Sharapova, Halep start with victories

Maria Sharapova and topranked Simona Halep opened their seasons with straight-set wins at the Shenzhen Open in China. Sharapova finished off a 6-3, 6-0 win over Mihaela Buzarnescu with a powerful forehand winner, and Halep started her bid for a second Shenzhen title with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Stanford alum Nicole Gibbs.

Leg cramps forced top-seeded Garbiñe Muguruza to retire at the Brisbane (Australia) International on Tuesday. Muguruza, who held the No. 1 ranking in the fall, had treatment on both legs before retiring after almost 2½ hours in humid conditions, sending Aleksandra Krunic to the quarterfinals.

Top-seeded Dominic Thiem started the year with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 first-round win over Evgeny Donskoy of Russia at the Qatar Open in Doha. Winter sports: American Mikaela Shiffrin won a parallel slalom city event in Oslo to match her childhood idol, Marlies Schild, with her 37th World Cup win. Shiffrin pumped her fist wildly after edging Swiss rival Wendy Holdener in the final of a night race complicated by fog and mist. Shiffrin, 22, and Schild, the retired Austrian slalom specialist, are sixth on a list of winners that Lindsey Vonn tops with 78 victories.

Defending champion Kamil Stoch won his second straight ski jumping World Cup to extend his lead in the Four Hills tournament at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. He soared 135.5 meters with his first jump, 139.5 meters on his second, for a total of 283.4. College football: Washington defensive lineman Vita Vea, the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, declared for the NFL draft. Vea, expected to be a first-round pick, nearly left the Huskies after his sophomore year. He finished the regular season with 38 tackles and 3 ½ sacks and added six tackles in the Fiesta Bowl.