IN BRIEF

TENNIS

Friendly rivals Clijsters, Henin to meet in Sony Ericsson semis

Once roommates on grade-school tennis trips, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin became Grand Slam champions, claimed the No. 1 ranking and played each other nearly two dozen times before calling it a career.

Now the friendly rivalry is out of retirement, and the two Belgians will meet once more tonight in the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Open.

Henin is only four tournaments into her return from a 20-month retirement, yet there's scant evidence of rust. She earned a berth in the semifinals by overtaking No. 2-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4 Wednesday.

Clijsters retired, married and became a mother before returning to the tour in August. She advanced to the semifinals by beating No. 9 Samantha Stosur, 6-3, 7-5.

Three-time champion Venus Williams will play 13th-seeded Marion Bartoli in the other semifinal today.

With top-ranked Roger Federer no longer looming in the men's draw, Andy Roddick will face Rafael Nadal in the semifinals Friday. Roddick advanced by beating No. 33-seeded Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-3, and Nadal eliminated No. 8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-3, 6-2.

high school

Local stars help West squads to wins in McDonald's event

Bishop Gorman senior Aaryn Ellenberg scored four points to help the West beat the East 84-75 in the McDonald's All American Game in Columbus, Ohio.

Ellenberg, who has signed with Oklahoma, shot 1-for-5 from the field and made 2 of 3 free throws.

Findlay Prep's Cory Joseph and Tristan Thompson played in the boys game, helping the West rally for a 107-104 win over the East.

Thompson, who has signed with Texas, helped spark a game-changing 16-4 run in the second half with three straight dunks to give the West a 67-63 lead. He finished with eight points.

Joseph, who remains uncommitted to a college, scored two points.

miscellaneous

Hamlin plans racing return following left knee surgery

NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin is home resting following surgery on his left knee.

Dr. Patrick Connor repaired the anterior cruciate ligament in Hamlin's left knee. Hamlin tore his ACL playing basketball in January.

He wanted to postpone surgery until after the NASCAR season but decided to have it repaired this week. The surgery had been postponed from Monday, the same day Hamlin won his first race of the season at Martinsville, Va.

Joe Gibbs Racing said Hamlin will drive as scheduled in the April 10 race at Phoenix, but Casey Mears will be on standby as a relief driver.

Also: Lookin At Lucky is staying home to prep for the Kentucky Derby.

The colt will run on a synthetic surface in Saturday's Santa Anita Derby instead of on dirt in next week's Arkansas Derby.

Lookin At Lucky takes on nine rivals in the $750,000 race. He was made the 4-5 morning-line favorite and drew the No. 7 post for the 1 1/8-mile race.

Eskendereya has been made the 4-5 favorite for Saturday's Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, a final prep race before the Kentucky Derby.

Abby Wambach scored her 105th international goal to help the United States beat Mexico 1-0 in an exhibition soccer game at Sandy, Utah.

Wayne Rooney will be sidelined for two to four weeks because of a sprained ankle, a person close to Manchester United said.

Rooney was hurt in the final minute of Tuesday's 2-1 Champions League soccer loss at Bayern Munich. The person said Rooney should be fit for the World Cup.

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas might have broken a leg while scoring the tying penalty kick in Wednesday's Champions League match against Barcelona, an injury that would sideline him for the World Cup.

The former Duke coach who was fired after a stripper falsely accused three players of rape in 2006 has ended his slander lawsuit against school officials, both sides said.

Attorney Jay Trehy said Mike Pressler was dismissing his claims, though he declined to discuss the terms of how it was resolved.

Duke officials also declined to discuss details but publicly apologized to Pressler for any "adverse consequences" that two media stories had on the coach or his family.

One day after moving up 30 spots in the national rankings to No. 29, the UNLV women's tennis team lost a regular-season Mountain West Conference match for the first time in nearly two years, 4-3 to No. 49 Utah at the Eccles Tennis Center in Salt Lake City.

Also, freshman Nives Pavlovic was named Mountain West Conference women's tennis player of the week.

College of Southern Nevada freshman phenom Bryce Harper was selected as the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I baseball player of the week. Harper went 7-for-14 with four home runs and eight RBIs in four games at College of Eastern Utah last weekend.

Jack Diesing Sr., creator of the College World Series, has died. He was 92.