Murray, Williams advance at Australian Open

Andy Murray’s first win at Rod Laver Arena lasted only 45 minutes. Lucky him.

With the temperature touching 104 degrees in Melbourne, Australia, Serena Williams wanted her first-round match at the Australian Open to be over just as quickly.

The second-seeded Williams, who has an alternate year pattern of titles here since 2003, had a 6-3, 6-2 win over China’s Yuan Meng in 75 minutes in the following match on center court.

Murray needed to play only 12 games to advance – Andrei Pavel retired with a back problem down 6-2, 3-1 and 15-0.

Roger Federer began his quest for a 14th major to equal Pete Sampras’ record with a 6-1, 7-6 (4), 7-5 first-round win over 35th-ranked Andreas Seppi of Italy that finished early Monday morning.

NBA

Cavs, Lakers square off

Kobe Bryant and LeBron James tussled to a virtual standoff in Los Angeles.

But Bryant’s supporting cast was far more effective, and that was the difference as the Los Angeles Lakers beat Cleveland 105-88 to snap a five-game losing streak to the Cavaliers.

Bryant had 20 points, six rebounds and 12 assists while shooting 9 of 22. Pau Gasol led Los Angeles with 22 points and 12 rebounds.

James had 23 points and nine rebounds, but shot just 9 of 25. Mo Williams added 16 points, six rebounds and five assists and Sasha Pavlovic scored 12 for the Cavaliers.

•Paul, Hornets put away Pacers: Chris Paul capped a 27-point performance with an off-balance 3-pointer as time expired, lifting the hobbled New Orleans Hornets to a 103-100 victory over the Indiana Pacers in New Orleans.

The Hornets started the game without David West (back) and lost center Tyson Chandler (left ankle) late in the second quarter.

•Spurs block Bobcats: Tim Duncan blocked Raymond Felton’s tying shot attempt in the frantic final seconds to help the San Antonio Spurs to an 86-84 win over the Bobcats in Charlotte, N.C.

•Mavs slip by Sixers: Dirk Nowitzki hit a turnaround 20-foot jumper at the buzzer and finished with 24 points as the Dallas Mavericks snapped Philadelphia’s season-high seven-game winning streak with a 95-93 victory over the 76ers in Philadelphia.

•Fans choose Fernandez: Portland’s Rudy Fernandez beat out two fellow rookies (Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook and Milwaukee’s Joe Alexander) in an online vote and will round out the field for the slam dunk contest at All-Star weekend.

College Basketball

Pitt squeezes Orange

Sam Young scored 19 of his 22 points in the second half and No. 4 Pittsburgh started surging shortly after halftime to defeat No. 8 Syracuse (17-3, 5-2 Big East) 78-60 in Pittsburgh.

DeJuan Blair was strong inside with 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Panthers (17-1, 5-1).

•Duke women rally: Chante Black had 17 points and 17 rebounds, Karima Christmas also scored 17 points and No. 4 Duke (16-1, 4-0 ACC) rallied for a 61-58 overtime victory over North Carolina State (8-10, 0-3) in Raleigh, N.C.

•Wake tops poll: Wake Forest (16-0), the last unbeaten team in Division I, is No. 1 in the Associated Press’ college basketball poll.

No. 22 Memphis, No. 23 Gonzaga and No. 24 Florida returned to the poll this week. No. 25 Illinois was ranked for the first time since 2006.

NHL

Blues mount comeback

David Backes scored the tying goal with eighth-tenths of a second left in regulation and the St. Louis Blues went on to beat the Boston Bruins 5-4 in a shootout at Boston.

Down 4-2, the Blues rallied on David Perron’s power-play goal with 1:20 left. Backes then batted the puck out of the air for an empty-net score as the siren sounded – after a lengthy replay review, the goal counted.

T. J. Oshie and Brad Boyes scored in the shootout for the Blues.

•Ovechkin nets OT winner: Alex Ovechkin scored two goals, the second coming 1:46 into overtime, to lift the Washington Capitals to a 2-1 victory over the New York Islanders in Uniondale, N.Y.

Miscellany

Kaka to stay in Milan

Kaka decided to stay with AC Milan, ending talks over a record-breaking transfer bid from Manchester City reported to be worth about $150 million.

The 26-year-old Brazilian midfielder, FIFA’s player of the year in 2007 after leading AC Milan to the European Champions League title, is under contract with the Italian club through 2013. His actual name is Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite.

•Spain, Portugal make bid: The heads of the Spanish and Portuguese soccer federations have agreed to make a joint bid to stage the 2018 World Cup.

•Idaho native takes lead: Jeret Peterson, a two-time Olympic aerial skier from Idaho, claimed victory Sunday night in the Nature Valley FIS Freestyle World Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Peterson, of Boise, stuck a clean landing on his jump – a back-full-double-full-full – to win with a total of 252.59 points.