BRIEFLY.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

Phonak out: Landis' former team to cease operations

Floyd Landis' former cycling team will shut down at the end of the season.

Phonak owner Andy Rihs said Tuesday that he has been unable to find a buyer for his team since Landis, this year's Tour de France champion, was busted for doping.

``I've had to do something I've never done in my whole life: Give up,'' Rihs said.

Rihs said the Landis doping scandal led to the shutdown of the team.

TENNIS: Thousand Oaks' Sam Querrey gave Rafael Nadal, the No. 2 player in the world, a scare before Nadal escaped with a 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 win at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters tournament in Mason, Ohio.

Querrey, a pro for only twomonths, was 4-8 going into the match. He showed off a big serve that topped 130 mph on the radar gun.

``Just with his serve, he's going to be in the top 50,'' Nadal said. ``He has very good potential.''

Each player held serve through the first set, and Querrey pulled out the tiebreaker to put a scare into Nadal.

``Each point I won, I kept building a little more confidence,'' Querrey said. ``I was happy with the way I played.''

Nadal finally broke serve in the fourth game of the second set when Querrey double-faulted to go down 1-3.

In the final set, Nadal put Querrey away on match point with a perfectly placed drop shot.

FOOTBALL: A typewritten, ``cryptic'' threat against Maurice Clarett was sent to the law office representing the jailed former Ohio State football star, his attorney said.

The message, sent from Los Angeles and received in Columbus, Ohio, on Monday, was typed on a piece of paper, cut out and taped on a postcard, said Michael Hoague, one of Clarett's attorneys.

BASKETBALL: Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson received three years of probation from the National Association of Basketball Coaches over recruiting violations during his tenure at Oklahoma.

The Seattle SuperSonics and power forward Chris Wilcox agreed on a three-year, $24 million contract.

MOTOR SPORTS: Paul Tracy was fined $25,000 and docked three championship points for taking out Champ Car points leader Sebastien Bourdais in the final turn of the Grand Prix of Denver.

SOCCER: Listless Spain settled for a scoreless draw at Iceland in one of seven international ``friendlies'' as striker Raul made his 100th appearance. In other games involving World Cup teams, Ghana topped Togo 2-0 and Ukraine routed Azerbaijan 6-0.