Williams rallies for win

By the third game, Serena Williams was showing her frustration. Two games later, she threw her racket. Then she screamed at herself.

For Williams, the transformation came in the nick of time. She survived a dismal start and erased two championship points in the second set Saturday to win the Sony Ericsson Open, beating top-ranked Justine Henin, 0-6, 7-5, 6-3, at Key Biscayne, Fla.

The comeback was nothing new for Williams, who revived her career by winning the Australian Open in January for her eighth Grand Slam event title.

Once ranked No. 1, Williams fell to 140th last July because of long layoffs but will climb back to 11th next week.

The match was 39 minutes old before Williams won a game, and Henin was twice one point from the title serving at 5-4 in the second set. Williams saved both points, including one where her return clipped the net cord, keeping her in the match by perhaps an inch.

Playing in only her seventh tournament in the last 18 months -- and her first since Melbourne -- Williams improved to 15-1 this year and 41-5 at Key Biscayne.

WINTER SPORTS

Miller ties mark with ninth national title

Bode Miller tied the men’s record for most national titles with the ninth of his career, winning the super-G at the U.S. Alpine Championships in Girdwood, Alaska.

Miller’s ninth title ties him with Dick Durrance and Tiger Shaw for the most U.S. championships. Miller still has the giant slalom and slalom coming up at Alyeska Resort.

Miller, who was 12th in Friday’s downhill, finished in 1 minute 7.35 seconds. Steven Nyman was second (1:07.56), and T.J. Lanning (1:08.08) third.

Miller’s victory was followed by another perennial winner at the U.S. championships. Julia Mancuso, who finished third in the overall World Cup standings this season, won the women’s super-G for her eighth title.

BOXING

Maske comes back to get even with Hill

Ten years after his last fight, former International Boxing Federation champion Henry Maske unanimously outpointed World Boxing Assn. cruiserweight champion Virgil Hill -- the only fighter to ever beat him.

The non-title bout at Munich, Germany, swung in the eighth round, when the 43-year-old fighters’ heads collided, sending Hill to the canvas. Hill fought while bleeding from a cut above the left eye the rest of the way.

The judges scored it 117-110, 116-113 and 117-110 for Maske (31-1), who retired after Hill (50-6) beat him in 1996.

MOTOR RACING

Skinner wins another Craftsman Trucks race

Mike Skinner started on the pole in a Toyota and led all but seven of 253 laps at Martinsville Speedway in Tennessee to win his third consecutive NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race.

Skinner set a series record by leading 246 laps and won for the 22nd time in his career. He became only the second driver in the series to win twice on the small, tight oval at Martinsville.

Skinner beat Todd Bodine to the finish by 0.527 of a second after the 15th caution of the race brought about a two-lap dash to the finish in overtime.

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Tony Kanaan, easily the fastest driver in qualifying for today’s Indy Racing League Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, made a costly mistake with just under seven minutes to go during the Firestone Fast Six, a 10-minute race among the six fastest drivers on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary road circuit.

He had already turned two laps faster than Helio Castroneves, who will now start from the pole today after Kanaan badly damaged his car, bouncing off one concrete barrier and ricocheting hard into another.

His Andretti Green Racing team was facing an all-night scramble to put the car back together because a repaired car would start sixth, while a backup car would have to start at the rear of the 18-car field.

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Doug McComb took the lead on Lap 32 and held off the challenge of Tim Huddleston to win his second consecutive Auto Club Late Model race at Irwindale Speedway. Huddleston finished second. Michael Wright, who started on the pole and led until losing the lead to McComb, finished third.

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Kawasaki’s James Stewart raced to his 10th Amp’d Mobile AMA Supercross Series victory of the season, beating Yamaha’s Chad Reed in front of 41,635 at Texas Stadium in Irving.

SOCCER

Crouch’s three goals lead Liverpool, 4-1

Peter Crouch scored a hat trick for Liverpool in a 4-1 victory over Arsenal that lifted the club into third place in the English Premier League and ended a four-game losing streak against the Gunners.

Crouch scored in the fourth, 35th and 81st minutes. He slid in to score his first, headed in a cross from Fabio Aurelio for his second and side-footed in his third.

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Manchester United, which beat Blackburn, 4-1, leads the league with 78 points and is closing in on its first title since 2003. Second-place Chelsea has 72 points after a 1-0 win over Watford. Liverpool has 57, followed by Arsenal with 55.

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Diego Maradona is expected to remain hospitalized in Buenos Aires for more than a week while doctors treat health problems attributed to excess alcohol consumption, overeating and smoking, his doctor said.

Alfredo Cahe, the former soccer star’s personal physician, said routine tests had detected some “alterations” affecting Maradona’s liver, but he expected those liver functions would be normalized in coming days.

PRO FOOTBALL

Bears: Mulityear deal for Briggs unlikely

The standoff between Lance Briggs and the Chicago Bears took another turn when General Manager Jerry Angelo said he wants the Pro Bowl linebacker to return next season but a multiyear contract is unlikely. The Bears and Briggs have been at odds since they put the franchise player tag on him in February.

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Dan Wilkinson failed to report to the Denver Broncos, so their trade with the Miami Dolphins was declared void. The Broncos sent a sixth-round pick to the Dolphins on March 2 for the 14-year veteran defensive tackle. He didn’t show up for his physical, so the deal was voided.

MISCELLANY

McGrath sets cricket World Cup record

Australia’s Glenn McGrath passed Wasim Akram of Pakistan as the highest wicket-taker in cricket World Cup history. McGrath retired Bangladesh batsmen Shahriar Nafees and Aftab Ahmed at St. John’s, Antigua, for his 56th wicket in his 33rd match. It took Akram 38 games to record 55 wickets.

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Clint Dolezel threw eight touchdown passes to lead the Dallas Desperados to a 68-64 victory over the Austin Wranglers in an Arena League game.... Andy Kelly threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Troy Mason with 11 seconds left to give the host New Orleans VooDoo a 48-45 victory over the Orlando Predators.

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Olympic champion Anna Meares of Australia broke her world record in the women’s 500-meter time trial at the world track cycling championships at Palma de Mallorca, Spain. She clocked 33.58 seconds in the two-lap event, breaking the record of 33.944 she set in November.