TENNIS

Djokovic, Ivanovic secure semifinal berths with victories in event at Indian Wells

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic defeated Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-4, winning the final three games of the match Thursday to reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Calif.

Ana Ivanovic earned a spot in the women’s semifinals with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Marion Bartoli, the 16th-ranked Serb’s second straight win over a top-10 player.

Djokovic, the defending champion, improved to 16-1 against Spanish opponents since the start of 2011, although Almagro made him work for it on another 80-degree day.

SOCCER

EUROPA LEAGUE: Athletic Bilbao of Spain dominated Manchester United again and showed it is favorite to win Europe’s second-tier competition after a 2-1 victory that put it into the quarterfinals with a 5-3 aggregate win.

SKIING

WOMEN’S WORLD CUP: Lindsey Vonn won her fourth World Cup super-G title by finishing sixth in the discipline’s final race of the season at Schladming, Austria. It was her 16th career crystal globe.

Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany was the winner, her first super-G victory. Julia Mancuso of the U.S. was second, followed by Marion Rolland of France. Another American, Leanne Smith, was fifth.

ROAD RACING

BEACH TO BEACON: General registration for the 15th running of 10-kilometer race filled in 5 minutes, 6 seconds.

Runners snapped up 4,000 bib numbers at a quicker pace than last year’s registration, which took 8 minutes. The 600 entries reserved for Cape Elizabeth residents became available Wednesday and were claimed within 8 minutes.

A lottery system for the remaining 1,850 bibs will continue through midnight March 22 at the race website, beach2beacon.org. Race organizers sent email confirmations to those who registered successfully.

GOLF

WOODS WILL PLAY: Tiger Woods, who withdrew from a tournament Sunday with a mild ankle sprain, said he will be at the Masters.

“I’ll be there. Don’t worry about that,” Woods said on “Good Morning, America” to promote a new video game.

TRANSITIONS: Padraig Harrington turned in the lowest official score of his life, a 10-under 61 to set the course record and open a three-shot lead in the first rpund at Palm Harbor, Fla.

LPGA: Top-ranked Yani Tseng played a seven-hole stretch on the back nine in 7 under and finished with a 7-under 65 for a share of the first-round lead with Hee Young Park in the Founders Cup at Phoenix.

EUROPEAN: Italian teenager Matteo Manassero tied the course record with an 8-under 64 at the Andalucia Open, giving him a three-stroke lead at Marbella, Spain.

— From staff and news services