In Brief

GOLF

16-year-old Thompson holds
share of lead in LPGA Classic

Sixteen-year-old Alexis Thompson moved into position to become the youngest winner in LPGA Tour history, shooting 5-under-par 67 in breezy conditions Saturday for a share of the third-round lead with Song-Hee Kim at the Avnet LPGA Classic in Mobile, Ala.

Kim had a 70 to match Thompson at 7-under 209 on The Crossings course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail's Magnolia Grove complex.

"I'm going into (today) just going all-in on every golf shot," Thompson said. "Play consistent like I have the last few days and hopefully it'll all go well."

Thompson will be 16 years, 2 months, 21 days today. Marlene Hagge was 18 years, 14 days when she won the 1952 Sarasota Open, which was an 18-hole event. Hagge won two 18-hole events at 18.

Paula Creamer is the youngest winner of a multi-round event, claiming the 2005 Sybase Classic at 18 years, 9 months, 17 days.

Amy Yang was a stroke back after a 72, and Maria Hjorth (67), Suzann Pettersen (71) and Karen Stupples (72) were at 211.

Also: Bubba Watson made a 4-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a 2-under 70 and a share of the third-round lead with Webb Simpson at the PGA Tour's Zurich Classic of New Orleans in Avondale, La.

Simpson had five straight birdies in a 67 to match Watson, who has had at least a share of the lead after all three rounds, at 12-under 204.

John Rollins (69) was third at 205, and 2002 winner K.J. Choi (67) was at 206 with Steve Stricker (68), George McNeill (65), Charles Howell III (66), Tommy Gainey (68) and Matt Jones (69).

Sweden's Alexander Noren completed a 5-under 67 for a share of the lead after the suspended third round of the Ballantine's Championship in Seoul, South Korea.

Wales' Rhys Davies had a 68 and Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez a 69 to match Noren at 10-under 206. Top-ranked Lee Westwood (69) was at 7-under 209.

Former Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz struggled in his Nationwide Tour debut, shooting 15-over 87 in the rain-delayed South Georgia Classic to miss the cut by 27 strokes.

Smoltz, 43, opened with an 84 after two long weather delays forced him to play 18 holes over two days in Valdosta, Ga. He was even worse in the second round, with his 27-over 171 total nine strokes worse than any of the other 147 players who completed both rounds.

Smoltz played in the tournament on a sponsor exemption.

LOCAL COLLEGES

Robinson's one-hitter fuels
UNLV baseball past Lobos

Joe Robinson threw a one-hitter, helping the UNLV baseball team beat New Mexico 4-1 in a Mountain West Conference game at Wilson Stadium.

Robinson gave up a single to Alex Allbritton leading off the third inning and allowed two walks while striking out four. He didn't give up a run until the seventh inning, on Sam Wilson's RBI groundout.

Trent Cook had an RBI groundout in the first inning for the Rebels (27-18), Trevor Kirk hit a two-run triple in the fifth, and Cook led off the eighth with a double and scored on a Richie Jimenez single. Cook extended his hitting streak to 20 games.

Kirk and Thomas Cash both went 3-for-4.

It was the second straight complete game for UNLV. Tanner Peters went the distance in an 8-0 win Friday night.

Also: Amanda Bingson led the UNLV track and field team at the Steve Scott Invitational in Irvine, Calif., winning the hammer throw with a school record of 229 feet.

The toss topped her previous best by more than 4 feet and gave Bingson the top two throws in NCAA competition this season. Teammate Chelsea Cassulo took second in the event.

Deja Edwards took third in the long jump.

The UNLV softball team's game against Brigham Young was canceled due to poor field conditions after snowfall in Provo, Utah. The Rebels have had eight games canceled this season due to poor weather or field conditions, all on the road.

The Utah women's tennis team won the Mountain West Conference championships, topping Texas Christian 4-1 in Fort Collins, Colo. TCU was coming off an upset of top-seeded UNLV in Friday's semifinals.

BYU won the men's final 4-2 over TCU.

The College of Southern Nevada baseball team swept a doubleheader against Colorado Northwestern Community College, getting a combined no-hitter in a 4-0 win in the first game and taking the second game, 3-0.

In the opener, starter Sam Wolff went four innings, striking out seven and walking two. Ryan Baker then pitched the final three innings, with three strikeouts and one walk, and one runner reaching on an error.

Jordan Stewart went 3-for-3 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored for CSN (27-25, 16-20 Scenic West Athletic Conference).

In the second game, Matt Dunbar threw five innings, allowing three hits and a walk while striking out 12. Duncan Satherlie went 2-for-3 with two doubles and a run scored.

The CSN softball team beat Western Nevada College 9-1 and 8-6 at the Russell Road Recreation Complex.

Cheyenne Wells had a two-run triple in the sixth inning for the Coyotes (33-25, 26-18 SWAC) to end the first game on the run rule. In the second game, A.J. Woodward went 2-for-3 with a three-run homer, a double and four RBIs.

TENNIS

Djokovic gets free pass into
title match at Serbia Open

Novak Djokovic advanced to the Serbia Open final after Janko Tipsarevic withdrew from the all-Serb semifinal because of a thigh injury.

The Australian Open champion will play Feliciano Lopez of Spain today in Belgrade, Serbia. Lopez defeated Filippo Volandri of Italy 7-6 (3), 6-2 in the other semifinal.

Djokovic defeated Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia on Friday for his 26th consecutive victory without a defeat in 2011. It is the best start to an ATP Tour season since Ivan Lendl won 25 straight in 1986.

Also: Nikolay Davydenko of Russia advanced to the final of the BMW Open when his semifinal opponent, Radek Stepanek, retired with a hamstring injury in Munich, Germany.

The seventh-seeded Davydenko, who won the Munich tournament in 2004, led 6-3, 4-0 when the Czech quit. Davydenko had treatment on his foot in the first set.

In the final, Davydenko will play fifth-seeded Florian Mayer, who beat fellow German Philipp Petzschner, 6-3, 6-4.

Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain defeated Kristina Barrois of Germany 6-1, 6-2 in the rain-delayed women's final at the Estoril Open in Oeiras, Portugal, and Juan Martin del Potro continued his comeback from a wrist injury to reach the men's title match.

Del Potro beat Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-2, 7-6 (6) to reach his second final of the season. He'll face Fernando Verdasco, who was up a set and advanced when Milos Raonic of Canada withdrew with a back injury.

Roberta Vinci won her second Barcelona Open title in three years, rallying to defeat Czech player Lucie Hradecka 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in Barcelona, Spain.

MISCELLANEOUS

George Mason basketball hires
ex-Georgia Tech coach Hewitt

After losing a Final Four coach to the Atlantic Coast Conference, George Mason's men's basketball program got one in return.

The Patriots hired former Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt to replace Jim Larranaga, who left to take the post at Miami.

Hewitt was fired by Georgia Tech last month. He took the Yellow Jackets to the Final Four in 2004, but that was the only season he had a winning record in ACC play. He went 190-162 in 11 years at the school and was 72-104 in the conference.

Also: Miki Ando of Japan won the world figure skating championships after overcoming Olympic gold medalist Kim Yu-na in a duel of exceptional elegance in Moscow.

The victory by the Japanese skater, who also won the 2007 worlds, was fitting in a competition that was originally scheduled in her homeland before it was hit by an earthquake and tsunami in March.

In ice dance, Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White won the first world gold for their country in the discipline, outpointing 2010 champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada. The American sister-brother team of Maia and Alex Shibutani won bronze.

Chris Kreider started the scoring, and the United States cruised to a 5-1 victory over Austria in its opening game at the world ice hockey championship in Kosice, Slovakia.

Kreider sped past Austrian captain Gerhard Unterluggauer to convert the Americans' first goal of the tournament 14:42 into the game. Blake Wheeler added a goal 2:33 later, scoring with an angled shot after Derek Stepan's quick pass caught Austria's goalie flat-footed.

In other action, the defending champion Czech Republic rallied to beat Latvia 3-2, but New York Islanders defenseman Radek Martinek was hospitalized with an injury to his spine and a concussion following a hit to the head during the victory.

Martinek was carried off on a stretcher after being struck by Latvia defenseman Arturs Kulda at 14:40 of the first period. Kulda was penalized for the hit.

Salomon Kalou scored in the 89th minute, leading Chelsea past Tottenham 2-1 in London and keeping alive his team's hopes of retaining the English Premier League title.

Manchester United is bidding for a record 19th English championship. It leads Chelsea by three points and plays at third-place Arsenal today.

David Zabriskie of the United States won the Tour de Romandie time trial in Signal-De-Bougy, Switzerland, and Cadel Evans took the overall lead with one stage left.

Zabriskie won his first stage of the season, clocking 27 minutes 57 seconds over the 12.5-mile course from Aubonne to Signal-de-Bougy.