Serena Williams capitalized on a critical double-fault by Yaroslava Shvedova to survive a 69-minute first set and win her opening match at the Sony Open 7-6 (7), 6-2 on Thursday.

"It was an incredibly tough first set," Williams said. "I just needed to relax and yet keep up the intensity."

Australia's Bernard Tomic lost the shortest completed ATP match on record Thursday, lasting only 28 minutes at the Sony Open in his first tournament since undergoing surgery on both hips.

Ending a two-month layoff, Tomic won just 13 points and lost to Jarkko Nieminen 6-0, 6-1. It was the quickest match since the ATP started keeping such records in 1991.

Andrea Pirlo's sumptuous free kick earned Juventus a place in the Europa League quarterfinals, where the competition favorites were joined in an attractive lineup by Sevilla after its penalty-shootout win over fierce Spanish rival Real Betis on Thursday.

Portuguese sides Benfica and Porto also advanced to the last eight while Basel overcame an early red card to win 2-1 at Salzburg and progress from a last-16 second leg that was briefly suspended because of crowd trouble.

"Arsene Who?"

That famous headline in a London newspaper welcomed the relatively unknown Arsene Wenger when he was appointed Arsenal manager in September 1996. Many players at the club had the same question on their lips when the Frenchman walked into the dressing room for the first time.

Carmelo Anthony scored 34 points as the New York Knicks opened the Phil Jackson era by beating the Indiana Pacers 92-86 Wednesday for their season-high seventh straight victory.

With their new team president watching from a mid-court seat, the Knicks dominated the first half, then pulled away after the Eastern Conference leaders finally got untracked in the second half.

Robin van Persie ushered Manchester United into the Champions League quarterfinals — and potentially saved his manager's job — with a hat-trick in a 3-0 victory over Olympiakos that completed one of the competition's greatest comebacks on Wednesday.

On one of the memorable European nights at Old Trafford, Van Persie scored three times in a 27-minute span either side of halftime to overturn a 2-0 deficit from the first leg. A slew of brilliant saves by David de Gea were also key to a famous win for the English champions — and a vital one for their manager, David Moyes.

The European basketball federation denied reports on Wednesday that Ukraine has pulled out of hosting next year's continental championship amid political and economic turmoil.

FIBA Europe said its board will "discuss all recent developments regarding EuroBasket 2015" at a meeting this weekend in Munich, Germany.

Borussia Dortmund is in the quarterfinals of the Champions League for the second consecutive season — although it looks far less intimidating than the team that reached the final last year.

Crippled by a series of injuries to key players and struggling at home this season, Dortmund was far from convincing in a 2-1 defeat to Zenit on Wednesday. However, the 4-2 victory in the first leg in St. Petersburg was enough for Juergen Klopp's side to win 5-4 on aggregate and seal its place in Friday's draw.

Libor Pala, the renowned Czech coach of the Racing Beirut football club, on Wednesday announced that his team is qualified for winning the Lebanese league title, stressing that he does not have any plans to move from the capital's blue squad anytime soon.

"The team has a fighting spirit and it has showed a noteworthy performance until the moment,” Pala said in an interview with the Lebanese daily al-Joumhouria.

Arjen Robben extended his contract with Champions League titleholder Bayern Munich on Wednesday to 2017.

Robben's contract was to expire in June after five seasons. The Netherlands winger will stay with Bayern for another three seasons.