In Brief

tennis

Serena uses special ranking
to gain entry into U.S. Open

Serena Williams is using her special injury-protected No. 1 ranking to get into the U.S. Open field.

She is ranked 172nd this week, and only the top 105 players have been granted direct entry into the field for the year's last major championship, which starts Aug. 29 in New York.

But because Williams was sidelined more than six months by a series of health issues, she has the right to use her special ranking to enter up to eight tournaments, including one Grand Slam.

"I have nothing to lose," Williams said Wednesday in New York City before a World Team Tennis event. "I think that's when people are the most dangerous."

The U.S. Tennis Association announced that the provisional field for the Open has 97 of the top 100 women in the WTA rankings, including two-time defending champion Kim Clijsters, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova and French Open champion Li Na.

GOLF

McInerney moves into round of 32 at U.S. junior tournament

Coronado High School star AJ McInerney advanced to the round of 32 in the match-play portion of the U.S. Boys Junior Amateur championships at Bremerton, Wash.

McInerney defeated Christopher Hickman of Centreville, Md., 1 up.

McInerney will face Hank Lebioda of Winter Springs, Fla., as play continues today. The champion will be crowned in a 36-hole final Saturday.

Also: Coronado High School senior-to-be Kenden Slattery has given an oral commitment to play golf at UNLV beginning in 2012.

Slattery becomes the fifth golfer to commit to the Rebels, joining McInerney, Arbor View's Zane Thomas, Adam Svensson of Surrey, British Columbia, and James Feutz of Tacoma, Wash.

Former UNLV golfer Therese Koelbaek was named the 2011 Mountain West Conference female scholar athlete of the year.

Koelbaek was UNLV's 12th Academic All-America first-team selection. She graduated this year with a degree in marketing, finishing with a 3.97 GPA.

miscellaneous

Lawsuit wants to know why Mourning left accident scene

Former Miami Heat star Alonzo Mourning was sued over a weekend traffic crash in Florida that raised questions about whether he improperly left the scene.

The lawsuit seeking unspecified damages was filed on behalf of 21-year-old William Candelario, who suffered head injuries in the rollover crash early Sunday near Miami Beach. Candelario said he has little memory of what happened, and his attorney said the lawsuit is aimed at finding answers.

"The question we have is how, why, would Mr. Mourning leave this accident?" attorney Spencer Aronfeld said. "We're not on a witch hunt trying to destroy one of South Florida's most respected and beloved celebrities. We're simply trying to get answers."

Mourning said he came upon the crash scene, but declined to say whether he struck one of the vehicles.

Also: West Virginia heads a field of eight Division I basketball teams for the 2011 Las Vegas Classic, scheduled for Dec. 22 and 23 at the Orleans Arena.

Also participating will be Saint Mary's (Calif.), Baylor, Missouri State, Tennessee Tech, Bethune-Cookman, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Kennesaw State.

A celebrity boxing promoter has won a default judgment against Jose Canseco for breach of contract after the former major league slugger instead sent his twin brother for the bout.

Damon Feldman of Broomall, Pa., won his complaint after Canseco failed to show for his court appearance. Feldman's attorney, Bob Bush, said the award was for about $7,600.

Feldman had claimed Canseco backed out and made brother Ozzie pass himself off as the baseball star for the March 26 bout in Hollywood, Fla.

Tickets for the Nov. 12 WBO welterweight title fight between champion Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand Garden will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday at all Ticketmaster outlets and at ticketmaster.com and mgmgrand.com.

Prices are $200, $400, $600, $900 and $1,200, and there is a two-ticket limit per person for the $200 seats and a 10-ticket limit in the other price categories.

Antonio Tarver stopped defending champion Danny Green in the ninth round to claim the IBO cruiserweight world boxing title in Sydney.

Goaltender Patrick Lalime retired after playing for five NHL teams in 12 seasons. Lalime, 37, who played in 444 games, finished with a 200-174-48 record.

High school students on Hawaii's Kauai island will be playing football in the daytime again this fall to make sure their stadium lights don't harm threatened and endangered seabirds.

Paraguay advanced to the Copa America final Sunday against Uruguay by beating Venezuela 5-3 on penalty kicks in Mendoza, Argentina.