Tennessee chooses Vince Dooley's son

Derek Dooley, son of Georgia legend Vince Dooley, was introduced Friday as the new head football coach at Tennessee, and he set about immediately reassuring spurned Tennessee fans their new coach appreciates where he's now working.

"How can you ask for anything more than the University of Tennessee?" Dooley said.

Dooley is the Vols' second new head coach in 14 months, replacing Lane Kiffin days after he bolted for Southern California. Like his predecessor, Dooley comes with a short head coaching résumé.

He went 17-20 in three seasons at Louisiana Tech and was the only coach in major college football to also serve as the athletic director. He holds a law degree and previously worked for several years under Nick Saban at LSU and with the Miami Dolphins.

Palmer takes Sony Open lead Ryan Palmer closed with two birdies for a 4-under 66 that gave him a one-shot lead in the Sony Open in Honolulu.

Palmer was at 9-under 131, atop a crammed leaderboard. Robert Allenby was among the crowd at 132 after shooting 67 on an ankle that he sprained badly Monday.

Troy Merritt, who played high school golf at Spring Lake Park, shot 71 Friday and fell from a tie for the lead to 136, four strokes back.

The American completed his slalom run in 49.05 seconds after leading the downhill for a combined time of 2 minutes, 35.96 seconds.

It was Miller's 32nd World Cup victory. He missed much of the offseason while he considered retiring and had to skip recent races to rest an injured right ankle.

Serena Williams loses, limps Top-seeded Serena Williams struggled in the Sydney International final, committing 40 unforced errors in a 6-3, 6-2 loss to fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva.

Williams also appeared to hurt her left knee during the match but said she plans to play singles and doubles with her sister, Venus, at the Australian Open next week.

Earlier, former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis advanced to the men's final with a 6-4, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (5) victory over Mardy Fish. Baghdatis will play Richard Gasquet, who beat French compatriot Julien Benneteau 6-3, 7-5.

Kouzmanoff apparently will be an insurance policy for the Athletics at third base. Six-time Gold Glove winner Eric Chavez is recovering from his second back surgery.

Skeleton: Eric Bernotas became the first American in nearly two years to win a World Cup skeleton race. Bernotas, of Avondale, Pa., won in 1 minute, 9.15 seconds in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Before Bernotas' breakthrough, the top U.S. finish this year had been fifth place.

Endurance racing: Carlos Sainz of Spain kept his overall lead heading into the final stage of the Dakar Rally by finishing fourth in Friday's stage. Sainz leads by 2 minutes, 48 seconds over Volkswagen teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah. American Mark Miller is a distant third.