That was at the WTA Championships, when the Russian was just over 17 1-2 years old. Nearly nine years later, she'll try to stop Williams from winning her 16th Grand Slam title in the French Open final on Saturday, where Sharapova has to beat overwhelming odds to defend her title.

Williams leads 13-2 against Sharapova and has won their last 12 matches on all surfaces.

"Well, I'd be lying if it doesn't bother me," Sharapova said. "I don't think that it would be a pretty competitive statement if I said (it) didn't. I would love to change that around."

Comparing Thursday's semifinals, the odds of that happening look extremely thin. Williams crushed last year's finalist Sara Errani 6-0, 6-1, spending nearly three times less on court than Sharapova did in her gritty 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 win against Victoria Azarenka.

"I have never played Maria here," said Williams, who won her only Roland Garros title 11 years ago when she beat sister Venus in the final. "We're both really excited to be this far."

Sharapova beat Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final, but in their past 11 matches has won a measly total of two sets. One of those was in the final at Key Biscayne, Florida, in March. But you have to go back to April 2008 for the one before.

"Whatever I did in the past hasn't worked, so I'll have to try to do something different and hopefully it will," the 26-year-old Sharapova said. "I don't feel like I have taken my chances and opportunities."

They are the top two women in the rankings and seedings, No. 1 Williams and No. 2 Sharapova.

But before their showdown, the men's semifinals will be decided on Friday, with the tournament champion largely expected to be the winner of the highly anticipated clash between seven-time champion Rafael Nadal of Spain and top-ranked Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

It will be the 35th meeting between Nadal and Djokovic, last year's beaten finalist, with Nadal up 19-15, but with Djokovic winning eight out of the past 11 encounters.

After that, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga takes on fourth-seeded David Ferrer, with the Spaniard leading 2-1. The sixth-seeded Tsonga is trying to become the first Frenchman since Yannick Noah in 1983 to win a Grand Slam.

Williams' winning streak stands at 30 matches longest single-season streak on tour since 2000 and is 20-3 in major semifinals.

"She's playing some of the best tennis of her career," Sharapova said.

The 31-year-old Williams has other factors working in her favor, too.

She has been doing everything in her power to get the fans on her side for the final. After her victory, the American once again answered questions in French, and even said "J'aime le public" I love the crowd.

She also reminded them how long it has been since she won at Roland Garros. In somewhat muddled French, but with a good accent, she said: "Je reste encore apres 11 ans, c'est tres magnifique pour moi."

But the point was made, because it roughly translated as "I'm still around after 11 years, it's quite magnificent for me."

Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario will present the women's winner with her trophy, and six-time Olympic champion sprinter Usain Bolt will present the men's trophy on Sunday. But judging by the speed of Williams' win, perhaps it should be the other way around.

She won in 46 minutes roughly enough time to watch one half of a soccer match at the nearby Parc des Princes, home to the Paris Saint-Germain club.

"I love her fighting spirit. I really like her as a person," Williams said sympathetically of Errani. "But when you go out there, you just have to play and forget about who you're playing."

For Errani, now 0-6 against Williams, even winning a game was cause for celebration almost like scoring a goal, in fact. She threw her arms in the air when she took the fourth game of the second set, and the crowd greeted it with a sympathetic roar.

"She played unbelievable," Errani said of Williams. "That's it."

Sharapova took 2 hours, 10 minutes and five match points to beat Azareknka the equivalent of a full soccer match plus extra time.

They shrieked on every piercingly loud exchange, prompting one spectator to yell "Come on, Monica!" at Sharapova, referring to one of the game's great grunters, Monica Seles.

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli has bought back the Geneva headquarters of his former biotech firm Serono, hoping to establish a biotech research campus.

After selling the family business to German drugmaker Merck KGaA for $13.3 billion in 2006, the Harvard Business School graduate went on to win the America's Cup sailing prize for the second time.

He and his former beauty queen wife Kirsty cut a high profile among the Swiss jet-set.

To buy back the site, Bertarelli formed a company called Campus Biotech with fellow Swiss billionaire Hansjoerg Wyss, who made part of his fortune by selling Synthes, a maker of artificial joints, to Johnson & Johnson in 2011 for over $21 billion.

Since selling Serono, Bertarelli, Switzerland's sixth richest man, has founded investment fund Ares Life Sciences which has stakes in medtech, pharmaceutical and diagnostic imaging companies.

Last year he bemoaned Merck's decision to move Merck Serono's HQ to the German city of Darmstadt, affecting 1,250 jobs, saying that a large part of Serono's history had been written in Geneva.

Switzerland has a reputation as a hub for biotech research and is home to nearly 250 biotech companies, employing more than 19,000 people. The pharmaceutical industry accounts for 4 percent of economic output.

Details of the transaction were not disclosed. Merck said the property will be handed over on June 28.

The Technical University in Lausanne (EPFL) and Geneva University are closely involved in the project and will use part of the site as a research center.

Under the project, the Wyss Foundation will give the EPFL 100 million Swiss francs ($103 million) to convert part of the site into a bio- and neuroengineering center known as the "Wyss Institute". The consortium hopes to attract start-up companies to the remainder of the site.

(Additional reporting by Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt; Editing by David Cowell)

LONDON (Reuters) - One of two men accused of murdering a British soldier on a London street last week was arrested by detectives after being discharged from hospital on Friday.

Michael Adebolajo, 28, had been undergoing treatment after being shot by police in the aftermath of the attack on Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich, southeast London last Friday.

He is now in custody at a south London police station where he is being quizzed by counter terrorism detectives on suspicion of murdering Rigby and the attempted murder of a police officer.

On Thursday, the other of the two suspects, Michael Adebowale, appeared in court charged with murdering the soldier.

The attack caused "extensive and serious injuries" to Rigby who was on his way home to army barracks in Woolwich after working at the Tower of London, Detective Chief Inspector Grant Mallon told an inquest into his death on Friday.

The inquest was adjourned to an unspecified date to allow police time to continue their inquiries.

Separately on Friday, officers investigating Rigby's killing said they had arrested two men aged 42 and 46 in east and north London on suspicion of being involved in the supply of illegal firearms. No further details were given.

Earlier, Rigby's family released a statement saying his death should not be used as a pretext for reprisal attacks, amid mounting community tensions.

There have been attacks against mosques in the wake of the killing and far-right groups plan demonstrations in several English cities this weekend.

"We would like to emphasize that Lee would not want people to use his name as an excuse to carry out attacks against others," the family statement said.

"Lee loved life and he loved people. He had many friends from different walks of life - some with different religious beliefs and cultures. But this made no difference to Lee," they added.

Earlier on Friday, detectives charged a friend of Adebolajo with three offences under the terrorism act which they said were unrelated to the Woolwich incident.

Abu Nusaybah, 31, who was arrested immediately after giving an interview to the BBC in the wake of last week's attack, is accused of recording video lectures and helping others to access content that encouraged viewers to commit, prepare or instigate acts of terrorism.

Nusaybah, also known as Ibrahim Abdullah-Hassan, from east London, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday afternoon for a brief hearing. His defense counsel Mozammel Hossain indicated he would be entering not guilty pleas.

(Additional reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Andrew Roche)

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___

(copyright) 2013 Apple, Inc.

Stock averages on Tuesday extended the year's explosive rally.

Further gains in consumer confidence could help the economy withstand the effects of higher taxes and federal spending cuts that kicked in this year. Spending by consumers drives about 70 percent of economic growth.

Consumer confidence jumped in May to 76.2, the Conference Board, a private research group, said Tuesday. That was up from a reading of 69 in April and is the highest level of confidence since February 2008, two months after the Great Recession officially began.

A separate report Tuesday showed that U.S. home prices jumped 11 percent in March compared with a year ago, the sharpest 12-month increase since April 2006. Prices rose year over year in all 20 cities in the Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller home price index.

The reports helped fuel a rally on Wall Street. Traders were also encouraged by gains in overseas markets, especially in Japan and Europe.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up about 112 points in late-afternoon trading. Broader stock indexes also rose. The Dow has rocketed 18 percent this year.

Surging stock prices and steady home-price increases have allowed Americans to regain the $16 trillion in wealth they lost to the Great Recession. Higher wealth tends to embolden people to spend more. Some economists have said the increase in home prices alone could boost consumer spending enough to offset a Social Security tax increase that's reduced paychecks for most Americans this year.

Thomas Feltmate, an economist with TD Economics, says cheaper gas has also helped consumers shrug off the higher Social Security tax.

And the Conference Board survey said consumers are also more optimistic about the next six months. That should translate into greater consumer spending, substantial growth in hiring and faster economic growth in the second half of 2013, Feltmate said.

Michael Quintos, head of a Chicago advertising agency that helps small businesses market through social media, sees more optimism at work and among friends and relatives.

"A year ago, I had more friends asking me if I knew anybody who was hiring," says Quintos, 44. "Now, I have more people who are hiring asking me if I know anyone looking for a job."

At work, Quintos is finding it easier to land customers. In the past couple of months, businesses that have asked about his services have been more likely to follow through and hire him. A year ago, most were wary.

"I've had more work than I can handle," Quintos says. As a result, his firm hired a web designer last week.

The Conference Board found that optimism is growing mostly among higher-income earners. For Americans earning $50,000 or more, the confidence index jumped to 95.1 from 85.3. Among most other income groups, confidence either rose more slowly or fell.

Economists said that disparity points to the rapid gain in stock prices, which mostly benefits wealthier Americans.

Still spending and economic growth could benefit. Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James, notes that the top 20 percent of U.S. earners account for about half of all spending.

The economy has added an average of 208,000 jobs a month since November. That's well above the monthly average of 138,000 during the previous six months. The job growth has helped reduce the unemployment rate to a four-year low of 7.5 percent.

Some of the decline in unemployment is due to fewer people looking for work. The government counts people as unemployed only if they're actively searching for a job.

The economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent in the January-March quarter, up from a rate of just 0.4 percent in the October-December quarter. The fastest expansion in consumer spending in more than two years drove the economy's growth.

Many economists think growth is slowing slightly in the April-June quarter to an annual rate between 2 percent and 2.5 percent. But many analysts say growth should strengthen in the second half of this year, boosted by the gains in housing and employment.

A key reason the Case Shiller index of home prices jumped in March was that a growing number of buyers were bidding on a tight supply of homes.

Prices rose in Phoenix by 22.5 percent over the past 12 months, the biggest gain among cities. It was followed by San Francisco (22.2 percent) and Las Vegas (20.6 percent).

"Rising home prices may begin to alleviate a lack of housing inventory ... by encouraging more homeowners to put their properties on the market," Maninder Sibia, an economist with Economic Advisory Service, said in a research note. "The housing market is clearly improving."

Builders are responding to the supply shortage by ramping up construction. Applications for building permits rose in April to the highest level in nearly five years. The supply of available homes jumped in April but was still 14 percent below its level a year earlier.

Stan Humphries, chief economist at Zillow, a real estate data provider, says the increase in the Case-Shiller index has been skewed higher by cities such as Phoenix and San Francisco. Fewer homes are available in those areas because many homeowners still owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. That makes it difficult to sell.

Yet even excluding those markets, prices are rising steadily nationwide, Humphries said. The increases are "certainly confirmation that the housing market is experiencing a brisk recovery," he adds.

Rising prices typically encourage more would-be buyers to purchase homes before prices rise further. They also enable more homeowners to sell homes by reducing the number of people who owe more on their mortgages than the homes are worth.

Prices have been rising steadily since last summer. Still, they're about 29 percent below the peak reached in July 2006.

Banks have raised their credit standards since the housing bubble burst and are demanding larger down payments. That's made it hard for some potential first-time buyers to get a mortgage.

One potential obstacle to further economic gains is that workers' pay is rising only modestly. Without faster growth in pay, some consumers may be reluctant to keep spending more.

"If you don't think your income is going up, you will not be exuberant in your spending," notes Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors.

Stronger hiring, though, would enable more people to spend freely. Naroff expects the pace of job creation to average between 175,000 and 200,000 a month for the rest of the year.

At that rate, the Federal Reserve might be inclined to slow its aggressive bond purchases $85 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage bonds. The bond purchases have been intended to drive down long-term loan rates to encourage borrowing and spending.

Super-low rates have also helped fuel the stock rally. Still, some investors have grown nervous that that Fed may soon start to curtail its pace of bond purchases and that rates could creep up.

There's also been a Twitter rant about political correctness, some flak about all the wedding gifts he's received and, most recently, a suggestion from his father that the Washington Redskins should pass the ball more.

On Thursday, the road back included running some drills at an offseason practice. Wearing a helmet but no jersey and sporting a large brace on his reconstructed right knee, Griffin did some handoffs and throws with other teammates recovering from injuries. It's the latest step toward his goal of playing in the season opener in September.

"As soon as I woke up out of the surgery, I put the date of the first game in my phone," Griffin said. "It was the passcode of my phone for a month. ... That's always been the goal, but I'm not going to risk my career to play in one game. Yeah, I'm definitely all-in on for Week 1, but I'm also all-in for my career as well."

It was Griffin's first Redskins Park news conference of the offseason, an occasion that attracted an extraordinary media hoard to a routine May workout and showed again just how important the health of Griffin's knee and everything else about him, for that matter has become in the nation's capital.

Start with the tears. When Griffin went under the knife on Jan. 9 three days after he was injured in the playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks he didn't know whether his ACL needed repair. When he awoke and realized that it had, he immediately went back to sleep because he couldn't deal with the news.

"It's one of the things I get emotional about because it was tough at that time," Griffin said. "Yeah, I cried. Real men cry. It's doesn't matter. And I moved on. As soon as we finished our little cry festival, I put the date of the first week in my phone."

In addition to the physical rehab, there also needed to be a meeting of the minds with Shanahan, who was widely criticized for leaving Griffin in the Seahawks game too long after it became clear the quarterback was injured.

"We hashed everything out. We talked, and we're moving forward from it," Griffin said.

Griffin didn't go into specifics, instead stressing the need for everyone to be on the same page. Shanahan said the conversation was part of an overall review of the season.

"You talk about things that you could have done differently," the coach said. "Things that went poorly during the season, things that went well."

Griffin struck the same tone when asked about whether there should be changes to the offense, perhaps to take away some of his designed runs. He missed all or part of four games because of injuries last season, and his father told The Washington Post this week: "I want him throwing that football, a lot."

"I told him 'thank you' because that's what he's supposed to say as my father," Griffin said. "Yeah, he doesn't want to see me running out there; he wants to see me throwing the ball. He's the one that trained me. He knows what he can do. Coach knows what I can do."

Griffin also said he could make better decisions on the field to stay healthy.

"The one thing everyone gets fired up about is that they say I need to change the way I play," he said. "And my view on that is: I can't change my mindset, but I can be smarter about what I do out there. I've got a year of experience, which some might not think that's a lot, but a year of experience in the NFL is big for anyone. I know what I have to do and then what I don't have to do, so it's about limiting those hits, making sure that I'm staying out there for my teammates."

While the rehab is tough, Griffin said it's easier to endure because he also had an ACL injury while playing in college at Baylor. There were times during Thursday's practice when he seemed to be favoring the knee, but he was able to run and plant as he ran drills with what he called the "all-world uncleared team" that included fellow rehabbers Pierre Garcon and Fred Davis.

"As long as you can get a little bit of work in, you still feel like you're part of the team even though we're separated from the team," Griffin said.

Griffin said the next two phases in his comeback are "explosive sprinting" and "cutting," both of which he hopes to accomplish in the next month or so. The Redskins keep saying he's "ahead of schedule," but it's too early to gauge how much he'll be able to practice when training camp begins in late July.

"I really don't know what 'ahead of schedule' means, except for the doctors, they keep saying he's ahead of schedule," Shanahan said. "We want to be patient with it."

Griffin's good-natured demeanor was a contrast to his sharp words in a pair of recent Twitter rants. Last month he tweeted that Americans "are held hostage by the tyranny of political correctness" and this week hit back at criticism he received for posting a photo of a pile of wedding presents sent to him by fans.

"It's really been crazy," Griffin said Thursday. "You really can't do anything or say anything without it being blown out of proportion. When it comes to the political correctness tweet ... the only thing I will say about that is there's a difference between political correctness, common sense and being offensive."

Griffin, who is getting married in July, then thanked the fans for the gifts that started pouring in after his wedding registry was made public.

"I didn't ask you guys to do that," he said, addressing the fans. "The media made that public, and you guys decided to get me gifts out of the generosity of your heart. ... Anything else that came after that, criticism and stuff like that, you've just got to move on and not worry about it."

___

Follow Joseph White on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JGWhiteAP

May 23 (Reuters) - The star-studded U.S. national basketball team cannot afford to get complacent about being the sport's superpower given the pace of emerging talent around the globe, head coach Mike Krzyzewski said on Thursday.

According to Krzyzewski, having the privilege of coaching teams that have boasted NBA All-Stars LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul does not come with a guarantee of beating competition.

"People think that because we have all these guys you just roll out a ball and you're going to win," Krzyzewski said at a news conference to announce he would return as coach of the U.S. national team through the 2016 Rio Olympics.

"If you do your program that way, you're going to get beat."

Respect for the competition is fundamental to Krzyzewski's approach and the lessons he has drilled into his U.S. teams have paid off with a 62-1 mark that includes two Olympic gold medals and a current 50-game winning streak.

Krzyzewski said all you have to do is look at the rosters of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) teams to appreciate the growth of the game globally.

"There are a lot of great teams out there and you see these guys playing in the NBA," Krzyzewski said at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, where he has led the Blue Devils to four men's college basketball championships.

"Twenty-one percent of the NBA is international and these teams can have anywhere between 10 and 12 NBA players on them. And we have 12 NBA players.

"And we'll have five of them out there at one time and they'll have five. As long as it's five against five we could lose at any time.

"And that's the respect you have to give your opponent and that's what we do with our preparation."

INTERNATIONAL PASSION

Krzyzewski took over as national team coach in 2005 after Argentina beat the U.S. in the semi-finals of the 2004 Olympics. Two years earlier, the Americans failed to reach the medals round at the world championships.

The U.S. were humbled again in Krzyzewski's first major competition when Greece kept the Americans out of the 2006 world championship gold medal game with a semi-finals victory.

Krzyzewski, 66, said being with the U.S. team energised him.

"It's like a teacher learning new material," he said. "I've learned so much over these seven years, it's made me better, wanting to coach even more. Instead of reducing shelf life, so to speak, I think it's added to it.

"There are so many amazing coaches throughout the world, and they see the game sometimes in a different way, and still very effective way. If you can implement some of the things they do or try to defend or attack the things they do, it makes you better."

The coach noted the passion with which top international teams play.

"When you're playing Argentina or Spain, it's a hell of a game. Those guys are playing at a whole other level.

"If you watch San Antonio (Spurs) play, take about five minutes and just watch (Argentina's Manu) Ginobili, and you'll see one of the great, great players of the world play. We've seen that. We appreciate that.

"And we appreciate it enough to work our fannies off to develop a team that's worthy of winning against that type of feeling, that type of talent and that type of passion for the game.

"If you don't do that for the United States, you're going to lose. You're not going to win by showing up. And our guys know that. The guys that played know that, 100 percent."(Reporting by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Frank Pingue)

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Mobile News on Thursday reported that the HTC Firsts launch has been canceled in the United Kingdom. Facebook, which is footing the bill for HTCs new handset, reportedly made the decision and allpreorders will be canceled.

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The HTC First has been pulled and will never go on sale in the UK, the . Sales in the US were poor and Facebook has taken the decision not to give it a more widespread release.

Engadget followed up on the report and got the following statement from Facebook:

Following customer feedback, Facebook has decided to focus on adding new customization features to Facebook Home over the coming months. While they are working to make a better Facebook Home experience, they have recommended holding off launching the HTC First in the UK, and so we will shortly be contacting those who registered their interest with us to let them know of this decision. Rest assured, we remain committed to bringing our customers the latest mobile experiences, and we will continue to build on our strong relationship with Facebook so as to offer customers new opportunities in the future.

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The 26-year-old, an 11-time champion on various professional tours in Asia, held his nerve in difficult conditions on a firm, fast-running layout to close with a one-under-par 69 at the TPC Four Seasons Resort Las Colinas.

Bae, who had charged four strokes clear with 11 holes to play, fell back into a tie for the lead with overnight pacesetter Keegan Bradley after bogeying the 15th but recovered with a birdie on 16 to post a 13-under total of 267.

"I am very, very happy," a smiling Bae told CBS Sports after sinking a three-footer for par on the 18th green and thrusting both arms skywards in jubilation. "I had a great time.

"Actually I was a little nervous the last hole but that was not a big thing. I did it. This course was really tough and the winds were very strong but I did very well this week."

American Bradley, the 2011 winner who had led after the first three rounds in pursuit of a fourth PGA Tour victory, had to settle for second place after battling to a 72.

"I am disappointed but I will get over it," said Bradley, who took initial control of the tournament after opening with a blistering course record 60.

"There is some good that I can bring out of this but I am happy for Moon. He played really good today."

Former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, who missed several birdie putts from between eight and 15 feet as 40mph winds gusted across the course, was a further stroke back at 10 under after closing with a 68.

Bae, who topped the 2011 Japan Golf Tour order of merit after winning three times, was a stroke behind Bradley overnight but benefited from a two-shot swing at the third to edge one ahead.

FIVE BIRDIES

While Bradley bogeyed the hole after pushing his tee shot right into water, the South Korean recorded the first of five birdies he piled up on the day as he drained a 26-footer.

Bae tightened his grip on the tournament with three consecutive birdies from the fifth, sinking a 22-footer, a five-footer and then two-putting at the par-five seventh to forge four strokes clear at 16 under.

However, Bae stumbled badly at the ninth where he pulled his tee shot way left behind trees before hitting his second into water right of the green on the way to a double-bogey six.

Out in two-under 33, he led Bradley by two strokes at 14 under, the American having sunk a 14-footer to save par at the ninth.

Bae's advantage was briefly cut to one after he found the right rough off the tee and a bunker with his approach to bogey the 10th but Bradley faltered with a three-putt bogey at the 11th to slip two behind the Korean.

As the gusting crosswinds continued to wreak havoc for the players, Bae succumbed to a two-shot swing at the par-four 15th to drop back into a tie for the lead with Bradley.

The Korean bogeyed the hole after lipping out from five feet after the American had made his only birdie of the day by coaxing in an 18-footer.

Bae immediately rebounded with a birdie at the par-five 16th, hitting a spinning wedge to six feet and calmly sinking the putt. Bradley horseshoed out with his birdie attempt from just four feet to hand the Korean a one-stroke advantage.

Bradley's title bid effectively ended at the tricky par-three 17th, where he bogeyed after overshooting the green off the tee.

Two ahead playing the difficult par-four 18th, Bae split the fairway with his drive, then struck a brilliant six-iron to 18 feet to set up a rock-solid par.

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Gene Cherry/Greg Stutchbury)