Venus Williams Keeps Winning

Venus Williams overwhelmed Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi, 6-3, 6-1, in the third round of the German Open on Thursday at Berlin, showing the full range of her power game.

Williams, seeded third, ran her winning streak to 13 matches, slamming winners all over the court and landing her big first serve against the 16th-seeded Israeli at a clay-court tuneup for the French Open.

The tournament’s top-seeded player, Kim Clijsters, withdrew because of a recurring left wrist injury that could force her to sit out the French Open.

“I hope I can play the French, I don’t know. It’s a 50-50 chance,” Clijsters said.

In other matches, No. 6 Jennifer Capriati defeated Maria Sharapova of Russia, 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, and No. 10 Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated No. 7 Elena Dementieva, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-4.

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Marat Safin, Lleyton Hewitt and Tim Henman joined the long list of top players leaving the Italian Open early.

Safin lost to eighth-seeded Nicolas Massu, 7-5, 6-4, in his second match of the day, former No. 1 Hewitt was beaten, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, by Andrei Pavel, and fourth-seeded Henman lost, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, to Mariano Zabaleta.

Earlier, the event’s top three seeded players, Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Rainer Schuettler, were eliminated.

In other matches, No. 5 David Nalbandian defeated Flavio Saretta, 6-2, 6-4, No. 6 Carlos Moya beat Ivan Ljubicic, 6-2, 6-4, and Filippo Volandri of Italy upset 11th-seeded Sjeng Schalken, 6-2, 6-3.

Hockey

Atlanta Thrasher center Dany Heatley scored in overtime to give defending champion Canada a 5-4 victory over Finland and a spot in the semifinals of the world championships at Prague, Czech Republic.

Heatley, who had a goal earlier, ended the game 5:33 into the 10-minute overtime. He shrugged off Timo Parssinen and shot from just inside the blue line, with the puck going over goalie Mika Noronen’s shoulder.

In Saturday’s semifinals, Canada will meet 2002 winner Slovakia, which downed Switzerland, 3-1. The United States plays Sweden in the other semifinal.

College Volleyball

Scott Touzinsky had 13 kills and Duncan Budinger had a hitting percentage of .667 to lead Long Beach State to a 30-26, 30-26, 30-26 victory over Penn State in an NCAA men’s semifinal match at Honolulu.

The 49ers (28-6) advanced to Saturday’s final for the first time since 1999.

Long Beach will play either defending champion Lewis or top-ranked Brigham Young, which played in the other semifinal late Thursday.

Penn State (23-7) trailed 26-17 in the Game 3 before cutting it to 28-25 on consecutive kills.

But Nathan Hagstrom ripped a kill down the middle to make it 29-25, and two points later David Lee clinched it for Long Beach with another kill down the middle.

Jurisprudence

USC offensive lineman Winston Justice is scheduled to appear today in Los Angeles Superior Court for a pre-trial hearing.

Justice, 19, pleaded not guilty to three misdemeanor counts of exhibition of a replica firearm at his arraignment last month. He was arrested March 3 for an incident that occurred near campus on Feb. 24.

Houston Texan safety Marcus Coleman was charged with driving while intoxicated early Thursday after his damaged car was found on a curb in Houston.

He was booked into the city jail and within hours was freed on $500 bond. Coleman’s attorney, Rusty Hardin, said he had not yet discussed the case with his client.

New Orleans Saint safety Jay Bellamy was arrested last month in New Orleans and charged with drunk driving.

He was arrested April 27, police spokesman Capt. Marlon Defillo said. Bellamy’s agent, Brian Mackler, said he would not comment until he had all the details.

A federal judge in Birmingham, Ala., cleared the way for Sports Illustrated to appeal a decision that would have forced the magazine to reveal sources used in a story about former Alabama football coach Mike Price.

Miscellany

The New York Giants are thinking about signing quarterback Kurt Warner if the two-time NFL most valuable player is released by the St. Louis Rams in a salary-cap move.

“We’ve been talking,” Mark Bartelstein, Warner’s agent, said.

Giant spokesman Pat Hanlon had no comment.

Sam Alford, who has been director of basketball operations at Iowa, where his son Steve coaches, will end a 40-year career in college and high school coaching when he retires Aug. 1.

Canisius junior forward Richard Jones died suddenly because of a genetically enlarged heart, an Erie County medical examiner determined in an autopsy.

The medical examiner’s ruling, which listed “natural causes” as the reason for death, was released by the school at the request of the player’s family, a day after Jones, 21, died after collapsing during a workout at the Buffalo, N.Y., school.