Williams wins her fifth title at Key Biscayne

Serena Williams struggled a bit before defeating Jelena Jankovic, 6-1, 5-7, 6-3, Saturday at Key Biscayne, Fla., for her fifth title at the Sony Ericsson Open.

Williams, seeded eighth, survived some shaky play down the stretch and an improbable comeback by the fourth-seeded Jankovic, who trailed, 5-3, in the second set.

Williams closed out the match on her eighth championship point with an overhead slam.

“It definitely got tough,” Williams said during the trophy ceremony. “I think maybe I got a little tight and put too much pressure on myself.”

Both players held up well in the 85-degree heat, and some of their best rallies -- one lasting 26 shots -- came during the last few games.

Williams also won the tournament in 2002-04 and 2007. She matched Steffi Graf’s record of five women’s titles. Andre Agassi won the tournament six times.

MOTOR RACING

Busch finally gets Nationwide victory

After all the laps Kyle Busch has led in the NASCAR Nationwide Series this season, he finally led the only one that ever really matters.

Busch won at Texas Motor Speedway in dominating fashion, leading 126 of the 200 laps in a Toyota and finishing more than a second ahead of Jeff Burton to win the O’Reilly 300.

With an average speed of 151.708 mph, it was fastest Nationwide race at the 1 1/2 -mile high-banked track.

Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber edged Felipe Massa of Ferrari to win the pole for today’s Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix at Sakhir.

Kubica, who has a fast lap of 1 minute 33.096 seconds, ended a Ferrari-McLaren monopoly on the top spot that had lasted 22 races. Fernando Alonso’s pole for Renault at the Chinese Grand Prix in October 2006 was the last for another team.

Tony Kanaan won the pole for today’s Indy Racing League Grand Prix of St. Petersburg with a fast lap of 103.627 mph on the 1.8-mile downtown circuit in St. Petersburg, Fla. Will Power took the outside spot on the front row.

Charles Price, who took the lead on Lap 22 when race leader Nick Joanides was penalized for an on-track incident, cruised to his second consecutive victory in the NASCAR ACDelco Super Late Model division 50-lap feature at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale.

Chad Reed raced to his eighth Monster Energy AMA Supercross victory of the season, beating fellow Yamaha rider Josh Hill by 1.872 seconds at Texas Stadium in Irving.

SOCCER

Arsenal, Liverpool play to 1-1 draw

Arsenal rallied for a 1-1 tie against Liverpool in the English Premier League, three days after the teams played to the same result in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals.

Arsenal’s Nicklas Bendtner evened the score in the 54th minute after Peter Crouch put Liverpool ahead in the 42nd.

Arsenal has 71 points for third place, three fewer than second-place Chelsea, which beat Manchester City, 2-0.

Premier League leader Manchester United, which plays at Middlesbrough today, has 76 points. Liverpool is in fourth place with 63 points.

SWIMMING

Phelps recovers in time to win 400 IM

Michael Phelps, winner of six gold medals and two bronzes at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, slept through a preliminary heat for the 400-meter freestyle earlier in the day, but he came back to win the 400 individual medley at the Columbus Grand Prix at Ohio State.

Phelps said that while he was stretching on a lower dive platform he apparently dozed off, preventing him from qualifying for the 400 free.

Phelps won the 400 IM in 4 minutes 13.73 seconds, more than three seconds faster than Erik Vendt.

BOXING

Sturm stops Pittman to retain WBA title

Felix Sturm stopped Jamie Pittman in the seventh round in a one-sided defense of his World Boxing Assn. middleweight title at Duesseldorf, Germany.

Sturm (29-2-1, 13 knockouts) dropped Pittman (16-1) for the third time 36 seconds into the seventh round, battering him with a flurry of punches until referee Russell Mora stepped in and ended the bout.

OLYMPICS

Lopez siblings make history

Competing in the Olympics together has always been a dream for siblings Steve, Mark and Diana Lopez. Mark and Diana made it a reality, joining Steve on the U.S. taekwondo team for the Beijing Games by clinching spots at the Olympic trials in Des Moines, Iowa.

The Lopezes -- coached by their oldest brother, Jean -- became the first trio of American siblings to qualify for the same Olympics since 1904, when Edward, Richard and William Tritschler competed for the gymnastics team in St. Louis.

Mark earned the men’s featherweight spot by beating Chris Martinez, 3-2. Diana beat Nia Abdallah, 1-0, with 29 seconds left in overtime.