TENNIS
Murray beats Nadal in Abu Dhabi final In a strong performance leading to the Australian Open, Scotland's Andy Murray has beaten Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on consecutive days.
The Scotsman defeated the top-ranked Nadal 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 Saturday and won the Capitala World Tennis Championship exhibition and $250,000 winner-take-all prize in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. A day earlier in the semifinals, he topped the No. 2-ranked Federer 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6).
Murray, who put on more muscle during the offseason, is ranked No. 4 and has yet to win a Grand Slam. He has a chance to change that at the Australian Open, which starts Jan. 19.
Alize Cornet overcame fatigue and French teammate Gilles Simon overcame some rustiness to beat Taiwan at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia. France will play Italy on Tuesday. The defending champion United States, represented by Meghann Shaughnessy and James Blake, will take on Slovakia on Monday.
HOCKEY
Canada, Sweden set for gold-medal game Four-time defending champion Canada advanced to the gold medal game against Sweden with a wild 6-5 semifinal shootout victory over Russia in the world junior hockey championships in Ottawa.
Jordan Eberle and John Tavares scored for Canada in the shootout, and goalie Dustin Tokarski stopped both Russian shots. Canada blew four leads and then tied the score 5-5 on an Eberle goal with only 5.4 seconds left on the clock and the goalie pulled for a sixth attacker.
The 10-minute overtime, played almost whistle-free in an atmosphere of tremendous tension, settled nothing.
The victory, before a sellout crowd of 19,327, put Canada in its eighth consecutive gold medal game at the IIHF World U20 Championship. It's the second consecutive such matchup against Sweden. The teams will meet at Scotiabank Place on Monday night. Sweden advanced by scoring four goals in the third period for a 5-3 victory over Slovakia and its brilliant goalie, Jaroslav Janus.
WINTER SPORTS
Germany wins Nordic combined World Cup Germany won the four-man team competition of the Nordic combined World Cup event in Schonach, Germany. Georg Hettich, Eric Frenzel, Bjoern Kircheisen and Tino Edelmann finished 16.9 seconds ahead of Norway in the 20-kilometer relay. The U.S. team of Todd Lodwick, Bill Demong, Johnny Spillane and Brett Camerota finished sixth overall.
Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch of Germany won their first World Cup luge doubles race of the season in Koenigssee, Germany. Mark Grimmette of Muskegon, Mich., and Brian Martin of Palo Alto, Calif., finished eighth, and Christian Niccum of Woodinville, Wash., and Dan Joye of Carmel, N.Y., were ninth.
AUTO RACING
Qatar's Al Attiyah wins first stage of rally Qatar's Nasser Al Attiyah won the first stage of the Dakar Rally, a 231-mile, dusty run in which he held off a posse of Volkswagens led by former world champion Carlos Sainz. Al Attiyah, winner of the UAE Desert Challenge, completed the leg in his BMW from Buenos Aires, Argentina, south to Santa Rosa in 2 hours, 36 minutes, 15 seconds.
The 30th Dakar Rally -- and the first outside Africa -- features 177 cars, 217 motorcycles, 81 trucks and 25 quad bikes with drivers from 49 countries. After 14 stages and 5,950 miles, it will finish Jan. 18 in Buenos Aires. The 2008 race was canceled because of possible terrorist attacks in Mauritania.
AROUND THE HORN
Soccer: Nottingham Forest won 3-0 at high-spending Manchester City for the biggest upset in the third round of the FA Cup. In another surprise, Southend played to a 1-1 draw at Chelsea, scoring the tying goal during injury time.
Premier League leader Liverpool won 2-0 at Preston, with Albert Riera scoring in the first half and captain Steven Gerrard setting up the second goal by substitute Fernando Torres in injury time.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
