Murray beats Federer to win Shanghai Masters

Andy Murray defeated an error-prone Roger Federer 6-3, 6-2 Sunday to win the Shanghai Masters for his second title of the year.

Murray broke the Swiss player's serve four times while fighting off six break points. He also served the six aces, while Federer had three.

Murray didn't drop a set in the tournament and now has beaten Federer eight times in the 13 meetings, including the last two. Murray's win Sunday was the most lopsided match the two have played.

"I love the challenge of playing against him. I don't fear playing him," Murray said. "I don't know if my game matches up well against his or not, but I've played some of my best tennis against Roger."

Federer will rise to become the second-ranked player as a result of reaching the final. He was attempting to win his 64th career title, which would have tied him with Pete Sampras for fourth on the all-time list.

After easily beating Robin Soderling in the quarterfinals and Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, Federer struggled to keep the ball in play against the Murray, particularly on the forehand side.

Federer hit three forehand errors and a double-fault to give Murray a break in the first game of the match. The Scot then broke Federer a second time to win the set by chasing down a drop shot and flicking a forehand into the open court for a winner.

"I got a lot of free points on my serve," Murray said. "I didn't give him any chances to go for it. I threw some with a lot of kick on, some slice, some into his forehand."

Lakers beat Nuggets 102-95

Kobe Bryant had 18 points and eight rebounds before sitting out the fourth quarter and Lamar Odom teamed with four Los Angeles Lakers reserves to help preserve a 17-point lead and hold off the Denver Nuggets for a 102-95 exhibition victory on Saturday night.

Odom and reserve Devin Ebanks each had 14 points for the Lakers, who returned to Staples Center for the first time since beating the Boston Celtics in the Game 7 of the NBA finals on June 17 to win their second straight championship and 16th in the franchise history.

Six Nuggets scored in the double digits, including the former UCLA star Aaron Afflalo with 20. Carmelo Anthony, the subject of non-stop trade speculation ever since he thumbed his nose at a three-year, $65 million extension the Nuggets offered him in June, was rested by coach George Karl after getting 30 points and 24 rebounds Thursday night in a 100-95 victory over the Clippers.

Anderson suffers rib injury

England's pace spearhead James Anderson is set to be fit for the opening Ashes Test despite cracking a rib during the team's recent boot camp.

The England squad took part in a five-day bonding camp in the Germany following the conclusion of their series against Pakistan two weeks ago and some of the drills included boxing sessions between team-mates.

Anderson, though, took a heavy blow to the ribs during one of the sessions - cracking a rib in a process

And although initial reports suggested this would make him a doubt for the first two Ashes Tests which start on November 25 in Brisbane and December 3 in the Adelaide respectively, the ECB has allayed the fears.

A statement read: "The ECB can confirm James Anderson sustained a cracked rib during England's recent preparation camp in Germany.

"Anderson is continuing his training programme ahead of the Ashes tour and will fly out to Australia with England's Test squad on October 29.

"It is anticipated that he will be fit and available for selection for the first Test match against Australia in Brisbane."

Pedrosa taking it step by step

The Repsol Honda rider was back on his RC212V for the first time two weeks to the day after fracturing his collarbone, as he took to the track for the FP1 at the Iveco Australian Grand Prix.

Dani Pedrosa took the next step in his recovery from his fractured collarbone on Friday when he made his return to the action in the opening practice session at the Phillip Island. The Repsol Honda rider completed just seven laps as he took an understandably cautious approach to testing his comfort level on his factory RC212V in the wet conditions.

“The plan today was simply to check my condition on the bike – in these conditions I didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks. What I can say is that I had some strength to move on the bike and put pressure on the handlebars which is good,” explained the 25 year-old.

“However, I didn’t feel very comfortable with the leathers because they were tight and there was pressure but even with that I could do some laps and tomorrow I will try again – we will go step-by-step. Now it’s quite painful but we will see how the pain goes through the night and tomorrow we will take another step. We knew it wouldn’t be easy but I just hope that the effort is worth it in the end.”

Adverse weather conditions overnight made the first practice on the Friday a wet affair and Pedrosa is hoping for an improved physical feeling in Saturday’s second session before qualifying.

“To ride in wet conditions is more smooth than in the dry, but also more risky. The asphalt today was very, very cold and here it’s a problem because on the right hand turns you don’t have any grip at all,” continued Pedrosa. “The hardest point was braking, changing direction and in the right hand corners because I have to stretch my arms a lot, but I hope we can work a little bit on the leathers to make it more comfortable for tomorrow. Afterwards I went to the Clinica Mobile and they told me that now I need to relax the muscles. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.”

Pedrosa secured his first Phillip Island premier class podium with third place in last year’s race.

British Judge Rules Against Owners in Liverpool Dispute

A British judge ruled against Liverpool's American owners Wednesday, clearing the way for the sale of the debt-ridden Premier League club after a bitter boardroom battle.

The owners of the Boston Red Sox and a Singapore billionaire are both bidding to buy the club, with a decision expected by the Liverpool board on Wednesday night.

High Court Judge Christopher Floyd ruled that current Liverpool co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr. do not have the power to oust the boardroom rivals who sanctioned the sale.

The board agreed last week, against the wishes of Hicks and Gillett, to sell the club to New England Sports Ventures for $476 million.

The New England group, which runs the Red Sox and is headed by financier John Henry, welcomed Wednesday's court ruling as a "huge step forward" for Liverpool.

The company said it has a "binding agreement in place" with the Liverpool board and looks forward to concluding the deal.

Lee Fans 11, Carries Texas Into ALCS

ST. PETERSBURG, -- The Texas Rangers mobbed Cliff Lee in front of the pitcher's mound before trotting off to the clubhouse for a celebration of 50 seasons in the making.

Champagne was on ice, but first the AL West champions slipped on the red T-shirts, fitted themselves with the goggles and toasted the first playoff series victory in the franchise history with plastic bottles of ginger ale.

The bubbly flowed only after Josh Hamilton left the room.

The major league batting champion, who overcame alcohol and drug problems to revive his career, appreciated the show of the support.

"I'm speechless. This is so unbelievable," Hamilton said Tuesday night after the Rangers beat Tampa Bay 5-1 in the decisive Game 5 of the AL division series.

"For my teammates to understand why I can't be part of the celebration, for them to adapt it, it's amazing," he added. "It shows a lot about them."

Cliff Lee added another impressive line to his sparkling October resume, striking out 11 in a six-hitter that stopped the Rays from finishing an improbable comeback in a series in which the road team won every game -- a first in major league history.

"It was a lot of fun, I know that much," Lee said. "We had our back against the wall today and we came out and performed."

The Rangers will host the defending champion Yankees in the opener of the best-of-seven ALCS on Friday night. Texas' three previous playoff appearances ended with first-round losses to New York, in 1996, '98 and '99.

Shanghai success for Roddick

American No.1 Roddick was leading 6-3 2-1 when unseeded with German Kohlschreiber, who was clearly out of the sorts, called it a day.

"We've all been on the bad side of having to pull out of a match. It's not fun," Roddick said.

Chinese wildcard Bai Yan delighted home fans by causing the shock of the day to defeat the world number 30 Radek Stepanek.

Bai, ranked 465 in the world, converted all the four break points he earned to send the Czech star packing 6-3 6-4.

"It's my first time in a top level tournament, so it's really an unexpected performance for me," said 21-year-old.

Fellow home-grown wildcard Zhang Ze gave Croatian Ivan Ljubicic a scare before the Croatian veteran restored order with a 5-7 6-3 6-4 win.

Spain's David Ferrer bounced back from losing the China Open final 24-hours earlier with a 7-6 6-1 win over Frenchman Michael Llodra.

Roddick's compatriot John Isner narrowly avoided an early exit at the hands of Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot, winning 4-6 7-6 7-6.