Kim Clijsters beats Serena Williams in exhibition before record crowd of 35,681 | Tennis

Tennis

Belgian Clijsters prevails before record crowd of 35,681 in Brussels: A world-record crowd for a tennis match watched Belgian Kim Clijsters defeat American Serena Williams 6-3, 6-2 in an exhibition Thursday in Brussels, Belgium.

The crowd of 35,681 at King Baudouin Stadium surpassed the previous record of 30,472 set in 1973 at the Houston Astrodome in the "Battle of the Sexes" match where Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs.

The exhibition was umpired by tennis legend Martina Navratilova.

U.S. Open to offer record payouts: The U.S. Open in New York will offer the richest purse in the history of the sport, with its singles champions each earning a record $1.7 million. The tournament, with a purse exceeding $22.6 million, starts Aug. 30 and ends Sept. 12.

NHL

Naslund's No. 19 is third number Vancouver has retired: Former captain Markus Naslund, 36, will have his No. 19 retired by the Vancouver Canucks, he was told by general manager Mike Gillis.

"I felt humbled and proud," Naslund said during a conference call from his home in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden.

Naslund's number will be hoisted to the rafters Dec. 11 at Rogers Arena, when the Canucks host Tampa Bay. Other Canucks who have had their jerseys retired are Trevor Linden (No. 16) and Stan Smyl (No. 12).

WNBA

Home teams romp: The Indiana Fever beat the visiting Tulsa Shock 100-72 and the host Minnesota Lynx blew out the San Antonio Silver Stars 89-66.

Parker has most popular jersey: Forward Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks has the league's most popular jersey, based on sales at the NBA Store and wnbastore.com from October through June. Phoenix's Diana Taurasi was second on the jersey-sales list.

NFL

Agent Rosenhaus says Vikings receiver Rice has lingering hip injury: The agent for Sidney Rice said the receiver has a lingering hip injury but should be ready when the Minnesota Vikings open the regular season against the New Orleans Saints.

Drew Rosenhaus tweeted the update.

Asked if he would be ready for the start of training camp July 30, Rice said, "I'll be ready to buckle it up at the start."

Rice, 23, caught 83 passes for 1,312 yards and eight touchdowns last season.

Falcons linebacker James is suspended: Atlanta Falcons linebacker Robert James, 26, has been suspended four games for violating the league's substance-abuse policy.

Ex-Giant Pierce to work for ESPN: Antonio Pierce, 31, a New York Giants linebacker, has retired from the league after nine seasons and is joining ESPN as an analyst.

Soccer

Real Salt Lake wins: Robbie Findley scored on a penalty kick to give Real Salt Lake a 1-0 victory over host Chicago in Major League Soccer. Nick Rimando got the shutout.

Poker

Top prize at main event is $8.94 million: The top prize at the World Series of Poker main event in Las Vegas is $8.94 million as the no-limit Texas Hold'em tournament reached 7,319 entrants, its second-best showing of all time.

A field of 2,391 entered poker's richest event Thursday, the last of four starting days to buy in for $10,000. The total prize pool for the tournament is $68.8 million.

There are 825 more players in the main event than last year, when the prize pool was $61 million. The 2006 main event drew a record field of 8,773.

Track and field

Bolt makes impressive return from injury: Usain Bolt of Jamaica won the 100 meters at the Athletissima meet in 9.82 seconds in Lausanne, Switzerland, returning from an Achilles-tendon injury to match the year's fastest time. The Olympic and world champion in the 100 and 200 equaled Asafa Powell's time of 9.82 in Rome on June 10. The two Jamaicans are to compete in Paris next week.

Fraser has positive test: Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser, the Olympic and world 100 champion, tested positive for the painkiller oxycodone at the Diamond League meet May 23 in Shanghai, China.

Semenya plans to compete next week: South African Caster Semenya, 19, will make her comeback in Finland on Thursday at the Lappeenranta Games.

Semenya, who has not raced competitively since winning the 800 world title in Berlin in August, was cleared to return by the IAAF. That ended a stalemate over her status after gender-verification tests and means she can continue running as a woman.

Figure skating

Weir to skip season: Johnny Weir, a three-time U.S. champion and two-time Olympian, said he is skipping the 2010-11 season.

Weir, 26, will concentrate on careers in fashion and singing. He also has a memoir that will soon be published.

Seattle Times news services