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Serena Williams ousted from Bausch & Lomb

AMELIA ISLAND - Bothered by a sore knee, Serena Williams made 42 unforced errors Friday and lost for the first time since June.

She dropped a quarterfinals match in the Bausch & Lomb Championships to Nadia Petrova. After the first game of the second set, Williams called for a trainer, who bandaged her left knee.

"I blew out one of my wheels," Williams said. "I was only working with three out of four, so to speak."

Seventh-seeded Petrova beat No. 2 Williams 6-2, 6-3 in 77 minutes, ending the American's eight-match winning streak.

Also, top-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne beat No.8 seed Vera Zvonareva 6-4, 6-3. Today she meets No.3 seed Amelie Mauresmo, who topped Silvia Farina Elia. Lindsay Davenport completed her rain-delayed third-round match then topped No.9 Paola Suarez.

GRAND PRIX SAR: Defending champion Rita Grande beat No.7 seed Lubomira Kurhajcova 6-3, 1-6, 6-0 to reach today's semifinals in Casablanca, Morocco. Grande faces top seed Emilie Loit, who beat Marta Marrero.

Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu are showing their support for South Africa's bid to host the 2010 World Cup. They will visit Trinidad next month to lobby sports officials to consider South Africa's case, officials said. ... Thierry Henry had a hat trick to help Arsenal beat Liverpool 4-2 in the English Premier League, stretching its record unbeaten run to start a season to 31 games.

Irish-bred Perfect Soul broke Keeneland's turf course record, finishing the $200,000 Maker's Mark Mile in 1:33.54 in Lexington, Ky. The 6-year-old colt beat Burning Roma by half a length in the Grade 2 race for 4 and up.

COMELY STAKES: Society Selection came from last in a field of eight 3-year-old fillies to beat Bending Strings by three lengths in the Grade III $112,000 race at Aqueduct in New York.

FANTASY STAKES: House of Fortune beat Island Sand by 13/4 lengths in the $200,000 race for 3-year-old fillies at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark.

Seminole's Brittany Lincicome took the first-round lead in the girls division at the Innisbrook Easter Classic at 4-under 68 on the Island course. Lincicome has six birdies and two bogeys and needed just 25 putts. Danielle Jackson of Northside Christian is second at 76. Both were on the 2003 Times all-Pinellas first team.

The U.S. Olympic Committee's executive board determined there is no legal basis to prevent synchronized swimmer Tammy Crow from being on the 2004 U.S. team after her no-contest plea in a fatal car accident. Crow was sentenced to three months in jail for vehicular manslaughter after a February 2003 car crash that killed her two passengers. The judge postponed the sentence until after the Games.

TRACK AND FIELD: Olympic bronze medalist Melissa Morrison ran the fastest time (12.93 seconds) for an American this year in the 100-meter hurdles at the Sea Ray Relays in Knoxville, Tenn.

CYCLING: A French team pulled out of Sunday's Paris-Roubaix World Cup race after a former cyclist accused its doctor and several riders of doping. Cofidis team official Bernard Quilfen said the team won't compete "until further orders."

LITTLE LEAGUE: The only Russian team to make the Little League World Series will not play in this year's tournament because the team included players who lived outside the Moscow league's boundaries. Little League Baseball Inc. said a routine review found irregularities in the Khovrino Little League, which has played in the past three series.

BASKETBALL: Connecticut star Diana Taurasi scored 13 points to help the United States women's team rout Japan 123-71 in an exhibition game in Denver. Swin Cash led the U.S. team with 21 points.

DIVING: Sara Hildebrand and Troy Dumais easily won titles at the American Cup in Minneapolis.