Phil Mickelson survived another scare at the Accenture Match Play Championship on Thursday, beating Zach Johnson 1-up in a second-round matchup of Masters winners.

The fifth-seeded Mickelson was the highest remaining seed after Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington and Vijay Singh went home.

For the second day in a row, Mickelson staggered to the victory.

Mickelson was 4-up with five holes to play, but his lead quickly shrunk to 1-up after he bogeyed the 14th hole, then watched Johnson birdie the 15th and 17th.

Mickelson finally closed out the match with a par 4 on 18.

“I had a couple chances with a couple of short putts on 14 and 15 that could have ended the match earlier, but he fought hard to extend the match,” said Mickelson, who has reached the third round for the first time since 2006, when he lost to David Howell.

The match played out much the same as Mickelson’s 19-hole victory over Angel Cabrera in the opening round. Mickelson was 4-up with five to play against Cabrera, who squared the match on the 17th hole.

Mickelson said he has been working on his swing with coach Butch Harmon this week. Mickelson will face Stewart Cink on Friday.

Cink said he’s looking forward to the match.

“He has the ability to play really bad for a little while and then just play as well as anybody in the world,” Cink said. “So who knows what’s going to happen. I just hope I have a decent game of my own tomorrow.”

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ALL-ENGLAND CLUB: Seven Englishmen entered the tournament. Five have reached the third round – Paul Casey, Luke Donald, Ross Fisher, Oliver Wilson and Ian Poulter.

Another Englishman, Lee Westwood, lost to Stewart Cink in 23 holes.

“Obviously, it’s great for European golf, and it’s great for English golf,” said Fisher, who routed American Pat Perez 6 and 5 on Thursday. “We’ve got some really good youngsters coming through, as well, that aren’t here this week. They’re playing on the European Tour. I think the future is very bright, not only for European golf but for English and British golf.”

Wilson’s 2-and-1 victory over American Anthony Kim may have seemed like an upset. But it didn’t come as a surprise to Wilson, who teamed with Henrik Stenson to beat Kim and Phil Mickelson in the Ryder Cup.

“(Kim is) a great player, and obviously the Ryder Cup, I think, maybe helped me a little bit, knowing that I already beat him before,” said Wilson, who will face Justin Leonard on Friday.

Wilson lost the first hole but fired eight birdies the rest of the way to send Kim packing.

Donald was 2-down with two holes to go but rallied to defeat Vijay Singh in 19 holes, reaching sudden death after Singh bogeyed the 18th.

Donald also needed 19 holes to beat Ben Curtis in the opening round.

“My wife keeps telling me, ‘Can’t you just win on the 12th or 13th one of these days,’ to make it easier on her heart,” Donald said. “I was just pleased to take it into extra holes after being two down with two to play, but feel I just snatched this one out of nowhere.”

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RORY ROLLS: Down two holes through 12, Rory McIlroy finished with a kick, birdieing four of the last six holes to beat Hunter Mahan 1-up.

“I saved my best for last,” McIlroy said. “I dug deep and played my best golf when I needed to, which is very satisfying.”

The 19-year-old from Northern Ireland had said it would be a dream to meet Tiger Woods in the third round, but that won’t happen. Instead, McIlroy will face Tim Clark, who eliminated Woods on Thursday.

“It’s probably a good thing,” McIlroy said. “I’ll be the first to say if I stood on the first tee with Tiger, I would be intimidated because he has been a hero of mine for the past I don’t know how many years.

“It would have been great to play him, but maybe another time,” McIlroy said.

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LONG AND SHORT OF IT: Stewart Cink needed 23 holes to beat Lee Westwood.

Camilo Villegas has played a total of 26 holes in the first two rounds.

In the longest match of the tourney, Cink was 1-up with two holes to play. But Westwood birdied the 17th, and the players swapped shots until Westwood bogeyed the 23rd hole.

Cink has played 42 holes this week. He needed 19 to eliminate Richard Sterne in the first round.

“I’m tired, but when you’re that close in your matches, 1-up and 1-down, you never were more than one hole separated, today or yesterday, the adrenaline’s always right there,” Cink said. “So you don’t really feel tired until after you get back to the hotel, maybe relax a little bit.”

While Cink sweated out his victory on a sundrenched afternoon, Villegas had time take a dip in the pool.

One day after closing out Rod Pampling in 12 holes, Villegas beat Miguel Angel Jimenez in 14 holes (5 and 4).

Villegas has led for 24 of 26 holes so far. He’ll try to keep rolling against Geoff Ogilvy on Friday.

Asked if he would see the par-3, 247-yard 16th this week, Villegas replied, “Let me tell you something: I just try to focus on each shot and hopefully we can keep winning.”

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THEY’RE BACK: On a day defending champ Tiger Woods was eliminated, only three players reached the third round for the second straight year – Stewart Cink, Paul Casey and Justin Leonard.

Last year, Cink beat Leonard 4 and 2 in the semifinals before losing the championship match to Woods.

Cink is the only player who has made the third round three years in a row.

Woods’ swing looked as good as it did eight months ago when he won the U.S. Open. His knee felt so strong that when Woods discovered his tee shot into the desert on the 15th hole hit a cart path and went out of bounds – a shot that ended any hope of a rally – he chose to walk 350 yards back to the tee instead of accepting a ride in the cart.

He poured in six birdies and constantly put the pressure on Woods throughout a sunny day in the high desert. Clark won, 4 and 2, when he hit his tee shot to 4 feet that Woods conceded for birdie after failing to chip in from off the green.

Phil Mickelson, the No. 5 seed who survived another scare, is the highest-rated player left in a tournament that is now down to 16 players.

Clark, who has four victories around the world but is 0-for-176 on the PGA Tour, next plays Rory McIlroy, the 19-year-old whiz kid from Northern Ireland, who birdied his last two holes for a 1-up victory over Hunter Mahan.

Mayakoba Classic

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Bo Van Pelt birdied seven of his last nine holes Thursday for a 7-under 63 and the first-round lead. He started the run with four straight birdies, then birdied three of the final four holes, including about a 2-foot putt to close the round in style.

Chris Riley and Jarrod Lyle opened with 65s. Rookie Scott Piercy, who has three top-25 finishes in four starts this year, was in a group at 66.

Defending champion Brian Gay was tied for 20th at 68. David Toms – the world’s 65th-ranked player, leaving him one spot from making the Match Play field – shot a 70.

Except he didn’t plan on leaving this early.

Woods had no complaints with his game or his knee, but he had no answer Thursday for Tim Clark of South Africa, who played 16 holes without a bogey and knocked the world’s No. 1 player out of the Accenture Match Play Championship.

So where does Woods go from here?

“I go to the airport,” he said

His swing looked as good as it did eight months ago when he won the U.S. Open. His knee felt so strong that when Woods discovered his tee shot into the desert on the 15th hole hit a cart path and went out of bounds – a shot that ended any hope of a rally – he chose to walk 350 yards back to the tee instead of accepting a ride in the cart.

“I knew I had to play out of my mind to beat him,” Clark said.

And he did, pouring in six birdies and constantly putting the pressure on Woods throughout a sunny day in the high desert. Clark won, 4 and 2, when he hit his tee shot to 4 feet that Woods conceded for birdie after failing to chip in from off the green.

“I hit it really good today,” Woods said. “I just didn’t make enough birdies. Tim made some birdies there, and I didn’t answer him in the middle part of the round, and consequently I got behind.”

Only about 100 fans remained late in the afternoon at Dove Mountain, which surely will lack the energy it had the first two days to welcome back golf’s biggest star. Phil Mickelson, the No. 5 seed who survived another scare, is the highest-rated player left in a tournament that is now down to 16 players.

The good news for golf is that it probably won’t have to wait eight months to see him again.

Woods likely will play in two weeks at Doral in the CA Championship, although he said he would wait to see how his left knee felt. This was his first tournament since reconstructive surgery on the knee one week after he won the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in June.

Clark, a pesky opponent with a sharp short game, didn’t give him much of a chance.

“I was really working hard to keep myself calm and try to play my own game,” Clark said. “I put a lot of iron shots pretty close, and I think perhaps he wasn’t expecting that or not. But I don’t think I’m ever going to intimidate Tiger Woods, let’s put it that way.”

Clark, who has four victories around the world but is 0-for-176 on the PGA Tour, next plays a teenager who might be the best hope of bringing some attention back to this World Golf Championship.

Rory McIlroy, the 19-year-old whiz kid from Northern Ireland, birdied his last two holes for a 1-up victory over Hunter Mahan. He would have been Woods’ next opponent.

“It would have been great to play him,” McIlroy said. “You have to play well to beat Tiger, and obviously Tim did that today.”

Woods, the defending champion, had gone 82 consecutive holes without trailing until he caught a plugged lie in a bunker on the sixth hole and failed to save par. He squared the match with a 10-foot birdie on the next hole, and it was tied at the turn.

Then, Clark took over.

Starting with the par-5 11th, he won three straight holes with birdies, and was poised to go 4 up when Woods went bunker-to-bunker on the 14th hole. Woods, however, revived the gallery by blasting out of the sand and into the cup for a birdie to win the hole.

The rally was on. And then it ended.

Woods’ tee shot on the 331-yard 15th hit a cart path right of the fairway and headed into the desert. Only when Woods reached the ball did he learn it had gone over a fence and out of bounds.

Even then, he kept it interesting. Woods hit driver for his third shot to 20 feet, and Clark expected him to make it to halve the hole. Instead, the putt missed on the high side, and the match ended one hole later.

Vijay Singh, the No. 4 seed, lost his last three holes and was beaten by Luke Donald of England in 19 holes.

Besides Mickelson, who is coming off a victory last week at Riviera, the only other top-10 players remaining were No. 8 seed Geoff Ogilvy, who won in 19 holes for the second straight day, this time against Shingo Katayama; and No. 9 seed Camilo Villegas, who beat Miguel Angel Jimenez, 5 and 4. Villegas has played only 26 holes in two rounds.

It was a big day for England, which had five players advance to the third round, same as the Americans. Leading the way was Oliver Wilson, who made eight birdies and needed them all in a 2-and-1 victory over Anthony Kim.

Woods wound up playing 32 holes, and said everything felt great – except for losing.

“I was really pleased, walking down these cart paths, and obviously playing and getting into the rhythm of playing,” Woods said. “I have no soreness, have no pain. Now it’s just a matter of getting back and playing, and playing more rounds.”

One shot that gets overlooked is one Clark never expected to make.

He was on the back end of the fifth green, two tiers above the hole, when he jokingly asked Woods to move his marker one spot over. Moments later, however, Clark asked him to tamp down his coin. Then, his putt rolled right over Woods’ mark, down the ridge and broke left toward the cup. Clark raised his arm and pointed his index finger as the birdie putt made its final turn.

Woods beat Clark, 5 and 4, in the second round two years ago. That wound up helping the South African.

“I knew what to expect,” Clark said. “I knew how I reacted to it then, and I kind of knew a few things that I had to do differently. I just tried to calm myself down.”

That wasn’t easy on the 14th, when Clark was poised to put him away.

Woods was in the bunker when he holed it out for birdie, and Clark remembered what happened last year when Woods rallied from three holes down with a birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle blitz against J.B. Holmes.

“I figured, ‘Well, here we go. It’s about to start now,”‘ Clark said. “I figured the match was probably going to go to 18, even when I was 3-up with three to play. You fully expect him to do something.”

Except leave this early.

The men’s and women’s professional tours announced the creation of TennisTV.com on Tuesday, offering streaming video from 41 events, including the Masters series and the season-ending championships but excluding the four Grand Slam tournaments.

Not everyone around the world, however, will be able to purchase a pass to the site. The WTA is excluding users in all European countries and some others, while the ATP is not offering the live service in Brazil, according to the Web site.

The men’s and women’s finals of this year’s Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fla., will also be blacked out in the United States.

Where it is available, subscribers will be charged $129.95 for a full access pass to the season. A men’s pass runs $84.95, and a women’s pass costs $69.95. Viewers can also purchase day or tournament-specific passes for lower prices.

“This is an incredibly exciting time for the future of tennis viewing,” WTA president Stacey Allaster said in a statement. “For the first time we will be able to deliver live broadcast quality matches from both tours’ top level tournaments to online audiences around the world.”

Overall, the two tours plan to provide eligible fans with access to about 700 live streaming matches, interviews and matches on demand. Coverage will start with this week’s Sydney International in Australia.

Last year, the WTA Tour’s Web site broadcast a live women’s match – in select countries – for free for the first time. The live feed of the Pacific Life Open final was not available to users in the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia or any country in Europe.

Besides Europe, WTA matches on TennisTV.com will also be excluded from viewers in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia. Also, the Sydney International won’t be shown in Australia.

Despite charging to watch live matches in 2009, TennisTV.com will offer highlights from both tours for free.

“Tennis fans are changing the way they view the sport and we need to ensure we change with them,” ATP media CEO Steve Plasto said. “This is the place to watch live and on demand tennis online.”

Singles

Second Round

Magdalena Rybarikova, Slovakia, def. Flavia Pennetta (1), Italy, 7-5, 6-3.

Melinda Czink, Hungary, def. Urszula Radwanska, Poland, 4-2, ret.

Gisela Dulko, Argentina, def. Zheng Jie (4), China, 6-3, 6-3.

Iveta Benesova, Czech Republic, def. Mara Santangelo, Italy, 6-3, 6-1.

Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic, def. Alona Bondarenko (7), Ukraine, 6-2, 6-1.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia, def. Carla Suarez-Navarro, Spain, 6-4, 6-1.

Virginie Razzano, France, def. Anne Keothavong, Britain, 4-6, 6-0, 7-5.

Tvsetana Pironkova, Bulgaria, def. Olga Govortsova, Belarus, 6-1, 6-2.

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Heineken Open results

Results on Tuesday from the Heineken Open, an ATP tournament on Supreme hardcourts (seeding in parentheses).

Singles

First Round

Philipp Kohlschreiber (5), Germany, def. Dominik Hrbaty, Slovakia, 6-1, 6-2.

Gilles Muller, Luxembourg, def. Francois Serra, France, 6-3, 6-4.

John Isner, United States, def. Albert Montanes (7), Spain, 7-6 (4), 7-5.

Lu Yen-hsun, Taiwan, def. Steve Darcis, Belgium, 7-6 (5), 6-2.

Ernests Gulbis, Latvia, def. Marcel Granollers, Spain, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1.

Bobby Reynolds, United States, def. Oscar Hernandez, Spain, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-2.

Marc Gicquel, France, def. Agustin Calleri, Argentina, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Juan Monaco, Argentina, def. Victor Hanescu, Romania, 6-3, 6-4.

Pennetta, the No. 1 seed and No. 13 in the world rankings, struggled with her serve and was broken five times in the second-round match.

“It’s okay. It’s better to lose here than in Melbourne – it’s no big deal,” Pennetta said of her preparation for next week’s Australian Open.

She followed fourth-seeded Zheng Ji of China and seventh-seeded Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine out in the second round on a day when temperatures reached 99 degrees. Argentina’s Gisela Dulko beat Zheng 6-3, 6-3 and Czech player Petra Kvitova had a 6-2, 6-1 win over Bondarenko.

The other seeded players gone before the end of the second round were Patty Schnyder (2) of Switzerland, Ana Chakvetadze (3) of Russia, Hungary’s Agnes Szavay (5), Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak (6) and Tamarine Tanasugarn (8) of Thailand.

In other results Tuesday, Melinda Czink of Hungary advanced when Urszula Radwanska retired while trailing 4-2 in the first set, Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic beat Italy’s Mara Santangelo 6-3, 6-1 and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia had a 6-4, 6-1 win over Spain’s Carla Suarez-Navarro.

In the night match, Tvsetana Pironkova of Bulgaria raced to a 6-1, 6-2 win over Olga Govortsova of Belarus.

On Jan. 6, Djokovic lost in straight sets to Ernests Gulbis of Latvia at the Brisbane International and said he was struggling to find his rhythm with a new racket and wasn’t overly concerned about the loss.

On Wednesday, he backed up that claim with a strong display against Mathieu, of France, in searing heat at the Olympic Park Tennis Centre. Those temperatures should help him set up for his defense at the Australian Open beginning Monday in Melbourne, where, about 500 miles to the south, it tends to get just as equally hot and steamy.

The Serbian’s serve still wasn’t perfect Wednesday with the new racket, but he was helped by Mathieu, who was only able to take advantage of three of his seven break-point chances.

Djokovic received a first-round bye along with three other top seeds, and two of them advanced along with him on Wednesday to the quarterfinals – No. 3 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, whom Djokovic beat in the Australian Open final last year, and No. 4 David Nalbandian of Argentina.

Tsonga beat Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-4, 6-1, although Tsonga was troubled by a back and twice received treatment during his match at Ken Rosewall Arena. Nalbandian beat Michael Llodra of France 6-1, 6-3.

Croatia’s Mario Ancic beat seventh-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain 6-2, 6-1 and next plays Djokovic in the quarterfinals. Second-seeded Gilles Simon of France played countryman Richard Gasquet later Wednesday.

Top-seeded Serena Williams of the United States was scheduled to play Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in a quarterfinal match later at the joint ATP-WTA tournament.

“For several weeks this summer, I no longer had a head for football. I had completely lost the fire. I no longer wanted to hear talk of targets or ambition,” the Ivory Coast striker said in an interview with France Football magazine published Tuesday. “I had absolutely no excitement or adrenaline. I felt completely extinguished. For the first time in my career, I had lost the passion for football. I was lost.”

Drogba, who joined Chelsea from Marseille in 2004, told the magazine that he was profoundly shaken by the death of his grandmother in June.

“I felt as if all of my childhood memories were flying away. I felt I had aged brutally,” the 30-year-old Drogba said. “For a long time, I put football on hold. After my injury, I really wasn’t in a hurry to return, nor very motivated.”

Drogba missed the start of the season with a knee injury, and was then given a three-game ban for throwing a coin back at fans who jeered him after scoring a goal. Despite the setbacks, Drogba said “this break was good for me. I now feel very strong, with a huge appetite.”

He also said he understood why Chelsea manager Luiz Felipe Scolari is leaving him more on the bench this season in favor of Nicolas Anelka, currently the Premier League’s top scorer.

“For the moment, I can only keep quiet,” France Football quoted Drogba as saying. “It is not because I have been here for more than four years that I have a right to make demands to be in the starting lineup. At the moment, there’s a guy at the front who is hot and racking up goals. I must wait my turn.”

But he suggested that Scolari pair him with Anelka more often in attack.

“I have always said that I was happy that Nicolas came to Chelsea. But I still cannot understand why managers are afraid to put us together,” Drogba said. “He and I are waiting for just one thing – to be able to play together. But really together – not one in the center and the other on the left wing.”

Vitesse general director Paul van der Kraan said faith had been lost in the 60-year-old Westerhof, who had only been in charge since the beginning of the season and with his team 15th in the 18-team Eredivisie.

“It’s a shame but in our evaluation we realized there is no basis to continue with Hans,” Van der Kraan said on Vitesse’s Web site.

Westerhof declined to comment. His future had been in doubt since last month when he called his own central defenders substandard after a 1-1 draw with AZ Alkmaar and the comment was picked up by a microphone.

Vitesse did not immediately announce a successor.

The match ended in confusion after referee Steve Bennett changed his mind after appearing to award Hull a penalty deep into injury time when Villa winger Ashley Young looked to have handled Ian Ashbee’s header on the line.

“The referee got it wrong because he gave it originally,” Hull manager Phil Brown said. “The linesman took up a position that he was giving the penalty but for some reason they’ve changed their mind between them.

“The referee is 15 yards away but he consults a linesman who was 40 yards away from the incident.”

But TV replays, which showed that the crossbar had denied Hull an equalizer, vindicated Bennett’s apparent change of heart.

“I didn’t touch it with my hand, you can clearly see it was going over,” Young said. “I was just seeing it out and we got our reward at the end of the day.

“It’s clear, I think, that it’s hit the bar and gone over. The referee has given the penalty then changed his mind and he deserves credit for that.”

Hull deserved a point for their tenacity against a Villa side creating little and struggling to find the target, but the third loss in a row left Brown’s side with a sense of injustice.

And Villa got its goal only in the 88th minute on the counterattack when Zayatte inadvertently volleyed Young’s cross beyond his own goalkeeper while under pressure from Gabriel Agbonlahor.

“We didn’t play well tonight,” Villa manager Martin O’Neill said. “These Premier League games are hard. We came with plenty of confidence but it didn’t happen in the first half.

“It was a great win for us tonight. We just keep putting pressure on the sides around us.”

Aston Villa was fourth with 38 points, below defending champion Manchester United, which has two games in hand, on goal difference. Liverpool has 45 points and tops the standings from Chelsea by three points.

While it was the same Villa lineup that recovered a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on Friday, Hull manager Phil Brown ditched five players from the side that was embarrassed 5-1 at Manchester City.

Hull had a goal disallowed after five minutes when Nick Barmby challenged Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel in the air, making him spill the ball, enabling him to bundle it into an empty net.

“With a bit of fortune we could have got our noses in front,” Brown said. “I would like to see the Nick Barmby incident again. We didn’t seem to get those decisions tonight.”