Chargers give Smith five-year extension

After building the San Diego Chargers into a consistent playoff contender -- if not yet a postseason success -- General Manager A.J. Smith received a five-year contract extension Tuesday that will keep him with the team through 2014.

Details weren’t announced, but various reports said the extension was worth $11 million.

Smith didn’t return phone calls seeking comment.

Smith’s previous contract was due to expire following the 2009 season. He was promoted in April 2003 after John Butler died of cancer.

The Chargers won the AFC West for the third time in four seasons under Smith. They’ll try to break a four-game postseason losing streak dating to January 1995 when they play host to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday in the wild-card round.

The Denver Broncos have more work to do in rebuilding their offensive line after left tackle Matt Lepsis told Coach Mike Shanahan he’s retiring. Lepsis, who turns 34 this month, acknowledged his play slipped in his 11th season after returning from ACL surgery on his right knee.

TENNIS

Top-seeded Nadal wins, but No. 2 Baghdatis loses

Top-seeded Rafael Nadal beat Mathieu Montcourt, 6-2, 6-4, in the first round of the Chennai Open in India, and second-seeded Marcos Baghdatis lost to Robin Haase, 6-3, 6-4. Eighth-seeded Marc Gicquel also lost, falling to Kristof Vliegen, 7-6 (5), 6-4. Third-seeded Carlos Moya beat Teimuraz Gabashvili, 6-4, 6-1.

Lleyton Hewitt started his season with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Dudi Sela in the first round of the Australian men’s hardcourt championship at Adelaide. . . . Top-seeded Nicole Vaidisova was down a set and saved three break points at 4-4 in the second before beating Casey Dellacqua, 5-7, 7-5, 6-0, in the Australian women’s hardcourt championships at Gold Coast, Australia. . . . Top-seeded Vera Zvonareva beat Sofia Arvidsson, 6-2, 6-3, today to reach her third quarterfinal in the ASB Classic women’s tournament at Auckland, New Zealand. In another second-round match today, Lindsay Davenport beat fifth-seeded Annabel Medina Garrigues, 6-1, 4-6, 6-0. . . . Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko advanced to the second round of the Qatar Open with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Benedikt Dorsch.

SOCCER

Da Silva’s goal keeps Arsenal in first place

Eduardo da Silva scored his fifth goal in three games, helping Arsenal to a 2-0 win over West Ham that kept the Gunners atop the English Premier League standings.

Second-place Manchester United beat Birmingham, 1-0, on a 25th-minute goal by Carlos Tevez.

Scottish player Phil O’Donnell, who collapsed in a game Saturday, died of heart failure, his club, Motherwell, said. “The post-mortem revealed that Phil had suffered left ventricular failure of the heart,” Motherwell team doctor Robert Liddle said in a statement.

MISCELLANY

South Korean boxer declared brain dead

Choi Yoi-sam, a South Korean boxer who lost consciousness after winning a World Boxing Organization intercontinental flyweight bout last week, has been declared brain dead. Choi, 33, had been in a coma since shortly after winning the fight against Indonesian challenger Heri Amol in Seoul on Dec. 25.

Gregor Schlierenzauer got his first win of the season on the second stop of the Four Hills ski jumping tournament at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. The 17-year-old Austrian soared 141.0 meters on his second jump, five meters farther than anyone else, to finish with 274.4 points.