Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position for Formula One's season-opening Australian Grand Prix in a rainy qualifying session Saturday, while four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel will start the race from 12th after being caught out by the wet conditions.

Vettel was joined by fellow big-name drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button in dropping out of qualifying in the second session as they struggled on the wet surface at the Albert Park street circuit.

The Los Angeles Clippers rallied to extend their winning streak to 10 games with a 96-87 victory over the Utah Jazz on Friday, despite Chris Paul landing awkwardly after a layup and spraining his ankle.

Blake Griffin had 20 points and Paul shook off the injury to score 18 for the Clippers, who haven't lost since February 21 and pulled within two games of the Oklahoma City Thunder for the second-best record in the Western Conference.

For the first time in four years, Novak Djokovic is without a big title to start the year. Or any title.

The Serb is used to arriving at the BNP Paribas Open with the Australian Open in his back pocket, having won the season's first Grand Slam three straight years. He lost in the quarterfinals in Melbourne in January, and then lost in the semifinals at Dubai last month.

Real Madrid defender Alvaro Arbeloa will be sidelined for nearly two months by a knee injury, putting the Spain international's participation at the World Cup in jeopardy.

Arbeloa said his right knee "is worse than thought but if everything goes well, I'll be out from six-to-eight weeks."

Arsenal could be without Germany playmaker Mesut Ozil until the end of April in another blow to the Gunners' hopes of winning the English Premier League title.

Manager Arsene Wenger said on Friday the club-record signing will be sidelined "a minimum of three and a maximum of six weeks" with a hamstring injury.

Uli Hoeness won't appeal against his prison sentence for tax evasion, and said on Friday he's quitting as president of Bayern Munich to prevent damage to the European champions.

Hoeness, one of the most prominent figures in German football, was convicted on Thursday of evading millions of euros (dollars) in tax through an undeclared bank account and sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison. The verdict drew a largely positive response in a country where tax evasion is deeply and increasingly frowned upon.

Mercedes confirmed its status as favorite to win the Formula One season-opening Australian Grand Prix by setting the fastest two times in Friday's practice sessions, with Lewis Hamilton edging his teammate Nico Rosberg.

Hamilton failed to complete a lap in the opening practice session due to a malfunctioning oil pressure sensor that shut down his engine, but recovered to set a time of 1 minute 29.625 seconds in the second session around the Albert Park circuit, 0.157 seconds ahead of Rosberg.

Roger Federer beat Kevin Anderson 7-5, 6-1 in the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday, continuing his strong play at the tournament where he has yet to drop a set in four matches.

Anderson failed to break Federer's serve in the match, which lasted just over an hour. The South African had 21 unforced errors, while Federer hit 17 winners and won 79 percent of his first serve points.

Benfica and Valencia secured convincing away wins to take a giant step toward the Europa League quarterfinals on Thursday while Real Betis surprisingly beat Sevilla 2-0 in a fierce Spanish derby played for the first time on the European stage.

Brazilian defender Luisao scored two second-half goals to help Benfica beat Tottenham 3-1 and cap a good night for Portugal's top clubs in the last-16 first legs, with Porto defeating Napoli 1-0 at home.

British police have arrested former Manchester United great Eric Cantona and cautioned him for assaulting a man in London.

Cantona was briefly taken into custody following the incident that happened in the Primrose Hill area of north London on Wednesday.