HOCKEY

Florida Panthers send Brickley back to Pirates

The Florida Panthers assigned Connor Brickley, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound left wing to the Portland Pirates of the AHL.

Brickley has five points in 23 games with Florida this season, and three points in six games with the Pirates.

Brickley was picked by Florida in the second round (50th overall) of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

Brickley played four seasons of NCAA Division I hockey for the University of Vermont before turning pro.

WORLD JUNIORS: Yegor Korshkov had a goal and an assist and Russia advanced to the gold-medal game with a 2-1 victory over the United States at Helsinki.

Russia will face host Finland for the gold Tuesday. The Finns advanced to the final after hanging on to beat Sweden 2-1 earlier Monday.

For the Americans, who have won bronze four times (1986, 1992, 2007, 2011), it’s a disappointing outcome for a team loaded with NHL-drafted talent.

TENNIS

QATAR OPEN: Novak Djokovic opened his season with a 6-2, 6-2 first-round win over German qualifier Dustin Brown at Doha, Qatar.

The Qatar Open was the only tournament of 16 he played in 2015 in which Djokovic failed to reach the final, instead losing in the quarterfinals.

Last year, Djokovic won a career-best 11 titles and finished with an 82-6 record.

CHENNAI OPEN: Croatian players Borna Coric and Ante Pavic each earned three-set wins over Spanish opponents Marcel Grannollers and Nicolas Almagro to reach the second round in India.

Also, John Millman of Australia rallied for a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (6) win over Evgeny Donskoy of Russia as all three matches on the opening day went to three sets.

The field is led by fourth-ranked Stan Wawrinka, who is looking for a third consecutive title in Chennai and fourth overall.

HOPMAN CUP: Serena Williams withdrew from her opening match at Perth, Australia, because of inflammation in her left knee, an early setback in her preparations for an Australian Open title defense.

SHENZHEN OPEN: Alison Riske advanced to the second round in Shenzhen, China, by beating eighth-seeded Annika Beck 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-2.

The unseeded American will next face Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan.

SOCCER

U.S. MEN U-19: Retired American goalkeeper Brad Friedel was hired as coach of the new U.S. under-19 national team.

The 44-year-old made 82 appearances for the U.S. from 1992-05 and started at the 2002 World Cup.

SPAIN: Real Madrid president Florentino Perez called a news conference and confirmed reports that Coach Rafa Benitez was been fired and replaced by former player Zinedine Zidane.

Benitez, hired seven months ago, has been under pressure since a demoralizing 4-0 home loss to Barcelona in November.

AFRICA: The African soccer confederation said it has ended a ban on Guinea hosting international matches after the country was declared free of Ebola.

HORSE RACING

BRITAIN: Richard Johnson, 38, reached his 3,000th career win when he claimed another victory on his march to the British champion jockey title.

Johnson needs four more wins to reach 3,000 over jumps, which would make him the second jockey to achieve the feat after racing great AP McCoy.

– From staff and news services