Venus loses in desert
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 at Indian Wells (Riverside County).
The 14th-seeded player 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.
In a match involving the two lowest remaining men’s seeds, No. 21 Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain edged 27th-seeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (4).
Carreno Busta will next play No. 3 Stan Wawrinka, who defeated No. 8 Dominic Thiem 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (2). Gymnastics: Steve Penny resigned as president of USA Gymnastics following intensified pressure on the organization for its handling of sexabuse cases.
Penny joined USA Gymnastics in 1999 and was named the organization’s president in 2005, overseeing one of the greatest runs in Olympic history. That image took a serious hit in recent months following an investigation by the Indianapolis Star that portrayed USA Gymnastics as slow to act when it came to addressing allegations of sexual abuse by team doctor Larry Nassar and coaches at member gyms across the country. NFL: The Dallas Cowboys re-signed former Raiders running back Darren McFadden and guard Jonathan Cooper. Also, running back Lance Dunbar left Dallas for a free-agent deal with Los Angeles and cornerback Brandon Carr signed a four-year deal with Baltimore . ... The Rams also signed defensive back Kayvon Webster and re-signed kicker Greg Zuerlein . ... Atlanta agreed to terms with two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Dontari Poe, who played his first five seasons in Kansas City . ... Washington signed linebacker Chris Carter, who split last season between Indianapolis and Baltimore . ... The Bengals signed offensive lineman Andre Smith, who played for seven seasons in Cincinnati before going to Minnesota last season. ... Free-agent guard Jermon Bushrod re-signed with Miami after starting all 16 games for the Dolphins last season . ... The Jaguars signed former Colts linebacker Josh McNary. Skiing: Hannes Reichelt, 36, became the second-oldest racer to win a World Cup super-G as the Austrian cruised through a challenging Aspen, Colo., course in 1 minute, 8.22 seconds to beat Dominik Paris of Italy by 0.11 of a second at the World Cup finals.
On the women’s side, Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein turned in a smooth run to win the race and overtake Slovenia’s Ilka Stuhec for the super-G crown.