In brief: Flawless Kim wins free skate at Paris event

Skating: World champion Kim Yu-na of South Korea captured the Trophee Bompard in Paris on Saturday, winning the free skate with a flawless performance to finish ahead of Japanese skaters Mao Asada and Yukari Nakano.

After blowing the field away in Friday’s short program, Kim did it again to total 210.03 points after receiving 133.95 in the free skate to sound a warning ahead of this winter’s Vancouver Olympics.

“When I finished skating, I didn’t look immediately at the overall score,” Kim said. “When I saw the score, I was a bit surprised. This was just my first competition of the season and I didn’t expect such a good performance.”

Kim’s previous best was 207.71 points in becoming world champion earlier this year.

Asada, the 2008 world champ, rose one spot to second with 173.99 points. Nakano was third with 165.70 points.

Caroline Zhang finished fourth with 153.15 points, ahead of American teammate Alexe Gilles with 151.92 points.

Nobunari Oda of Japan won the men’s event, and American teenager Adam Rippon placed third to bolster his bid to make the U.S. team going to the Vancouver Olympics.

Campbell, Piercy share lead in Vegas

Golf: Chad Campbell made a double bogey on the par-5 16th, then birdied the 18th for a 4-under-par 67 and a share of the third-round lead with Scott Piercy in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at Las Vegas.

Piercy had a 65 to match Campbell, a former UNLV player, at 17-under 196 at TPC Summerlin.

Martin Laird (67) was a stroke back, and 2007 winner George McNeill (63), Jason Bohn (65), Jeff Klauk (66) and Bob Heintz (68) followed at 15 under. Former Pullman resident Kirk Triplett is at 200 after a 66.

•Forsman tops field by one shot: Dan Forsman remained in position for his second Champions Tour victory of the year, shooting a 1-under 71 to take a one-stroke lead in the Administaff Small Business Classic at The Woodlands, Texas.

Forsman had a 9-under 135 total on The Woodlands Country Club’s Tournament Course. Jay Haas (66), Gene Jones (67) and Mark Wiebe (69) were tied for second, and Tom Watson (68), Bob Tway (70) and John Cook (72) followed at 7 under.

Forsman, who had six straight birdies in his opening 64, birdied Nos. 4, 6 and 9 to reach 11 under and pull three shots ahead.

Avalanche bounce back at Detroit

Hockey: Marek Svatos and Milan Hejduk scored shootout goals to give the Colorado Avalanche a 4-3 National Hockey League win over the host Detroit Red Wings.

Colorado, which has won four straight, rallied from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits in the third period.

•Also in the NHL: Ilya Kovalchuk scored twice to help send the Atlanta Thrashers to their best start in franchise history (4-1-0) with a 4-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres at Buffalo, N.Y. Brandon Dubinsky had a goal and an assist, and the New York Rangers earned their seventh straight win with a 4-1 victory over the winless Toronto Maple Leafs at Toronto. Martin Brodeur made 26 saves and moved within one shutout of tying Terry Sawchuk’s NHL career record in leading the New Jersey Devils to a 2-0 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes at Newark, N.J.

Nadal has easy route into Shanghai final

Tennis: Rafael Nadal advanced to the Shanghai Masters final after Feliciano Lopez became the ninth player to retire from the tournament.

The unseeded Lopez said he woke up with a right foot infection, and then twisted his right ankle on the last point of the first set. He was trailing 6-1, 3-0 when he retired.

The top-seeded Nadal will play in today’s final against sixth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, who outlasted second-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1).

•Stosur earns first title: Australia’s Samantha Stosur won the Japan Women’s Open today for her first WTA singles title, beating Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 7-5, 6-1.

Stosur, seeded third and ranked 15th in the world, broke the fourth-seeded Schiavone’s serve to go up 3-1 in the second set and dominated the rest of the way to close out the match in 1 hour, 8 minutes.

Froch retains super middleweight title

Miscellany: Carl Froch retained his WBC super middleweight title with a split-decision victory over Andre Dirrell (18-1) in the second fight of the Super Six World Boxing Classic super middleweight tournament at Nottingham, England.

Froch (26-0, 20 KOs) barely won the messy fight, earning 115-112 margins on two of the three judges’ scorecards while fighting in his hometown against Dirrell, the previously unbeaten U.S. bronze medalist.

•Hot Cha Cha sizzles: Hot Cha Cha pulled away down the stretch to easily win the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., and earn a first Grade 1 win for longtime trainer Phil Sims.

The 3-year-old filly was third behind Shared Account and favorite Gozzip Girl at the three-quarter pole but surged late, passing them both to win by 4 1/2 lengths.