Maria Sharapova

NEW YORK - It was quite a news conference by Maria Sharapova after her 6-2, 6-2 first-round U.S. Open win Monday over Melinda Czink. Sharapova detailed how she had battled a stomach virus after the Olympics. She had tests done because she was in so much stomach pain. "Because of the pain I was having," Sharapova said. "It was really weird. They told me I was fine, not pregnant. I'm like, 'Can I get my money back?' " And there was a rumor Sharapova denied. There had been talk that she was going to marry her fiance,  former Los Angeles Laker Sasha Vujacic, in November in Istanbul.

Serena Williams kept the No. 1, and added No. 50. Williams beat Maria Sharapova , 6-1, 6-4 in the final of the Madrid Open Sunday to retain her No. 1 ranking and collect her 50th career title. And Rafael Nadal eased by Stanislas Wawrinka , 6-2, 6-4, for his fifth title since returning from a knee injury. The second-ranked Sharapova would have overtaken the top ranking with a win, but Williams stormed out to an early lead as Sharapova struggled with her serve. Despite Sharapova briefly recovering her poise in the second set, Williams' form never dipped as she eased to the title.

Top-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus kept her hot hand going Sunday in thre women's final of the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament. On a cold and windy day, Azarenka beat second-seeded Maria Sharapova of Russia, 6-2, 6-3. That brought Azarenka the first-ever $1 million winner's check for the women's side of this event. It also brought her year-to-date record to 23-0. She won the Australian open, beating Sharapova in that final, too, and now has won the title in five of the last six tournaments she has entered.

Matt Kenseth passed his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch with 13 laps to go to win his first Southern 500 on Saturday night at Darlington, S.C. Busch had the strongest car for much of the race and led for 265 of the 367 laps at Darlington Raceway. But his machine appeared to fall away at the worst possible time and he faded to sixth. Denny Hamlin completed his first full race since suffering a compression fracture in a vertebra in his lower back on March 24. He finished second.

NEW YORK - Maria Sharapova hadn't played a tennis match since she lost to Serena Williams, winning only a game at the Olympics with the gold medal on the line. And it might have seemed Sharapova had been mostly absent in London against Williams as well. But Monday on Arthur Ashe Stadium Court at the U.S. Open, Sharapova was regally dominant. She beat Hungarian veteran Melinda Czink, 6-2, 6-2. She had a seven-game winning streak against Czink and won 12 of 13 points during one stretch.

Maria Sharapova turned a third-round match against Venus Williams at the Australian Open on Friday into a straight-set rout. The 6-1, 6-3 victory for the lanky Russian ended with an ace at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. “I think when we both looked at the draw, it was a matchup we were both looking forward to,” Sharapova said afterward. “I was a really determined player out there because I knew the tennis that she's capable of producing and playing. She's a tremendous athlete and a great champion.” Sharapova, who won her first two matches of the tournament without dropping a game, will play unseeded Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium in the fourth round.

LONDON -- Maria vs. Serena. Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams have played each other twice at Wimbledon -- once for the title in 2004 -- and will be meeting on the grass again at the legendary All England Club. This time, it will be for an Olympic gold medal. The two biggest stars in the women's game will play in the women's final on Saturday, requiring little effort to get past the semifinal stage Friday. Williams, seeded fourth, beat No. 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus,  6-1, 6-2, and No. 3 Sharapova of Russia beat countrywoman Maria Kirilenko, 6-2, 6-3. Serena Williams won doubles gold with older sister Venus in Sydney in 2000 and in Beijing in 2008, and is seeking her first Olympic medal in singles.

At the moment, in the career of tennis star Maria Sharapova, the fame is better than the game. She is an international celebrity. People click onto her website, and Internet news stories about her, with the frequency they do Tiger Woods. Some days even Barack Obama. It is one thing being able to hit backhands and forehands well enough to wins millions of dollars and three Grand Slam tournaments, but to do so before your 21st birthday and to look like a fashion model in the process is to have the world in the palm of your hand.

NEW YORK -- Maria Sharapova, who on Friday won her second-round U.S. Open match against Stanford psychology major Mallory Burdette, 6-1, 6-1, said afterward that she and former Laker Sasha Vujacic are no longer engaged. Sharapova said she and Vujacic split in the spring, before stories appeared in Turkish newspapers that she and Vujacic were going to get married in Istanbul in November. Vujacic has been playing for a professional team in Turkey. "It's been since the end of spring," Sharapova said.

Serena Williams, who will take over No. 1 in the world tennis rankings Monday, defeated Maria Sharapova on Saturday to advance to the finals of the Qatar Open. Williams, who will become the oldest woman to hold the top ranking, will now play the woman she's replacing atop those rankings, Victoria Azarenka, in the championship match Sunday. Sharapova didn't put up much opposition on Saturday, with Williams defeating the Russian, 6-3, 6-2. Azarenka, who has beaten Williams only once in 11 meetings, defeated Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-3, 6-3, in the other semifinal.

Shaka Smart and Virginia Commonwealth have agreed in principle to a deal to keep the basketball coach at the school. Athletic Director Ed McLaughlin said the details were still being finalized, but the majority of changes involve "program enhancements for the student-athletes and coaches. " McLaughlin said it also extends a contract already scheduled to run through 2020. Smart's record is 111-37 in four years, the sixth-most wins in the country over that stretch. Since he guided VCU to the Final Four in 2011, Smart's name has been among the first mentioned whenever a high-profile job comes open.

James Hinchcliffe, the Canadian driver poised to become IndyCar's next star, grabbed the first victory of his career Sunday. Fittingly it came at St. Petersburg, Fla., the adopted hometown of the late Dan Wheldon, the driver who signed to drive the GoDaddy car for Andretti Autosport shortly before his death in the 2011 season finale at Las Vegas. The open seat then went to Hinchcliffe, who drove the bright green No. 27 to victory in front of Wheldon's wife and two children. "This is his hometown; this is his car," said Hinchcliffe, who will be added now to the Wheldon monument unveiled Thursday at Turn 10 on the course.

On a hot summer-like Sunday afternoon, in a stadium that rises out of the Southern California desert like a huge misplaced castle, Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal slid onto his back and into the bright lights of his sport once again. It was match point of the men's final in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. The clock showed that he had been out there 21/2 hours. A crowd of 16,741 squeezed into this 16,100-seat spectator mansion had waited for this moment. Winning this tournament is always a huge deal, but they all knew that, for Nadal, this would be even bigger.

On a long day of tennis in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, fifth-seeded former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic was among the casualties in matches that finished during daylight hours. She lost in a three-set battle, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, to Maria Kirilenko of Russia. Kirilenko, seeded 15th and getting closer to a top-10 ranking, defeated No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in her previous match and said afterward, "I can compete, and as you can see, I can beat them.

Maria Sharapova considers the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells a hometown tournament. The Russian tennis pro has a home in Manhattan Beach, her parents have a home in Topanga Canyon and she even has a favorite Italian restaurant in Southern California, La Sosta Enoteca in Hermosa Beach. And so it makes Sharapova happy that she will be seeded second to Victoria Azarenka when the women's tournament begins Wednesday. Men's main draw play begins Friday. "I like this tournament because the people come to watch the tennis," Sharapova said.

Serena Williams, who will take over No. 1 in the world tennis rankings Monday, defeated Maria Sharapova on Saturday to advance to the finals of the Qatar Open. Williams, who will become the oldest woman to hold the top ranking, will now play the woman she's replacing atop those rankings, Victoria Azarenka, in the championship match Sunday. Sharapova didn't put up much opposition on Saturday, with Williams defeating the Russian, 6-3, 6-2. Azarenka, who has beaten Williams only once in 11 meetings, defeated Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-3, 6-3, in the other semifinal.

NEW YORK -- Victoria Azarenka reached her first U.S. Open final Friday with a powerful display of tennis that left her dancing on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court. Azarenka, ranked No. 1 in the world and top-seeded here, beat No. 3 seed Maria Sharapova, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, in a semifinal that lasted 2 hours 42 minutes. Azarenka will face the winner of Friday's second semifinal between fourth-seeded Serena Williams and 10th-seeded Sara Errani at 4 p.m. Pacific time Saturday. Azarenka's only previous Grand Slam win came earlier this year at the Australian Open.

Maria Sharapova came armed with her nerve and her serve Tuesday night on Arthur Ashe Stadium court. Showing no evidence of an uncertain serve that has plagued her this summer, Sharapova dispatched Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-3, 6-0, in 73 minutes. Sharapova missed the first five months of this season while recovering from last fall's shoulder surgery, and the 22-year-old Russian is seeded 29th. It is an unaccustomed place in the draw for the woman who was once ranked No. 1. Sharapova said she was particularly happy with how she attacked the match by moving forward.

Maria Sharapova turned a third-round match against Venus Williams at the Australian Open on Friday into a straight-set rout. The 6-1, 6-3 victory for the lanky Russian ended with an ace at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. “I think when we both looked at the draw, it was a matchup we were both looking forward to,” Sharapova said afterward. “I was a really determined player out there because I knew the tennis that she's capable of producing and playing. She's a tremendous athlete and a great champion.” Sharapova, who won her first two matches of the tournament without dropping a game, will play unseeded Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium in the fourth round.

Maria Sharapova is scheduled to play in the Australian Open, which begins Monday. But she was already turning heads in Melbourne on Friday, at what she's calling the international launch of her Sugarpova candy line. She was sporty and flirty at the same time in an orange and white David Koma dress and Jimmy Choo's Lance sandals. And note, when you're a tennis star/business mogul, you can accessorize with two guys holding umbrellas to shade you from the Australian summer sun.   Although Friday's event at Melbourne's Crown Entertainment Complex is considered the official global launch, the candy -- which includes gummies, gum balls and sour candies -- is already available online and at select stores in the U.S., London and Paris.