Venus, Wozniacki fall at Indian Wells

Elena Vesnina recovered after blowing three match points to beat Venus Williams 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 and reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday night in Indian Wells, Calif.

Vesnina staved off six break points in the last game, closing out the 71-minute match with two forehand winners. Williams overcame three match points on her serve on three straight errors by Vesnina in the eighth game that featured six deuces and lasted for 9½ minutes.

The 14th-seeded Russian takes on No. 28 seed Kristina Mladenovic in the semifinals. Mladenovic beat Caroline Wozniacki 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 to break into the top 20 in the WTA Tour rankings for the first time in her career.

No. 3 Karolina Pliskova and Svetlana Kuznetsova are set for the other semifinal.

ODDS AND ENDS

Skiing: Tina Weirather turned in a smooth run to win a super-G race at the World Cup Finals in Aspen, Colo., and overtake Ilka Stuhec for the season-long crown. The difficult course resulted in several crashes, including Lindsey Vonn hitting a panel and sliding into the safety nets. She eventually skied to the finish.

Gymnastics: Steve Penny resigned as president of USA Gymnastics following intensified pressure on the organization for its handling of sex abuse cases. “My decision to step aside as CEO is solely to support the best interests of USA Gymnastics at this time,” Penny said.