Bud Selig has declined an overture from a group of baseball owners asking him to stay on after his contract ends in 2012, the Chicago Tribune reported.

According to unnamed sources, Selig, 75, told a group of five owners that he will step down in 2012 to pursue other interests.

Selig, reached at his Milwaukee office, wouldn't discuss his conversations with the owners but did say he plans to stay on the job for three more seasons, the newspaper reported.

Selig formerly owned the Milwaukee Brewers.

Tennis

Top-ranked Roger Federer was ousted from the ATP World Tour Finals in London, losing to Nikolay Davydenko 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in the semifinals. Federer came within two points of winning while leading 5-4 in the third set. But Davydenko held on and then broke Federer to take a 6-5 lead before serving out the win. It was his first win over Federer in 13 meetings. Also, Juan Martin del Potro beat Robin Soderling 6-7 (1), 6-3, 7-6 (3).

Golf

Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy shot a better-ball 8-under 64, but Ireland's lead over Sweden and Italy shrunk to a stroke at the World Cup of Golf in Guangzhou, China. Sweden's Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson had a 62, and the Italian brothers Edoardo and Francesco Molinari shot a 61. McDowell had five birdies for Ireland, which had a 26-under 190 total. Americans Nick Watney and John Merrick (67) were 16 shots behind

Advertisement
heading into today's alternate-shot round.

College water polo

Luka Saponjic scored with four seconds left in the second three-minute overtime period to give No. 3 Cal (22-5) a 12-11 upset of No. 2 Stanford (21-3) in the semifinals of the men's MPSF Tournament in Los Angeles. Saponjic had four goals for the Bears, who trailed 7-2 at halftime. Cal will play No. 4 UCLA (21-6) today for the tournament title and automatic NCAA berth. The Bruins upset No. 1 USC 10-6.

College soccer

Host UCLA (21-2-1) posted a 2-1 win over Portland (21-2) to advance to the women's College Cup in College Station, Texas. The Bruins will face top-seeded Stanford (24-0) in one semifinal Friday. Notre Dame and North Carolina will meet in the other.

Horse racing

Ventura won the $300,000 Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park in her final race before retirement, less than two weeks after the death of her Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel. The 5-year-old mare was saddled by Frankel's longtime assistant Humberto Ascansio. Ventura ($3.20), the heavy favorite with Garrett Gomez aboard, ran a mile on turf in 1:33.58, winning by 1¾ lengths over Tuscan Evening.

Winter sports

Kathryn Hoelzl won her first World Cup race, taking the women's giant slalom in Aspen, Colo. American Lindsey Vonn failed to qualify for the second run, Hoelzl had a two-run time of 2 minutes, 9.63 seconds, edging Kathrin Zettel by 0.24 seconds. American Julia Mancuso was 13th in 2:12.79.

  • Didier Cuche won the World Cup's season-opening downhill in Lake Louise, Alberta. He was timed in 1:50.31, followed by Werner Heel in 1:50.75. Andrew Weibrecht was the top American in 12th (1:51.41). Bode Miller was 29th.

    Media

    Los Angeles Times sports writer/columnist Mike Penner, who announced two years ago he was a transsexual and was changing his name to Christine Daniels, died at age 52, the newspaper reported. The coroner's office hadn't issued a cause of death, but the Times said Penner was believed to have committed suicide. He had returned to using the name Mike Penner last year.