IN BRIEF

Creamer, Angela Park lead LPGA tournament

Paula Creamer and Angela Park shot 5-under-par 67s Thursday to share the first-round lead in the LPGA Tour’s Samsung World Championship at Palm Desert, Calif.

Lorena Ochoa led most of the round, but a late lapse cost her when she made a double bogey on the final hole to drop into a three-way tie with Morgan Pressel and Mi Hyun Kim at 68.

Michelle Wie, who turned 18 on Thursday, was last in the 20-player field after a 79.

Also: Defending champion Paul Casey and six-time winner Ernie Els advanced to the second round of the World Match Play Championship at Virginia Water, England.

Top-seeded Casey beat Jerry Kelly 3 and 2, and Els defeated Colin Montgomerie, 6 and 5.

Daniel Vancsik shot a 7-under 65 to take a one-shot lead after the first round of the Madrid Open in Madrid, Spain.

TENNIS

Blake advances in bid for third Stockholm title

Two-time defending champion James Blake beat Frank Dancevic 6-3, 6-2 at the Stockholm Open at Stockholm, Sweden, setting up a quarterfinal meeting against Jarkko Nieminen in a rematch of last year’s final.

The top-seeded American improved his record to 12-0 at the Royal Tennis Hall, where he will attempt to become the first person to win the Stockholm Open three straight times.

Also: Serena Williams advanced to the quarterfinals of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow by defeating Tatiana Perebiynis, 7-5, 6-4.

In the second round of the men’s tournament, defending champion Nikolay Davydenko beat Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador, 6-4, 6-4.

Venus Williams won two matches, moving into the quarterfinal of the Bangkok Open in Thailand. Williams finished a rain-delayed match against Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-2, 6-2, then beat Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand, 6-4, 6-1.

MISCELLANEOUS

Longtime Braves GM Schuerholz steps down

John Schuerholz stepped aside as general manager of the Atlanta Braves to become team president after assembling teams that won a record 14 straight division titles and the 1995 World Series championship.

Schuerholz, who turned 67 last week, remains second in command to chairman Terry McGuirk but will step away from day-to-day personnel decisions, such as trades, free-agent signings and other roster moves.

Schuerholz was baseball’s longest-serving general manager with one team, having spent 17 seasons with the Braves.

Assistant general manager Frank Wren moves up to replace Schuerholz after spending eight years as his assistant.

Also: Three Georgia basketball players, including the Bulldogs’ top two returning scorers, were suspended for violations of the school’s new class attendance policy for student-athletes.

Coach Dennis Felton said guard Mike Mercer has been suspended for 15 games, forward Takais Brown for nine games and center Albert Jackson for six games. Brown led the Bulldogs with 14.2 points per game last season, and Mercer averaged 13.7.

Katie Carney scored in each half as the UNLV women’s soccer team (5-3-5) played Utah (8-2-3) to a 2-2 tie in the Mountain West Conference opener for both teams at Peter Johann Memorial Field.