In brief: Federer, Williamses easily advance

Tennis: Serena Williams moved a step closer to successfully defending her Australian Open title today with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Carla Suarez Navarro in Melbourne, Australia.

The Williams sisters remained on course for a semifinal meeting when Venus held off Australia’s Casey Dellacqua 6-1, 7-6 (4).

Top-ranked Roger Federer had no trouble in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 31 Albert Montanes of Spain. It was the 28-year-old Swiss star’s 50th win at Melbourne, where he has collected three of his record 15 Grand Slam singles titles.

Nikolay Davydenko extended his impressive winning run with a 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 30 Juan Monaco of Argentina. Novak Djokovic beat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-1, 6-1, 6-2.

Kim Clijsters’ run ended in 52 minutes in a 6-0, 6-1 third-round loss to 19th-seededNadia Petrova.

No word on Cable

NFL: Tom Cable’s status as Oakland Raiders head coach is still in limbo almost three weeks after the end of the regular season.

Cable has been talking with owner Al Davis about his job since the season ended Jan. 3. Cable went 5-11 in his first full season as Raiders coach.

ESPN.com reported that New York Giants defensive line coach Mike Waufle will return to the Raiders as defensive line coach. He coached with the Raiders from 1998-2003.

•Playoff ratings up: The NFL has drawn the most viewers for the divisional round of the playoffs in 16 years, with an average of 33 million per game, up 15 percent.

Sunday’s Cowboys-Vikings game attracted 37.7 million viewers, the most-watched program on television since last February’s Super Bowl

Mets get Matthews

Baseball: Gary Matthews Jr. was traded from the Los Angeles Angels to the New York Mets for right-handed reliever Brian Stokes.

Matthews, the former Spokane Indian who will compete with Angel Pagan to play center field, is owed $23 million over two seasons as part of his $50 million, five-year contract. The Angels agreed to send the Mets $21.5 million as part of the trade.

•Trainer says he gave McGwire steroids: A trainer who previously admitted supplying Jose Canseco with steroids now says he also gave performance enhancing-drugs to Mark McGwire.

Curtis Wenzlaff, arrested in 1992 for steroids distribution, told ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” that McGwire’s goal was to get “bigger, faster, stronger.” The interview is to be broadcast Sunday morning.

•Phillies keep Victorino: The Philadelphia Phillies finalized a $22 million, three-year contract with All-Star center fielder Shane Victorino and reached a preliminary agreement on a one-year deal with pitcher Jose Contreras.

•Royals sign Ankiel: Rick Ankiel and the Kansas City Royals have agreed to a $3.25 million, one-year deal.

Cavaliers lose West

NBA: The Cleveland Cavaliers’ backcourt took another hit when the team learned point guard Delonte West broke his left ring finger in a victory over the Lakers on Thursday.

West was starting in place of Mo Williams, who could miss up to six weeks after spraining his left shoulder in a game Tuesday against Toronto.

The team said West will miss today’s game against Oklahoma City, but does not know how long he will be sidelined.

•Blazers’ Roy out four games: Portland Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy will miss four games because of a right hamstring injury, the team said.

Roy re-injured the hamstring Wednesday. He left the team for treatment in Seattle.

•Duncan reaches milestone: Aaron Brooks and Kyle Lowry scored 23 points apiece, and the Houston Rockets ended a five-game road skid with a 116-109 win over the Spurs in San Antonio.

The Rockets held off a furious San Antonio run in the final minutes led by Tim Duncan, who became the 35th player in NBA history to reach 20,000 points.

•Posey lifts Hornets: James Posey hit a driving layup at the buzzer for the second straight game, this time lifting the New Orleans Hornets to a 96-94 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Minneapolis. He did the same thing to the Grizzlies on Wednesday.

Vonn atop standings

Skiing: Lindsey Vonn won a World Cup super-G in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, for her seventh victory of the season and regained the lead in the overall standings.

Vonn sped down the twisting Olympia delle Tofane course in 1 minute, 21.74 seconds. Fabienne Suter of Switzerland finished 0.67 seconds behind.

Vonn leads Maria Riesch 994-938 in the overall ranks. She is also first in the super-G standings, with twice as many points as second-place Suter.

•Cuche wins super-G: Didier Cuche of Switzerland won a World Cup super-G race in Kitzbuehel, Austria, while Bode Miller finished 17th.

The super-G world champion shot down the 2,260-meter Streifalm course in 1 minute, 17.94 seconds, beating Austrian Michael Walchhofer by 0.28.

Watson takes lead

Miscellany: Tom Watson shot a bogey-free 9-under-par 63 to take a two-stroke lead over senior newcomer Fred Couples and Tom Lehman in the Champions Tour’s season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Kaupulehu-Kona, Hawaii.

•Gebrselassie wins Dubai Marathon: Haile Gebrselassie won the Dubai Marathon in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, falling 3 minutes short of his world record.

The 36-year-old Ethiopian champion finished the race in 2 hours, 6 minutes, 9 seconds.

Mamitu Daska Molisa of Ethiopia won the women’s race in 2:24:18.