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The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency acknowledged that it's too late to punish Andre Agassi for his failed drug test from 1997, darned statute of limitations. But WADA said it still wants some punishment, anyway. Maybe for Agassi's lies to doping officials, which he admits in his book? Maybe for perjury?

Doubtful. But I knew tennis would get its pound of flesh, anyway, as Agassi has embarrassed the sport's governing bodies. What I didn't know was how fast they would get that flesh.

Or that they would take it from Yanina Wickmayer.

She was banned Thursday for a year for a doping offense. It wasn't for failing a test, or apparently even for missing one, though details still aren't out. It was because she failed to report three times to doping officials over the past 18 months where she would be.

Three weeks. That's all Andy Roddick is expected to miss with the knee injury that knocked him out of the Shanghai Masters last week in the middle of his first-round match.

It should still give him time to qualify for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London in November.

"Results of the MRI [scan] showed a mild sprain of his medial collateral ligament of the left knee," said a statement on Roddick's website. "The news was very good for Andy. No surgery will be needed and Andy is expected to make a 100 percent recovery."

Five days and eight injury retirements later, the Shanghai Masters semifinals are set.

In the last quarterfinals match on Friday, Ivan Ljubicic pulled out of his match against Rafael Nadal in the third set with noticeable pain in his left thigh. He joined an absurdly long list of players to withdraw due to injury in Shanghai, including reigning U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro and world No. 6 Andy Roddick.

Ljubicic withdrew in the first game of the third set and handed Nadal a spot in the semifinals where he will take on fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, who topped the No. 9-seeded Robin Soderling in straight sets on Thursday.

BEIJING (AP) -- Serena Williams was knocked out of the China Open on Thursday, losing to Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5) only days before regaining the No. 1 ranking.

Williams, who will take over the top spot in the rankings from Dinara Safina on Monday, looked sluggish in the first set before recovering in the second. Neither player was able to earn a break in the third set.

"I don't feel like I ever got into high gear," Williams said. "I ran into a girl today who has never played so good in her life."

NEW YORK (AP) -- A New York City man arrested for running onto the court at the U.S. Open to kiss Rafael Nadal will be charged with trespassing and faces possible jail time if convicted, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Noam U. Aorta dashed out of the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens just after midnight Wednesday after Nadal advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Gael Monfils, prosecutors said. Aorta ran onto the court, then hugged and kissed the Spanish star as he was changing shirts on the sideline before security guards took him into custody, they said.

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Rafael Nadal beat Gael Monfils Tuesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open, but what's really getting attention this morning is what happened after the match, when a man ran out of the stands and onto the court, hugging and kissing Nadal before security could restrain him.

Rafael Nadal ousted fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in the U.S. Open on Sunday, beating him out in straight-sets 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.

Rafa cruised past his compatriot without major resistance. Almagro did show some signs of a fight, using his powerful forehand to prove that the No. 32 seed should not be overlooked.

Nadal's health has constantly been brought into question during the Open, but there were no signs that his nagging knee injuries were holding him back. Instead, Nadal was revisited by an abdominal injury that has reared its head in the past.

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MASON, Ohio -- The news in tennis is Rafael Nadal's knees. That's the drama. But as Nadal plods through the court grinding gears in those knees, Roger Federer keeps flowing freely. Floating.

What is lost in Nadal's physical and mental struggles, forgotten entirely, is the more amazing story that Federer doesn't have them.

Players burn out, flake out, blow out knees and elbows. We see Kim Clijsters returning after a break of more than two years to get away from the rigors of life on the tennis tour.

Federer beat David Ferrer 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Masters level event in Cincinnati. On Friday, he'll beat Lleyton Hewitt.

MASON, Ohio (AP) - The temperature had already topped 80 degrees as Rafael Nadal pushed himself through his morning workout Monday, swatting balls around the court for a sweaty hour and 45 minutes.

He wished for more.

The 23-year-old Spaniard feels his limitations every day during his comeback from two months off the tour to let his aching knees rest and heal. Normally, he would have practiced another 45 minutes to get ready for his opening match this week at the $3 million Cincinnati Masters.

Can't do it.

We're still going with the idea that Rafael Nadal skipped Wimbledon because his knees hurt. That will always be the official word. It wasn't his brain. It was his knees.

His knees.

Not that he needed a mental break from being No. 1, from being expected to win the French and to defend Wimbledon. From not having the shelter of Roger Federer.

I'm thinking it was both, really. Knees and brain. So Nadal returned to the tour Wednesday night for the first time since the French Open in May, when he lost to Robin Soderling. David Ferrer, a grinder, figured to be a great first test for Nadal's knees this week at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, but instead, after 36 minutes, with Nadal leading 4-3, Ferrer retired from the match. His knees hurt.