Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri announced he will be out for eight weeks with a left knee injury.

Nasri wrote on his Twitter page Monday that he partially ruptured ligaments in his left knee when he was fouled by Newcastle defender Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa in the second half of Sunday's 2-0 Premier League win.

AC Milan fired Massimiliano Allegri and put former assistant coach Mauro Tassotti temporarily in charge on Monday, a day after an embarrassing 4-3 loss at promoted Sassuolo.

Languishing in 11th place, Milan announced the move on its website.

Venus Williams was moving freely in her first-round match at the Australian Open, breezing through the first set and getting a look at another break in the second against a player who upset her sister here two years ago.

That's when things started to go wrong for her Monday, the first day of the season-opening major. The seven-time Grand Slam champion missed the break-point chance in the sixth game and then, after getting to 40-30 on serve in the ninth, inexplicably firing three consecutive double-faults to surrender a break and just about the set to No. 22-seeded Ekaterina Makarova.

Carlos Sainz of Spain won the seventh stage of the Dakar Rally on Sunday, while countryman Nani Roma maintained a large lead in the overall standings for cars.

The car division drove a 500-kilometer loop near Salta, Argentina, and Sainz took advantage of a speedy special suited to his buggy to lead for the entire day and win his second stage of the race and 27th in his Dakar history.

With Cristiano Ronaldo missing his scoring touch, Real Madrid needed defender Pepe to score in the second half to secure a 1-0 victory at Espanyol on Sunday to pull within three points of the Spanish league co-leaders.

Pepe was left unmarked to head in Luka Modric's corner kick in the 55th minute, as Cristiano Ronaldo failed to add to his league-leading 20 goals.

FIFA corruption-buster Ralf Mutschke has warned that soccer's world governing body will do all in its power to ensure that match-fixing by mafia gangs does not ruin the 2014 World Cup.

Mutschke, a former Interpol executive and a police officer for 30 years, said the problem of corruption is global and exists at all levels of the game, including the World Cup which gets underway in Brazil on June 12.

Former U.S. Open champion Pat Rafter is coming out of a 13-year retirement to partner Lleyton Hewitt in the doubles at the Australian Open.

The 41-year-old, who is also Australia's non-playing Davis Cup captain, said Hewitt asked him to play doubles as he seeks extra matches depending on how he fares in the singles at the opening Grand Slam of the year.

Bernard Tomic Sunday said he was capable of upsetting Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open first round, but admitted he will need to be at his best to beat the world number one.

The local favorite, hammered in Saturday's Sydney International final by fifth-ranked Juan Martin del Potro, has been in good form but was handed a horror draw at Melbourne Park.

Teen prodigy Gracie Gold captured the women's title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Saturday, serving notice she might live up to her name at the Sochi Winter Olympics.

Gold won Saturday's free skate with 139.57 points to claim the overall crown with 211.69 points, a triumph she compared to a fairy tale.

Amare Stoudemire scored 21 points and Carmelo Anthony added 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists Saturday to spark New York over Philadelphia 102-92 for the Knicks' fourth straight win.

The Knicks improved to 14-22 while the 76ers slid to 12-25 with their fourth loss in a row.