It used to be that Venus Williams was the one who was highly ranked, the one considered a title contender, the one who would dominate foes so thoroughly that matches would be tidily wrapped up in an hour.

Now 31, and figuring out from day to day how to handle an illness that saps her strength, Williams was on the wrong end of a lopsided 60-minute defeat in the second round of the French Open on Wednesday.

Andie MacDowell will be a pioneer for the Hallmark Channel, starring in the network's first prime-time series.

Hallmark said Wednesday that MacDowell will portray municipal court Judge Olivia Lockhart in "Cedar Grove." It will start with a two-hour movie airing later this year and continue with a 13-episode series early in 2013.

Colombian superstar Juanes said singer-songwriter-producer Juan Luis Guerra got him out of his comfort zone when the musician started rearranging his songs for his "MTV Unplugged" taping.

And Juanes was happy to take on the challenge.

Roger Federer dropped a set before earning his record-breaking 234th Grand Slam match victory to reach the third round of the French Open.

Federer eliminated 92nd-ranked Adrian Ungur of Romania 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-3 Wednesday to break a tie with Jimmy Connors for most career wins at major tournaments in the Open era, which began in 1968.

The president of the Syrian Olympic Committee says nine athletes from the war-torn country have qualified for the London Olympics and will compete "despite all pressures, media war and threats to ban them."

Gen. Mowaffak Joumaa says Syria plans to send up to 10 athletes and several officials even though a travel ban looms against top officials.

Nestled nearly 5,000 feet beneath the earth in the gold boom town of Lead, S.D., is a laboratory that could help scientists answer some pretty heavy questions about life, its origins and the universe.

It's hard to spot from the surface. Looking around the rustic town, there are far more nods to its mining past than to its scientific future, but on Wednesday, when part of the closed Homestake Gold Mine officially becomes an underground campus, Lead's name will be known in scientific circles as the place where the elusive stuff called dark matter might finally be detected.

Qatar issued arrest orders for the owner of a fire-ravaged mall and four others as investigations widened Wednesday into possible safety lapses during a blaze that killed 19 people, including 13 children at a daycare center catering to the Gulf nation's large expatriate community.

The official Qatar News Agency said Attorney General Ali bin Feitais al-Marri also ordered the detention of the owner of the child care facility where the children and four workers died in Monday's fire at the Gulf nation's biggest mall. The others facing arrest are mall officials, including the director of security.

Vandals have badly damaged a rare 1,600-year-old mosaic in the northern Israeli city of Tiberias that formed the floor of an ancient synagogue, smashing parts to rubble and scrawling graffiti, antiquity officials say.

Experts suspect extremist Jews who object, sometimes violently, to excavations they claim involve ancient grave sites. There was no claim of responsibility. Police are investigating.

Maria Sharapova was nearly perfect in the first round of the French Open, winning all 12 games to produce a "double bagel."

The second-seeded Russian easily beat Alexandra Cadantu of Romania 6-0, 6-0 Tuesday, needing just 48 minutes to advance to the second round. She finished the match with 18 winners, while Cadantu had zero, but had to save three break points.

Injury doubts Danny Welbeck and Glen Johnson were both passed fit to play at Euro 2012 after being included in England's final 23-man squad for the tournament on Tuesday.

Manchester United striker Welbeck and Liverpool defender Johnson missed last Saturday's 1-0 friendly victory over Norway in Oslo because of lingering fitness issues.