Roddick Forced to Withdraw

Andy Roddick tested his sprained left ankle, then withdrew from his semifinal Saturday at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis, Tenn., hoping to be healthy enough for the first round of the Davis Cup in two weeks.

Roddick was supposed to play Kenneth Carlsen, who advanced to his first ATP Tour final since 2002. Now Carlsen will play eighth-seeded Max Mirnyi, who upset second-seeded Tommy Haas, 7-5, 6-3.

Roddick, the world’s No. 3 player, knew that he had a great chance to win, with only Carlsen (ranked 87th) and Mirnyi (39th) left in the field.

But the 2003 U.S. Open champion decided about two hours before his match that he couldn’t risk further injury with the United States playing Croatia in March.

Especially not with Andre Agassi joining the team for the first round.

“Obviously, with Andre on board, and the [doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan] playing as well as they are, I feel we have as good a shot as anyone,” Roddick said. “I have to do that. The repercussions of this injury wouldn’t just affect me. It would affect my teammates and playing for my country as well.”

ATP trainer Bill Norris said Roddick had a sprain that reached the middle of his foot, which would not hold up in competition.

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Third-seeded Venus Williams beat second-seeded Anastasia Myskina, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, in the semifinals of the Proximus Diamond Games at Antwerp, Belgium. Williams’ opponent in the final will be top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo, who beat fourth-seeded Alicia Molik, 6-3, 7-6 (2).

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Top-seeded Roger Federer defeated Mario Ancic, 7-5, 6-3, to reach the final of the ABN Amro indoor tournament at Rotterdam, Netherlands. He will play Ivan Ljubicic, who beat Thomas Johansson, 7-6 (4), 7-5, in the other semifinal.

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Tickets for single-day sessions for the Davis Cup matches between the United States and Croatia March 4-6 at the Home Depot Center in Carson will go on sale Monday. There are five price categories, ranging from $35 to $185. They will be available through Ticketmaster on the Internet at www.ticketmaster.com or (213) 480-3232.

Winter Sports

Michael Walchhofer won his second World Cup downhill race in two days, leading a 1-2-3 Austrian sweep ahead of Bode Miller at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, to move closer to clinching the discipline title.

Walchhofer was timed in 1 minute 56.50 seconds for his third consecutive World Cup downhill victory overall. The victory gives him 631 points in the standings, 143 more than Miller.

Mario Scheiber was second in 1:56.59 for his first World Cup downhill top-three finish, and reigning Olympic champion Fritz Strobl was third in 1:56.95.

World downhill champion Miller finished one spot off the podium with a time of 1:57.03, and U.S. teammate Daron Rahlves was fifth in 1:57.07.

Miller increased his lead over Austria’s Benjamin Raich in the overall World Cup standings. He has 1,203 points, 167 ahead of Raich, who finished 17th.

Walchhofer passed countryman Hermann Maier for third place, with 865 points. Maier has 846.

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Michaela Dorfmeister and Alexandra Meissnitzer gave Austria the top two spots in a women’s World Cup super-G race at Are, Sweden.

Dorfmeister had a near-perfect race to win in 1:07.53. Meissnitzer was 0.45 behind. Lucia Recchia of Italy took third, 0.52 back.

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Armin Zoeggeler of Italy won his fifth Luge World Championship, beating Georg Hackl of Germany by more than .15 of a second in the singles competition at Park City, Utah.

Zoeggeler, who ended Hackl’s run of three straight Olympic gold medals three years ago in Salt Lake City, had the fastest times in both runs to finish with a combined time of 1:30.617.

Hackl jumped from fifth in the opening run to finish second overall (1:30.770); Germany’s David Moeller was third (1:30.784).

Sylke Otto, the 2002 Olympic gold medalist on the same track, led a German sweep for the sixth consecutive time in the women’s competition.

Otto won with a combined time of 1:28.056.

Barbara Niedernhuber was second (1:28.284) and Anke Wischnewski (1:28.366) third.

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Fumie Suguri of Japan won the women’s final at the Four Continents figure skating event at Gangneung, South Korea, and qualified for the world championships next month in Moscow.

Suguri had a total of 117.22 points in the free skate. Japan’s Yoshie Onda had 108.78. Overall, Suguri had 178.66 with Onda at 166.80. American Jennifer Kirk was third at 148.06.

Soccer

Arsenal must replay its English FA Cup game after Sheffield United’s Andy Gray scored on a penalty kick in injury time to force a 1-1 tie in the fifth round of the event.

Gray beat goalkeeper Manuel Almunia after defender Philippe Senderos was called for a hand ball. Robert Pires gave Arsenal a 1-0 lead in the 78th minute.

Arena Football

Aaron Garcia threw seven touchdown passes -- five to Kevin Swayne -- to help the New York Dragons beat the Nashville Kats, 62-49, at Uniondale, N.Y.... John Fitzgerald threw six touchdown passes in the Austin Wranglers’ 73-61 victory over the Grand Rapids Rampage at Grand Rapids, Mich. Michael Bishop threw eight touchdown passes for the Rampage.... Matt D’Orazio threw four touchdown passes to lead the Columbus Destroyers to a 52-39 victory over the Chicago Rush at Columbus, Ohio.... John Dutton threw five touchdown passes to help the Colorado Crush beat the Arizona Rattlers, 74-69, at Phoenix.