Sports briefs: Washington State suspends top receiver

college football • Washington State star receiver Marquess Wilson was suspended Monday for an unspecified violation of team rules, and will miss Saturday's game against No. 17 UCLA. Cougars coach Mike Leach declined to say why Wilson was suspended, although he said the punishment would last at least a week.

The Moscow-Pullman Daily News reported Monday that Wilson stormed out of a team practice early Sunday evening. Washington State (2-7, 0-6) was blown out 49-6 at Utah on Saturday for its sixth consecutive loss. Afterward, Leach complained that the effort of his players was "bordering on cowardice."

"That could have been a zombie convention," he said of his team's play immediately after the game.

Wilson, a junior, has been the target of Leach's criticism for much of the season, and recently has been demoted from his starting position despite leading the team in receiving. Wilson has caught 52 passes for 813 yards and five touchdowns this season.

He caught 82 passes for 1,388 yards and 12 touchdowns last season.

Leach said Wilson's return was up in the air.

"It would depend on circumstances and we'd have a discussion," Leach said.

Djokovic, Murray win ATP matches

tennis • Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray won their opening matches at the ATP Final in London, setting up a showdown between two of the top three players in the world. The top-ranked Djokovic beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (4), 6-3 in Group A, after third-ranked Murray rallied to defeat Tomas Berdych 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Djokovic and Murray will play Wednesday. The ATP finals is the season-ending tournament for the top eight players in the world. Fourth-ranked Rafael Nadal, however, pulled out because of injury.

NASCAR clears Johnson on restart

auto racing • A NASCAR official said Monday that Jimmie Johnson did nothing wrong on the final restart of Sunday's race at Texas Motor Speedway despite howls from fans on social media to the contrary.

"To me it looked pretty fair and square," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president of competition.

Johnson took the lead from Brad Keselowski off the restart and led the final two laps to win. The victory gives him a seven-point advantage on Keselowski in the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings heading into the final two races of the season.

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