The 17-year-old Kvitova, of the Czech Republic, won only the second WTA Tour match of her career, stunning Williams, the winner of four Wimbledon titles, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Williams followed the tournament's No. 2 seed, Tatiana Golovin, out of the tournament. Earlier, Golovin was beaten by American Bethanie Mattek, 6-4, 6-4.
After winning the second set, Kvitova took charge midway through the final set. In the fifth game, she had two break points against Williams.
Williams saved the first one with a forehand winner, but Kvitova recovered and followed with a forehand volley winner to go up 3-2.
Playing in only her 14th career WTA match, Kvitova, ranked 143rd, matched Williams' power with punishing groundstrokes of her own.
Also: Maria Sharapova pulled out of the Dubai (United Arab Emirates) Championships with a viral infection.
The fifth-ranked Sharapova said she has been battling a virus for several days and that it has "reached a point where I'm unable to compete."
Sharapova, who won this year's Australian Open and last week's Qatar Open, was seeded fifth in the tournament.
Sharapova said she was feeling ill before the Qatar Open.
Top-seeded Ivan Ljubicic led five Croats into the second round of the PBZ Zagreb (Croatia) Indoors with only countryman and second-seeded Ivo Karlovic losing his opener.
Ljubicic, the 2006 champion and 2007 runner-up, hit 13 aces and broke serve only once in beating Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, 6-3, 7-6 (7).
Karlovic's 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2 loss to 209th-ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine was the only blemish on a banner day for the home players.
UNLV
Women's golf team still 16th in Tucson tourney
The UNLV women's golf team shot a second-round 30-over-par 314 to remain in 16th place at the Wildcat Invitational in Tucson, Ariz.
The Rebels, at 71-over 639, were 53 shots behind leader Oklahoma State, which shot 14-over 298 Tuesday.
Amanda Blumenhurst of Duke had the individual lead at 2-under 140 after shooting 1-over 72.
UNLV freshman Alejandra Guacaneme was tied for 45th at 13-over 155 after shooting 11-over 82.
Twelve teams in the 16-team field are ranked in the top 25 nationally, including seven of the top 10.
Also: Washington State rallied for a 12-8 victory over UNLV in a baseball game at Wilson Stadium.
The Rebels (2-2) scored all of their runs in the first inning. Xavier Scruggs hit a two-run double, Drew Beuerlein a two-run single and Bryan Resnick a three-run double in the inning.
Reliever Matt Hutchison (0-1) took the loss, giving up three runs in 1 1/3 innings.
MISCELLANEOUS
Kenyan distance runner banned for year by IAAF
Kenyan distance runner Susan Chepkemei was banned one year by the International Association of Athletics Federations after testing positive for salbutamol.
Her agent, Valentijn Trouw, said Chepkemei was given the asthma medication in September by a doctor after she became pregnant and developed pneumonia.
Chepkemei, 32, finished second at the 2004 New York Marathon and third at the 2006 London Marathon.
Also: Arizona State has begun an internal investigation into allegations of academic fraud and recruiting violations in its top-ranked baseball program.
Former player and team manager Mikel Moreno told the East Valley Tribune he had made the allegations to university officials, who launched the investigation.
