Brisbane, Australia  - France fell to a double disaster Saturday on the men's side of the Brisbane International, with both Paul-Henri Mathieu and Richard Gasquet crashing out at the semi-final stage.

Third seed Fernando Verdasco, hero of Spain's Davis Cup final over Argentina in November, dispatched Mathieu 6-2, 6-1, while notoriously irritating Czech Radek Stepanek wore down seventh seed Richard Gasquet 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Hong Kong  - Jelena Jankovic has cut her losses, withdrawing from a high-powered Hong Kong tuneup for the Australian Open on Saturday and flying straight to Melbourne suffering with the flu.

The Serb will now be well short on match practise for the Grand Slam which starts a week from Monday.

Jankovic said she had been ill for several days and had managed to play only one doubles match at Victoria Park in the World Team Challenge.

Oberhof, Germany - Russian Ekaterina Jurjeva on Friday won her first biathlon World Cup event of the season, when she beat local hero Andrea Hinkel by just 2.4 seconds.

20,000 spectators saw Hinkel lead for much of the race, but although she had to run one penalty loop after missing a target, Jurjeva managed to just edge Hinkel for victory in a time of 22:09.7 minutes.

Hinkel said that she had been very tired towards the end. "The legs were really sore. On the final kilometres I was counting the declines down. But I am totally happy with my second place."

Madrid - The disciplinary committee of the Spanish football federation announced on Friday evening a fine of 3,000 euros (4,093 dollars) on veteran Sevilla striker Frederic Kanoute for displaying a shirt in support of the Palestinian cause.

Kanoute - a French-born Muslim who plays for the Mali national team - showed the shirt after scoring for Sevilla in Wednesday's 2-1 King's Cup defeat of Deportivo Coruna.

The committee believes that he has contravened Article 137c of the federation's regulations, which forbids political and religious messages by players on the field.

Perth, Australia  - Dominik Hrbaty and Dominika Cibulkova led the Slovak Republic to a third Hopman Cup title on Friday with a storming 2-0 victory over Russia.

It marked the second honour at the team competition for veteran Hrbaty, who outlasted longtime friend and rival Marat Safin 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 7-6 (7-3).

Teenaged Cibulkova began the win with an opening defeat of world number three Dinara Safina 6-7 (3-7), 6-1, 6-4, her third victory of the week.

Perth, Australia  - Dominik Hrbaty and Dominika Cibulkova clinched a third Hopman Cup title for the Slovak Republic as they swept Russia 2-0 in the Friday final.

Hrbaty finished off a six-hour tie as Marat Safin sent a return out, with the 31-year-old Slovak earning a 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) victory.

That scoreline, added to Cibulkova's opening defeat of world number three Dinara Safina 6-7 (3-7), 6-1, 6-4 assured Hrbaty of his second trophy at the eight-nation teams competition.