Elena Dementieva

The best player in the world--at the moment--probably will be limited to doubles duty in a prestigious international team tennis competition. Davis Cup revisited? Not exactly. There are certain parallels--Pete Sampras and the Davis Cup, Serena Williams and the Fed Cup--but there figures to be no hype, no mystery and no last-minute consultations with neutral doctors this time.

Houston Texans owner Bob McNair ordered the team's staff to go through the locker room to make sure no players are using banned substances. USA Today first reported that the Texans had staff members remove any products from lockers that are not approved by the NFL. Two of Houston's players ? left tackle Duane Brown and linebacker Brian Cushing ? served four-game suspensions for different violations of the league's policy on banned substances. McNair said Friday that he wanted to take a step to prevent future occurrences.

Monica Seles, playing probably her last Chase Championships, and Elena Dementieva, playing in her first, won Friday night to set up a meeting in the semifinals of the season-ending tournament. Seles pounded out a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Amanda Coetzer before Dementieva defeated Kim Clijsters, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, at Madison Square Garden in New York. Today's semifinals will pit doubles partners Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova against each other, followed by Seles and Dementieva.

Melanie Oudin was a happy girl Tuesday morning. She was announcing her newest marketing deal, with Virgin Mobile USA cellphones, and what 18-year-old doesn't like a new cellphone? And not to put any pressure on Oudin, but Virgin Mobile will donate $1 million to homeless youth organizations should Oudin win the U.S. Open in next September. That would be a pretty gigantic accomplishment for Oudin, who is content for now to be the highest-ranked American woman entered in the BNP Paribas Open, which begins with women's main draw play Wednesday and men's on Thursday.

Anastasia Myskina of Russia was like the hard-charging character played by Holly Hunter in "Broadcast News," the career woman who would unplug the phone every morning, have a good cry and then calmly get down to business. You would have never known sixth-seeded Myskina had been in tears in the locker room about 20 minutes before her first Grand Slam final. Not the way she methodically dismantled her countrywoman, No.

A right rib injury forced fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva to withdraw Wednesday from a Pacific Life Open already missing three of the world's top five players in Indian Wells. Dementieva, a finalist last year, has a stress fracture that could keep her out for six weeks. She joins No. 2 Justine Henin, No. 3 Amelie Mauresmo and No. 5 Kim Clijsters on the sidelines.

Everyone knew why Lindsay Davenport didn't play at Indian Wells last year. The crutches told her story. It wasn't as straightforward with Jennifer Capriati. Her problem with Indian Wells was more about location, location, location. Her reason for skipping the tournament last year and in 2001 had nothing to do with physical ailments; it was some mysterious, undisclosed personal reason.

If this were college basketball's Final Four, Elena Dementieva would be Princeton. Dementieva, 18, is the underexposed, unseeded interloper among the women who have reached the U.S. Open semifinals. Unprecedented too. The first Russian woman to make it this far in the U.S. Open, she'll play second-seeded Lindsay Davenport today. Top-seeded Martina Hingis plays third-seeded Venus Williams, who has won 24 consecutive matches, in the other semifinal.

Melanie Oudin was a happy girl Tuesday morning. She was announcing her newest marketing deal, with Virgin Mobile USA cellphones, and what 18-year-old doesn't like a new cellphone? And not to put any pressure on Oudin, but Virgin Mobile will donate $1 million to homeless youth organizations should Oudin win the U.S. Open in next September. That would be a pretty gigantic accomplishment for Oudin, who is content for now to be the highest-ranked American woman entered in the BNP Paribas Open, which begins with women's main draw play Wednesday and men's on Thursday.

NEW YORK -- A sport that's supposed to be decreasingly American had a heady American Labor Day at the U.S. Open, the host country propped up once more by that long, huge state on its left edge. Not only did two of California's most familiar daughters sustain their emphatic turn of saying hello again on Monday, but one of its freshest sons said a first hello to an Arthur Ashe Stadium that roared back approval at his arrival. There went Venus and Serena Williams, gliding above their sport again at ages 28 and 26, their dominance so majestic here that the Williams-Williams Wednesday night quarterfinal they've arranged seems two rounds too soon.

Venus Williams came from a set down to repeat her Mexican Open title, beating Polona Hercog , 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, at Acapulco on Saturday night. It was Williams' second consecutive title -- this one on clay and another a week ago on hard courts in Dubai -- and pushed her career total to 43 WTA titles, the most by an active player. Hercog was appearing in her first WTA final. Williams started slowly and got into trouble with an erratic serve and groundstrokes that were often long.

In her Grand Slam comeback, Kim Clijsters upset Serena Williams en route to claiming the U.S. Open title. Williams was really, really upset in that semifinal last September and it cost her the match and a record fine. Four months later, the return of another Belgian from a premature retirement has bolstered the field at the Australian Open and created a compelling women's draw in the year's first Grand Slam tournament. Justine Henin, who won seven Grand Slam singles titles before quitting in May 2008 while holding the No. 1 ranking, is only one tournament into her comeback but is hoping to emulate Clijsters' successful return.

It was a day of great joy for 17-year-old American Melanie Oudin. Despite a cramping strain in her left thigh, Oudin upset fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, on Thursday in a second-round U.S. Open match. But it was also a day of great sadness for fifth-seeded Jelena Jankovic, a finalist here last year but who became a second-round loser to Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6). Jankovic played despite learning that her grandmother had died in Serbia on Wednesday.

TODAY'S FEATURED MATCHES Women's semifinals; world rankings in parentheses: Venus Williams (3) vs. Dinara Safina (1), Russia Williams has played a brand of grass-court tennis so superb there have been moments when the stadium speakers ought to have played Mozart. Safina has conducted trademark raging battles with herself such that there've been moments when the stadium speakers ought to have played AC/DC. (Williams leads head to head, 2-1, with no previous Grand Slam meetings.

The first two games lasted nearly 12 minutes, accounted for 29 points and were filled with pummeling power, forehands and backhands that swept across the sidelines, precise and ferocious, and even though Serena Williams won the first of them and Elena Dementieva the second, a pattern had already been established. Williams was moving on her toes and she was ready to run.

Serena Williams broke Gisela Dulko's serve and saved six set points in a game featuring 12 deuces, going on to win, 6-3, 7-5, in a second-round match at the Australian Open. The second-seeded Williams, who has won the Australian Open every alternate year since 2003, received treatment for a left ankle ailment at the end of the marathon ninth game of the second set today.

Fourth-seeded Serena Williams was undone by a slew of errors Sunday and lost the Kremlin Cup final in Moscow, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1, to Elena Dementieva, who won her hometown tournament on the third attempt. Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko gave Russia a sweep of the men's and women's titles by beating Paul-Henri Mathieu, 7-5, 7-6 (9), and winning this event for the second straight year. This was the first title of the year for Davydenko, who also won this tournament in 2004.

Venus Williams came from a set down to repeat her Mexican Open title, beating Polona Hercog , 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, at Acapulco on Saturday night. It was Williams' second consecutive title -- this one on clay and another a week ago on hard courts in Dubai -- and pushed her career total to 43 WTA titles, the most by an active player. Hercog was appearing in her first WTA final. Williams started slowly and got into trouble with an erratic serve and groundstrokes that were often long.

NEW YORK -- A sport that's supposed to be decreasingly American had a heady American Labor Day at the U.S. Open, the host country propped up once more by that long, huge state on its left edge. Not only did two of California's most familiar daughters sustain their emphatic turn of saying hello again on Monday, but one of its freshest sons said a first hello to an Arthur Ashe Stadium that roared back approval at his arrival. There went Venus and Serena Williams, gliding above their sport again at ages 28 and 26, their dominance so majestic here that the Williams-Williams Wednesday night quarterfinal they've arranged seems two rounds too soon.

Fourth-seeded Serena Williams was undone by a slew of errors Sunday and lost the Kremlin Cup final in Moscow, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1, to Elena Dementieva, who won her hometown tournament on the third attempt. Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko gave Russia a sweep of the men's and women's titles by beating Paul-Henri Mathieu, 7-5, 7-6 (9), and winning this event for the second straight year. This was the first title of the year for Davydenko, who also won this tournament in 2004.