Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — BASKETBALL Burdick breaks bone

Tennessee forward Cierra Burdick is out indefinitely after breaking a bone in her right hand. Although the 12th-ranked Lady Volunteers didn’t practice Monday, Burdick was working out on her own when she fractured the fourth metacarpal of her shooting hand. There is no timetable for Burdick’s return, though the 6-2 sophomore is expected back before the end of the season. Burdick ranks fourth on the team in scoring (8.8 points per game) and third in rebounding (6.5). She had started 11 of Tennessee’s first 12 games. The Lady Vols (9-3) open their SEC schedule Thursday at No. 18 South Carolina (11-1). Tennesssee already has been playing without freshman guard Andraya Carter, who started five of the Lady Vols’ first seven games before undergoing seasonending arthroscopic surgery for a torn labrum on her right shoulder Dec. 13.

Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio will not travel with the team for a two-game road trip to Utah and Denver this week because of back spasms. Rubio missed the game against Phoenix on Saturday after being unable to get his back loosened up. Coach Rick Adelman said the team is just being cautious with Rubio, who is coming back from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Rubio has played in five games this season after making his debut in the middle of last month. Adelman aid some of Rubio’s back issues could be caused by him overcompensating for a knee that has not yet gotten back to full strength. Rubio hopes to be ready to play at home Saturday against Portland.

BASEBALL Indians, Myers agree

Veteran right-hander Brett Myers has agreed to a one-year contract with a club option for 2014 with Cleveland, which will give him a chance to win a starting job after he pitched in relief last season for Houston and the Chicago White Sox. Myers’ deal is contingent on the 32-year-old passing a physical. Myers, who has started for most of his career, went a combined 3-8with a 3.31 ERA and 19 saves in 70 games - all in relief - last season. He made 33 starts in both 2010 and 2011 for the Astros, who moved him to the bullpen last season before trading him to the White Sox in July. Myers started on opening day in 2011 and went 7-14 while pitching 216 innings. He won 14 games in 2010. Myers has a 97-93 career record with a 4.20 ERA in 249 starts. He also has 40 saves, and his versatility could give the Indians other options if he’s unable to win a starting job. He closed for Philadelphia in 2007 and had 21 saves. The 6-4, 240-pounder spent eight seasons with the Phillies before signing as a free agent with Houston in 2010.

FOOTBALL Bohl gets extension

North Dakota State Coach Craig Bohl has agreed to an eight-year contract extension. North Dakota State Athletic Director Gene Taylor said the contract keeps Bohl at the school through 2021. The Forum newspaper of Fargo, N.D., reports that Bohl’s current base salary is $206,503. The annual salary will be increased by a minimum of 5 percent a year effective July 1, contingent on performance evaluations.The contract includes 3 percent of gross home football regular season single-game and season ticket sales. There is also a $10,000 incentive for a Missouri Valley Football Conference championship, a $15,000 incentive for a Football Championship Subdivision championship and a $10,000 incentive for a runner-up finish. North Dakota State faces Sam Houston State in the FCS title game Saturday.

TENNIS U.S. beats France

The United States rallied past France 2-1 Tuesday in Perth, Australia, with John Isner and Venus Williams capturing the decisive mixed doubles to win a second consecutive series at the Hopman Cup. France won the opening singles when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overwhelmed Isner 6-3, 6-2. Williams then tied it after trailing by a set and 4-1 to defeat Mathilde Johansson 3-6, 7-5, 6-4. The Americans won the mixed doubles 6-7 (5), 6-2 10-8 by taking six of the last seven points in the match tiebreaker. The U.S., which defeatedSouth Africa in its opening series, next plays Spain.

Maria Sharapova withdrew from the Brisbane (Australia) International on Tuesday because of an injured right collarbone that left her unable to serve. She said she didn’t want to aggravate the injury with the Australian Open two weeks away. Also out was 2011 champion Petra Kvitova, who lost 6-4, 7-5 to Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in a season-opening tournament that has proved rough for many of the top players. Serena Williams had no such problems. She carried her relentless winning form into 2013, reaching the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-2 victory at night over No. 44-ranked Alize Cornet. On the men’s side, local qualifier John Millman, ranked No. 199, advanced to a second-round match with Olympic and U.S. Open champion Andy Murray by beating Japan’s Tatsuma Ito 6-4, 6-1. Seventh-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria downed Denis Kudla of the U.S. 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, while eighth-seeded MartinKlizan of Slovakia lost 6-1, 6-2 to Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan. Spain’s Tommy Robredo advanced 6-4, 7-6 (4) over American Ryan Harrison, and AlejandroFalla of Colombia set up a secondround match with third-seeded Gilles Simon with a 6-1, 7-6 (8) victory over Jesse Levine.

Top-seeded David Ferrer rallied to defeat German qualifier Dustin Brown 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 in the opening round of the Qatar Open in Doha on Tuesday. The fifth-ranked Spaniard struggled early against Brown’s serve and net play. With the first set even at 5, Brown hit a drop volley and then broke Ferrer when the Spaniard hit a shot into the net. Brown closed out the set with a crosscourt volley winner. Three seeded players were upset, including Jeremy Chardy at No. 5. Chardy was beaten by German qualifier Daniel Brands 6-4, 6-4.Earlier, Lukas Rosol beat eighthseeded Pablo Andujar of Spain 6-2, 7-6 (2). Lukasz Kubot of Poland topped seventh-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-4, 6-2. Fourthseeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia struggled, but rallied to beat Benjamin Becker of Germany 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-1. Richard Gasquet, seeded second, beat Czech veteran Jan Hernych 6-3, 6-4.

Matthias Bachinger of Germany upset seventh-seeded Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 Tuesday at the Chennai (India) Open. Also advancing to the second round were fifth-seeded Benoit Paire of France, German qualifier Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, Roberto Bautista Augut of Spain and India’s Prakash Amritraj and Somdev Devvarman.

Top-seeded Li Na opened her Shenzhen (China) Open campaign with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Mandy Minella of Luxembourg on Tuesday. Sixth-seeded Peng Shuai, chasing her first WTA singles title, swept past Ayumi Morita of Japan for a seventh consecutive time, 6-1, 6-1, and Zhou Yi-miao, a lucky loser who made the draw when third-seeded Jelena Jankovic withdrew, defeated American qualifier Jessica Pegula 6-4, 6-2. Peng’s victory set up a quarterfinal with Annika Beck of Germany, who beat fourth-seeded Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan 6-3, 6-0 in their first meeting. Also through to the last eight were Monica Niculescu of Romania, who topped seventhseeded Laura Robson of Britain 6-2, 6-3, fifth-seeded Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic, and eighth-seeded Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia.