In golf, as in other sports, money talks, but money cannot guarantee results.

Proof of that came in Abu Dhabi this week when the two biggest and best paid names in the game - Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods - travelled to the Gulf to kick-start their seasons and both fell at the first hurdle.

Andy Murray Saturday backed a tougher anti-doping regime for tennis, including biological passports and more blood tests, to keep the sport drug-free after the Lance Armstrong scandal.

As Serena Williams called the Armstrong saga "sad" and women's number one Victoria Azarenka said the disgraced cyclist "deserves everything he gets", Murray said he would support tighter controls for tennis.

Gertrude "Gussie" Moran, who shocked the modest mid-century tennis world when she took the court at Wimbledon with a short skirt and ruffled underwear, has died at age 89.

Moran had recently returned from a long hospital stay with colon cancer when she died on Wednesday in her small apartment in Los Angeles, said Jack Neworth, a tennis writer who befriended Moran in her final year.

Jupp Heynckes would have liked to stay another year as coach of Bayern Munich but cleared the way for Pep Guardiola to be hired for next season, club president Uli Hoeness told ZDF television.

Later Friday, Heynckes said he had not yet decided whether to retire and confirmed he offered to stay on "if Bayern could not find an adequate replacement."

Tottenham says Brazil midfielder Sandro will miss the rest of the Premier League season following surgery on his right knee.

The 23-year-old Sandro was forced off the field against Queens Park Rangers on Saturday and consultation with Tottenham's knee surgeon has revealed cruciate ligament damage, which will keep the player sidelined for the remainder of the season.

Theo Walcott's drawn-out contract standoff with Arsenal ended Friday with the signing of a lucrative new contract.

The England forward could have left the club for free at the end of the season, but has agreed to a three-and-a-half year deal that sees his salary rise by two-thirds to about 100,000 pounds ($160,000) a week.

Novak Djokovic has heavily criticized Lance Armstrong's long-delayed doping admissions, saying the seven-time Tour de France winner is a disgrace to cycling and "should suffer for his lies."

At the same time, the No. 1-ranked man in tennis says the drug testing program in his sport is "good" but concedes that for the last six months he hasn't had a blood test which could detect illegal oxygen-boosting agents.

Maria Sharapova defeated Venus Williams 6-1, 6-3 in a lopsided match-up between Grand Slam champions on Friday night to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open.

Sharapova and Williams have 11 majors combined — four for the Russian, and seven for the Williams.

The Los Angeles Clippers hardly broke a sweat in cruising past free-falling Minnesota on Thursday, beating the Timberwolves 90-77 to move within half a game of the NBA lead.

Elsewhere, the Miami Heat repelled a late charge to hold off the Los Angeles Lakers, the New York Knicks beat the Detroit Pistons — in London — and the Milwaukee Bucks ended a lengthy run of outs in Phoenix by beating the Suns.

Lance Armstrong finally admitted it. He doped.

He was light on the details and didn't name names. He mused that he might not have been caught if not for his comeback in 2009. And he was certain his "fate was sealed" when longtime friend, training partner and trusted lieutenant George Hincapie, who was along for the ride on all seven of Armstrong's Tour de France wins from 1999-2005, was forced to give him up to anti-doping authorities.