Struggling with her serve and a rash of errors, Serena Williams overcame a slow start to beat Sloane Stephens 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2 in the fourth round at the BNP Paribas Open on Tuesday, extending her winning streak to 14 matches.

Maria Sharapova struggled mightily, too, losing 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to defending champion Flavia Pennetta, who won her ninth straight match after becoming emotional and leaving the court in the first set.

Sunderland hired former Netherlands manager Dick Advocaat as coach on Tuesday until the end of the season, tasked with keeping the northeast club in the English Premier League.

Sunderland made the appointment less than 24 hours after firing Gus Poyet after 17 months in charge, with the team a point above the relegation zone with nine matches to go.

Manchester City face a huge challenge if they are to reach the last eight of the Champions League for the first time ever by overturning a 2-1 first leg deficit when they travel to an in-form Barcelona on Wednesday.

The English champions were outplayed at home for the second season in a row at this stage of the competition three weeks ago and could have been even further behind travelling to the Catalan capital had Joe Hart not saved a Lionel Messi penalty in stoppage time at the Etihad.

Another return to Miami for LeBron James brought another thumping for his Cleveland Cavaliers at the hands of his former club as the Heat ripped their ex-teammate 106-92 Monday.

Dwyane Wade produced game highs of 32 points and five steals to spark the Heat, who won two NBA titles and reached four consecutive NBA Finals before James left last July to return to his home-region club.

Five-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova needed six match points to grind out a 6-4, 6-3 win over Victoria Azarenka in a rare early marquee matchup at Indian Wells on Monday.

The 27-year old Russian appeared to be ready to close out the third round match in the eighth game of the second set but two-time Australian Open winner Azarenka decided she wasn't going down without a fight.

PAOK coach Angelos Anastasiadis has been fired from his post, the Greek Super League club announced Monday.

The announcement said that for the third time former PAOK and Greece international Giorgos Georgiadis will act as interim coach for the rest of the season.

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal refused to comment on Wayne Rooney's boxing antics, but praised his captain for helping to inspire his side to a crucial 3-0 win over Premier League top-four rivals Tottenham.

A Sunday newspaper story claimed that Rooney had been knocked out by former United defender Phil Bardsley in a supposedly friendly boxing bout at Rooney's house last month.

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko warned the team could pull out of Formula One over its rules and organisation after a disappointing opening race in Australia.

Marko said the Austrian team was "unhappy" with the current situation, as team principal Christian Horner called for new regulations to level the playing field.

Former champions Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal breezed through their Indian Wells openers and Serena Williams stepped up her comeback from a 14-year boycott with a similar crushing victory Sunday.

Second seed Federer opened his bid for a fifth Indian Wells title by easing to a 6-4, 6-2 second round victory over Argentina's Diego Schwartzman. Nadal also opened his campaign on a successful note, blitzing Igor Sijsling 6-4, 6-2 in the joint WTA and ATP hardcourt tournament.

Lewis Hamilton fought off teammate Nico Rosberg to give Mercedes a dominant victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on Sunday.

Reigning world champion Hamilton held the upper hand with his faster Mercedes car to beat last year's race winner Rosberg by 1.3 seconds.