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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Murray beats Nadal day after besting Federer

Britain’s Andy Murray pocketed $250,000 after knocking off Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in a winner-take-all tournament. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
From staff and wire reports

In a strong statement leading to the Australian Open, Andy Murray has beaten Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on consecutive days in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The Scotsman defeated the top-ranked Nadal 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 Saturday to capture the Capitala World Tennis Championship exhibition and $250,000 winner-take-all prize. A day earlier in the semifinals, he topped the No. 2-ranked Federer 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6).

The tournament, not part of the ATP Tour, included six of the world’s top 10 players.

Murray, who put on more muscle during the off-season, 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.

“This victory was good before I go to Australia,” said Murray, who will first defend his Qatar Open title in Doha. “I have never been past the fourth round there. I trained hard over the break and the victories over the past three days have given me confidence.”

NBA

Hawks edge Rockets

Mike Bibby made a 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds remaining, and Josh Smith scored a season-high 29 points in the Atlanta Hawks’ 103-100 victory over the Houston Rockets in Atlanta.

The Hawks won their sixth straight at home, improving to 15-2 this season at Philips Arena. Overall, Atlanta has won six of seven.

•Parker lifts Spurs: Tony Parker hit a high-arching 15-footer at the buzzer and the San Antonio Spurs beat the Philadelphia 76ers 108-106 in San Antonio after blowing an early 21-point lead.

Tim Duncan led San Antonio with 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting.

Andre Miller topped Philadelphia with 28 points on 12-of-14 shooting.

•Wade delivers for Heat: Dwyane Wade scored 29 points, had three key blocks in the closing minutes and the Miami Heat overcame a 16-point deficit to beat the New Jersey Nets 101-96 in overtime in Miami.

Wade went up high for two blocks on 7-footer Brook Lopez, including one in overtime, and swatted a jumper by Vince Carter into the stands in the final minute of regulation. Wade’s three-point play with 37.2 seconds left in overtime stretched Miami’s lead to eight at 96-88.

•Bobcats end skid: Gerald Wallace scored 24 points, Boris Diaw added 21 and the Charlotte Bobcats beat the visiting Milwaukee Bucks 102-92 to snap a three-game losing streak.

•First for Timberwolves: Randy Foye scored 21 points, Al Jefferson added 18 points and 14 rebounds and the Minnesota Timberwolves won consecutive games for the first time this season, beating the Chicago Bulls 102-92 in Chicago.

•Blazers’ Roy ailing: All-Star guard Brandon Roy, who missed the last two Portland Trail Blazer games with a sprained right hamstring, will miss seven to ten days of action.

Roy also had a precautionary magnetic resonance imaging test on his surgically repaired left knee, but they showed no significant changes since fluid was drained in mid-December.

NHL

Canadiens abound

Only Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin prevented the Montreal Canadiens from an All-Star sweep.

The NHL announced the starting lineups for the midseason classic, and the host Canadiens filled four of the six slots for the Eastern Conference.

Crosby and Malkin, teammates and linemates with the defending East champion Pittsburgh Penguins, will be joined up front by Montreal’s Alex Kovalev.

Crosby, elected as a starter for the third time, garnered 1,713,021 votes – shattering Jaromir Jagr’s 2000 total of 1,020,736. Malkin was second with more than 1.5 million votes.

Montreal’s Andrei Markov and Mike Komisarek will start on defense and teammate Carey Price will be in goal on home ice at the Bell Centre on Jan. 25.

The Western Conference starters are Chicago Blackhawks forwards Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews and Chicago defenseman Brian Campbell. The other three starters are Anaheim Ducks – forward Ryan Getzlaf, defenseman Scott Niedermayer and goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

•Ovechkin sparks Capitals: Alex Ovechkin’s tiebreaking short-handed goal with a half-minute left in the second period lifted Washington past the New York Rangers 2-1 in Washington, extending the Capitals’ winning streak to a season-high six games.

•Flames nip Predators: Todd Bertuzzi broke a 2-2 tie with a goal with 23.4 seconds left in the third period to lead the visiting Calgary Flames to their fifth straight win with a 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators at Nashville, Tenn.

•Osgood stellar in return: Chris Osgood made 33 saves through overtime and then two big ones in the shootout in his first game since Dec. 15 to lift the Detroit Red Wings to a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild in St. Paul, Minn.

Pavel Datsyuk scored the lone goal in the shootout.

•Blues get rare win: The St. Louis Blues’ special teams cooled off Blue Jackets rookie goalie Steve Mason, accounting for all of the goals in a 5-2 victory over visiting Columbus.

Keith Tkachuk scored the go-ahead goal in the second period on one of St. Louis’ four power-play goals and B.J. Crombeen had a short-handed score for the Blues, last in the Western Conference.

College men’s basketball

No. 7 Irish upset

D. J. Kennedy scored 20 points, including four free throws in the final 15 seconds, and had 10 rebounds to send St. John’s (10-4, 1-1 Big East) to a 71-65 victory over No. 7 Notre Dame (10-3, 1-1) in New York.

Luke Harangody had 28 points and 14 rebounds for the Fighting Irish.

•Kansas upsets Tennessee: Sherron Collins had 24 points and nine assists, and Cole Aldrich had 22 points and 10 rebounds to propel Kansas (10-3) to a 92-85 win over No. 14 Tennessee (9-3).

Miscellany

Nishioka keeps title

Toshiaki Nishioka of Japan beat Genaro Garcia of Mexico on a technical knockout in the 12th round in Yokohama, Japan, to retain his WBC super bantamweight interim champion title.

It was Nishioka’s first successful defense of the belt he won against Napapol Kiatisakchokchai of Thailand last September.

•Prep QB shines: Tajh Boyd, who starred at Phoebus High School in Hampton, Va., threw three touchdown passes, including a pair to Miami-bound Bryce Brown, and the East high school stars beat the West 30-17 in U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio.