Manchester City's controversial Italian striker Mario Balotelli could be suspended for four matches after he was charged on Monday with violent conduct by the Football Association (FA).

The 21-year-old Italian international has been charged over images appearing to show that he deliberately stamped on Tottenham Hotspur's England midfielder Scott Parker's head during Sunday's 3-2 Premier League win over the London side.

Serena Williams' 17-match winning streak at the Australian Open ended Monday in a stunning 6-2, 6-3 loss to Ekaterina Makarova, the lowest-ranked woman in the fourth round.

The dominant force at Melbourne Park this century, Williams had lost only two matches at Melbourne Park since winning the first of her five Australian Open titles in 2003. After losing in the 2008 quarterfinals, she won titles in 2009 and 2010 before sitting out last year because of injury.

British adventurer Felicity Aston has crossed Antarctica, becoming the first woman to cross the icy continent alone.

Aston also set another record: the first human to ski across Antarctica using only her own muscle power.

Roy Hibbert battled through the discomfort of a possible broken nose to finish with a team-high 18 points and eight rebounds as the Indiana Pacers edged the Los Angeles Lakers 98-96.

The 25-year-old centre was bloodied in the first quarter during a foul on Lakers star Kobe Bryant but remained in the game.

Russian superstar Yevgeny Plushenko will be the star attraction as he looks to test his form for a possible challenge at the 2014 Olympics during the European figure skating championships which get underway here on Monday.

Plushenko, the 2006 Olympic and six-time European champion, has not competed in an international competition since taking silver at the 2010 Vancouver Games.

Arsene Wenger was forced to quell talk of a mutiny at Arsenal after his costly mistake led to the Gunners' 2-1 defeat against Manchester United.

The Frenchman made a huge blunder when he decided to send on Russia winger Andrey Arshavin in place of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the closing stages at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

Kei Nishikori keeps accumulating the tennis milestones for Japanese men, always remaining conscious of but not concerned about the expectations being heaped upon him.

Nishikori notched another mark Monday when he became the first Japanese man to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open since the Open Era began in 1968 with an exhausting 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 victory over former finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored two penalties to lead Real Madrid to a 4-1 comeback victory over 10-man Athletic Bilbao on Sunday, keeping the Spanish leader five points clear despite Barcelona's 4-1 win at Malaga that featured a hat trick from Lionel Messi.

A youthful Bilbao went ahead through Fernando Llorente's 13th-minute opener in an electric start for the Basques at Santiago Bernabeu stadium, before Marcelo charged into the area to level for Madrid in the 25th.

Usain Bolt and Veronica Campbell-Brown, winners of the 200m world titles last year in Daegu, South Korea, were named Jamaica's top sportsman and sportswoman of 2011.

Sprint superstar Bolt had been overlooked for the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association's top athlete award, which went to 100m world champion Yohan Blake.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic wrecked Nicolas Mahut's birthday on Saturday, losing just two games as he powered through to the last 16 of the Australian Open to join Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

The Serbian top seed blitzed hapless Mahut 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 in just 74 minutes, reaching the fourth round without dropping a single set so far.