Serena Williams retired from her semifinal match against Jelena Jankovic at the Dubai Women's Open in the United Arab Emirates yesterday with a strained tendon in her right shoulder.
The unseeded Jankovic was leading 6-0, 4-3 when Williams pulled out 59 minutes into the match. That put Jankovic into the final against top-seeded Lindsay Davenport, who struggled through an upset stomach to beat Patty Schnyder, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
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Williams blamed the balls being used in the tournament for her injury.
"Ever since I have been practicing here, I am getting the same symptoms with my ribs and my arms hurting in a really bad way," Williams said. "It was hurting really bad. One more point and I think I was going to die.
"All the players had a debate of these balls, and I am not the only one talking about it. We all decided not to use these balls in the championships and in the tournaments leading up to the championships. It's only here and there that these balls are being used."
Williams was so frustrated during the match that she smashed her racket three times after losing her serve in the opening game of the second set, receiving a racket abuse warning.
• SOCCER: Former San Jose Earthquakes forward Jamil Walker has been invited to D.C. United training camp for a tryout, club officials said. Walker, who will turn 24 next month, was selected in the expansion draft by Los Angeles-based Chivas USA but then was released. He didn't score in 10 appearances with San Jose last year.
As a rookie in 2003, he had four goals and started in the MLS Cup against Chicago.
• COLLEGES: The Catholic men's basketball team reached the 20-win plateau for the eighth straight season with an 85-76 victory over Carnegie Mellon in an ECAC tournament South Region semifinal in Lancaster, Pa. The Cardinals (20-9) will play Franklin and Marshall in the region final tonight. . . . The University of Richmond's Board of Trustees voted to continue its scholarship football program rather than pursue a move to the Patriot League, Athletic Director Jim Miller said. The university will accept an invitation to join the Colonial Athletic Association football league when it forms for the 2007 season. . . . Utah's Andrew Bogut was one of four basketball players reprimanded by the Mountain West Conference after a confrontation in the Utes' 69-60 victory over Brigham Young last Saturday. Bogut, teammates Richard Chaney and Marc Jackson and BYU's Austin Ainge were each reprimanded for violating the conference's sportsmanship policy.
• AUTO RACING: Buddy Rice, last year's Indianapolis 500 winner and one of the favorites for the IndyCar Series championship this season, led the way on the 1 1/2-mile oval at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a practice lap of 213.514 mph in preparation for the Toyota Indy 300.
• RUNNING: Susan Chepkemei was left off Kenya's team for the world cross-country championships this month because she didn't train with the rest of the squad, an official said.
Chepkemei, the New York City Marathon runner-up last year, reported late to training camp because she competed in the World's Best 10-Kilometer Race in Puerto Rico last Sunday. Athletics Kenya banned her for the rest of the season Monday, but reversed the decision Wednesday and reinstated her. Team coaches made the decision to keep her off the squad.
-- From News Services
and Staff Reports
