Auto Racing
Vettel in a class of his own, wins and extends F1 lead
SINGAPORE – Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel recorded yet another start-to-finish win at the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday to further extend his lead in the Formula One championship.
The German was in a class of his own under the Marina Bay lights, winning by a massive 32.6 seconds over Fernando Alonso and boosting his championship lead on the Ferrari driver from 53 points to 60 with six races left.
Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen was third, ahead of the Mercedes pair Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton in fourth and fifth, respectively.
College Football
Little changes atop rankings in a rout-filled weekend
NEW YORK – With most of the top teams merely tuning up, there is little movement in The Associated Press college football poll this week. Alabama remains No. 1, and the first 14 teams in the rankings held their positions from last week.
The Crimson Tide did lose some support from the media panel, dropping from 59 first-place votes last week to 56. Alabama beat Colorado State 31-6 on Saturday in a game that was 17-6 heading into the fourth quarter.
No. 2 Oregon, which didn’t play, receives the remaining four first-place votes.
No. 4 Ohio State was one of four ranked teams to score at least 70 points Saturday. Never before had more than two ranked teams reached 70 points on the same weekend since the rankings extended to a top 25 in 1989.
No. 25 Fresno State is the only team to enter the rankings. Arizona State, which lost to No. 5 Stanford, drops out.
Golf
Wiebe’s birdie forces Pavin into a Champions playoff
KAPOLEI, Hawaii – Mark Wiebe birdied the 18th hole to force a playoff, then beat Corey Pavin on the second extra hole to win the Pacific Links Hawaii Championship on Sunday. Both Wiebe and Pavin finished regulation at 11-under 205.
TORINO, Italy – Julien Quesne of France made five birdies on the back nine to win the Italian Open by one stroke Sunday for his second European Tour victory.
Tennis
Moselle an all-French affair Sunday in Metz, France
METZ, France – Second-seeded Gilles Simon beat two-time defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday to win the all-French Open de Moselle final for his first title of the year.
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – Sixth-seeded Ernests Gulbis won his fourth career title Sunday by rallying to beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 at the St. Petersburg Open.
SEOUL, South Korea – Top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, fourth in the world rankings, rallied from a set down on Sunday to beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-4 and win the Korea Open.
Sailing
Oracle wins Races 14 and 15 to stay alive for the mug
SAN FRANCISCO – Jimmy Spithill and his mates with Oracle Team USA were masterful in light air Sunday on San Francisco Bay, winning two races against Emirates Team New Zealand to stay alive in the America’s Cup.
Oracle’s 72-foot catamaran jumped to huge leads in both races and has won four in a row since the Kiwis reached match point Wednesday.
Oracle cut the Kiwis’ lead to 8-5. Docked two points in the biggest cheating scandal in the 162-year history of the America’s Cup, Oracle needs four more wins to keep the oldest trophy in international sports, the Auld Mug.
Oracle won Race 14 by 23 seconds and then took Race 15 by 37 seconds.
Oracle has won six of the last eight races after an awful start that led Spithill to replace American tactician John Kostecki with British Olympic star Ben Ainslie, who had been the helmsman of the backup boat.
Associated Press
