Serena out of the picture for No. 1

The American opens play at the Staples Center against French Open champ Anastasia Myskina.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Serena Williams squeaked into this week's WTA Championships, but she's out of contention for the year-end No. 1 ranking, leaving Lindsay Davenport and Amelie Mauresmo to contend for the top spot.
"It doesn't matter that I have no real shot at No. 1 because I feel like I have less pressure and it really doesn't matter. It's OK," she said Tuesday. "It's like Tiger (Woods). It's weird when Tiger loses. It's kind of weird when I lose. It's definitely bigger news for me to lose. I make people's careers."
Williams won the tournament in 2001 and lost to Jennifer Capriati in the 2002 final, then missed last year while recovering from knee surgery.
Expectations
She has won two titles and has a 36-7 match record this year -- respectable, but not up to her Grand Slam expectations. Not winning one of the year's four major tournaments "definitely increased my intensity to want to work harder and do better," Williams said.
Her attention isn't entirely on tennis this week.
A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday in the case of a 24-year-old man charged with killing the half-sister of Serena and Venus after jurors said they could not reach a verdict.
A mistrial also was declared Friday in the case of Robert Edward Maxfield's co-defendant, Aaron Michael Hammer, after a separate jury deadlocked in favor of acquittal. Hammer was accused of shooting at Yetunde Price with a .22-caliber handgun in 2003, but prosecutors said the shot that killed her came from Maxfield.
Hoping for best
"It's really hard," Williams said. "Obviously, we want a good ending to it, but we'll see."
Williams opens play at Staples Center tonight against French Open champion Anastasia Myskina, one of five Russians in the eight-player field. U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova plays fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva, and Davenport takes on Elena Dementieva.
"It's a great field and you have to come out in the beginning on your top game," Williams said. "Everyone is going to want to win."
The players are assigned to two four-woman groups and they play each other once. The two players with the best record from each group advance to Sunday's semifinals. The singles winner will earn $1 million and a car to donate to charity.
Sharapova
Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova plays her first match against Kuznetsova on Thursday night, when Mauresmo takes on Zvonareva and Williams plays Dementieva.
Both Davenport and Mauresmo could end the year at No. 1, despite not winning a Grand Slam title. The same thing happened last year to Belgian Kim Clijsters.
"I personally would loved to have a Grand Slam title (this year) and be competing for No. 1," Davenport said. "It's a little bit different of a feeling."
Mauresmo spent five weeks in the top spot after the U.S. Open before Davenport overtook her.
"I have a great opportunity even though Lindsay is still ahead," Mauresmo said. "She's been playing some great tennis the last six months, so she's not going to let it go. It's a good competition."
Poster pushed
Tournament organizers have focused their advertising on Sharapova, the 17-year-old blond beauty who stunned tennis by winning Wimbledon in July. Her leggy image is featured in a tournament poster with the tag line, "The closer you sit the hotter she gets."
Tournament director John Arrix said organizers weren't able to promote Williams because she didn't qualify until late last week, when her older sister Venus lost in Philadelphia, which allowed Serena into the field. Jennifer Capriati also failed to qualify.
Sharapova withdrew from last week's tournament in Philadelphia with a strained right shoulder that she originally injured three weeks ago in Zurich.