Murray defeats Djokovic, wins Key Biscayne title
Andy Murray hit second serves for aces, angled passing shots through the narrowest openings and rarely made a mistake.
It was a performance worthy of a trophy, and Murray became the first Brit to win the Sony Ericsson Open by defeating Novak Djokovic 6-2, 7-5 Sunday.
The Scotsman used his vast repertoire of shots and took advantage of two wobbly stretches by Djokovic. The Serb looked nervous at the start and fell behind 4-0, and in the second set Murray rallied from a break down at 1-4 and won 10 of the final 11 points.
Murray became the first three-time titlist on the men’s tour this year. He’s off to a career-best 26-2 start, and since July his record is 57-7, best on the tour.
He finished with only 19 unforced errors, while Djokovic had 43.
It was a matchup of Nos. 3 and 4 instead of the anticipated showdown between Nos. 1 and 2. Top-ranked Rafael Nadal lost in the quarterfinals to Juan Martin del Potro, and Djokovic upset Roger Federer in the semifinals.
NBA
Cavaliers win, stop skid
LeBron James scored 38 points, Mo Williams and Delonte West added 22 apiece and the NBA’s best home team avoided its first three-game losing streak with a 101-81 home victory over the San Antonio Spurs.
Tony Parker scored 24 for San Antonio but got no help from Manu Ginobili (four points) or Tim Duncan, who had just six and didn’t score after the 2:56 mark of the first quarter.
•Lakers hang on to beat Clippers: Lamar Odom had 18 points and 10 rebounds, Kobe Bryant added 18 points and the Los Angeles Lakers edged the Clippers 88-85 at home to remain a game behind Cleveland for the NBA’s best record.
The Lakers have already clinched home-court advantage through the Western Conference finals, but with five games remaining, still have a shot at edging the Cavaliers to earn home court throughout the NBA finals. The Lakers already own the tiebreaker, having beaten LeBron James & Co. twice.
•Blazers lose, secure playoff spot: The Rockets beat Portland 102-88 in Houston behind Yao Ming’s 21 points and 12 rebounds, just hours after the Trail Blazers got their first playoff berth since 2003 when Dallas beat Phoenix 140-116.
The win moves Houston ahead of Portland and into fourth place in the Western Conference with five games left in the regular season.
•Brewer leads Jazz past Hornets: Ronnie Brewer scored 23 points, helping the Utah Jazz clinch a playoff spot and complete a convincing season sweep of the New Orleans Hornets with a 108-94 victory at New Orleans.
Utah (47-30), seventh in the Western Conference, pulled within a half-game of New Orleans (47-29) for the sixth spot. However, because Phoenix (42-35) also lost Sunday, the Jazz can finish no worse than tied for eighth and would win any tiebreaker.
•Bynum’s big fourth propels Pistons: Will Bynum scored a franchise- record 26 points in the fourth quarter to lead Detroit to a 104-97 home victory over the Charlotte Bobcats that put the Pistons a step closer to locking up the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Bynum scored the final 13 points for the Pistons and finished with a career-high 32 points, and also had seven assists. He made all six of his field-goal attempts and went 14 for 16 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.
NHL
Blackhawks win in OT
Kris Versteeg beat fellow rookie star Steve Mason on a breakaway at 3:10 of overtime to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 1-0 road victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Versteeg ended it with his 22nd goal of the season moments after Chicago’s Nikolai Khabibulin stopped Kris Russell on a breakaway. Khabibulin made 20 saves for his second shutout of the season. Mason stopped 24 shots for the Blue Jackets.
•Sharks beat Ducks, stay in first: Joe Pavelski and Jonathan Cheechoo scored the tying and go-ahead goals during power plays, and the San Jose Sharks set a franchise record with their 52nd victory, beating the Ducks 3-2 in Anaheim, Calif.
Jeremy Roenick had his first goal in four months, and backup goalie Brian Boucher stopped 19 shots for the Sharks, who lead Boston by three points in the race for the NHL’s best record (115-112).
•Capitals win, move up in East: Tomas Fleischmann had his first multipoint game in nearly two months, and Washington got goals from six players to move into sole possession of second place in the Eastern Conference with a 6-4 victory over Atlanta in Washington.
•Hossa leads Red Wings past Wild: Marian Hossa scored with 55 seconds left to lift Detroit to a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild at Detroit, snapping the Red Wings’ three-game losing streak.
Miscellany
Bradley wins, unifies titles
Timothy Bradley got up from a first-round knockdown to score a unanimous decision over Kendall Holt and unify two titles in the light welterweight division.
Bradley (24-0) added Holt’s WBO title to his own WBC belt in the unification bout between two Americans. Holt dropped to 25-3.
•The Pamplemousse won’t run Kentucky Derby: The Pamplemousse won’t run in next month’s Kentucky Derby, although the colt’s racing career isn’t over.
The Pamplemousse was scratched because of a tendon problem hours before Saturday’s $750,000 Santa Anita Derby, in which he was the 9-5 morning line favorite. A pre-race examination showed heat in The Pamplemousse’s front left tendon.
•Devolder wins Tour of Flanders: Stijn Devolder of Belgium won the Tour of Flanders classic for the second time in a row, breaking away on the toughest climb for a solo victory ahead of Heinrich Haussler.
Devolder, a time-trial expert, broke away 12 miles from the finish and never wavered over the last stretch to win the 163-mile race in 6 hours, 1 minute, 8 seconds.
•Kipruto sets Paris Marathon record: Vincent Kipruto set a race record at the Paris Marathon, winning in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 47 seconds.
The 21-year-old Kenyan bettered the previous record of 2:06:33, set by Mike Rotich of Kenya in 2003.
•Scroggins wins second major: Mike Scroggins won his second career major, defeating Norm Duke 191-173 in the championship match of the 66th Lumber Liquidators U.S. Open.
Scroggins gained the finals by beating Chris Barnes 200-199 in the semifinals at the Brunswick Zone Carolier in North Brunswick, N.J.
•Sweden women rout China: Elin Holmlov and Erika Holst scored two goals each as Sweden routed China 6-1 in the preliminary round of the women’s world hockey championships.