Thursday's sports briefs

Seles is Hall of Famer Monica Seles was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Thursday, honored for a career in which she won 53 singles titles, including four at the Australian Open, three at the French Open and two at the U.S. Open.

"It was just a lot of highs and a lot of lows," she said during a conference call. "One of the things that always kept me going was my love of the game."

Also elected were 1972 French Open champion Andres Gimeno, Association for Tennis Professionals co-founder Donald Dell, and the late Robert Johnson, who pioneered the integration of tennis. The induction is July 11.

Seles first rose to No. 1 in 1991. She was 17, at the time the youngest woman to have topped the rankings. By the time she was 19, Seles already had won eight majors.

But in April 1993, at the height of her success, she was stabbed in the back during a changeover at a tournament in Hamburg, leaving an inch-deep slit between her shoulder blades.

Seles returned to the game 27 months later and immediately reached the 1995 U.S. Open final. Her final Grand Slam title then came at the 1996 Australian Open.

• Venus and Serena Williams could meet in the semifinals of the Australian Open, and Serena could meet former champion Amelie Mauresmo in the fourth round at this year's opening Grand Slam, which begins Monday.

Serena Williams, the No. 2 seed, drew wild card Yuan Meng in the first round at Melbourne Park. Sixth-seeded Venus plays Angelique Kerber.

• In the men's draw, Roger Federer's road to tying Pete Sampras' record 14 Grand Slam singles finals probably will go through the only two men who have beaten him in the past five Australian Opens.

Top-ranked Rafael Nadal and fourth-ranked Andy Murray also were drawn together on the top half and are likely semifinal rivals.

Federer starts with Andreas Seppi in the first round, then could involve showdowns with former No. 1-ranked Carlos Moya in the second, 2005 Australian champion Marat Safin in the third and defending champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.

• Top-seeded Serena Williams lost 6-3, 6-1 amid a flurry of errors against Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva in the Sydney International semifinals. Dementieva advances to face Dinara Safina for the Sydney title, a rematch of the Beijing Olympics final.

Dakar leader Sainz out Giniel De Villiers took over the lead of the Dakar Rally in Argentina after leader and Volkswagen teammate Carlos Sainz dropped out.

Sainz missed a sharp turn and his car flipped into a 13-foot ravine during the 12th stage between Fiambala and La Rioja, two days from the finish.

Co-driver Michel Perin broke his shoulder in the wreck. Perin said a sign marking the turn read "dangerous" but should have read "extremely dangerous" about 50 miles into the 132-mile stage, shortened by 19 miles to avoid a recent archaeological discovery near Fiambala.

Sainz, the two-time world rally champion, had dominated the Dakar. He'd led in nine of the 12 days since the race started, including the past week. He'd won six stages and enjoyed a more than 27-minute lead on teammate Mark Miller of the United States.

ASSOCIATED PRESS