In brief: U.S. in driver’s seat against Internationals

Golf: Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker were perfect as Presidents Cup partners, and they got enough help from everyone else Saturday in San Francisco to put the Americans in position to stay perfect on home soil.

With an improbable rally by Woods in the morning and pure putting by Stricker in the afternoon, they became the first partnership in the Presidents Cup – and the first in 30 years of any team competition – to go 4-0.

Phil Mickelson had a chance to join them with an undefeated record using different partners. Mickelson and Sean O’Hair each had a birdie putt inside 15 feet on the final hole to scratch out another win, but had to settle for a halve.

The International team walked away from Harding Park facing a daunting deficit with only 12 singles matches remaining today.

The Americans had a 121/2-91/2 lead. No team has rallied from three points behind on the final day to win the cup.

Selanne propels Ducks past Flyers

NHL: Teemu Selanne scored the only goal in a shootout, and had two goals in regulation to lift the Anaheim Ducks to a 3-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers in Philadelphia.

•Kings edge Blues: Jonathan Quick made 29 saves, and Ryan Smyth and Michal Handzus scored to lead the visiting Los Angeles Kings to a 2-1 win over the St. Louis Blues.

•Leafs still winless: Sidney Crosby scored two power-play goals and Evgeni Malkin had three assists to help the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins beat the winless Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2.

•Bruins rally past Islanders: Blake Wheeler and Marc Savard scored in the shootout after the Boston Bruins rallied for three goals in the final 8:01 of regulation to beat the visiting New York Islanders 4-3.

Colic, Djokovic in China final

Tennis: Rafael Nadal lost in the semifinals of the China Open in Beijing, falling 6-1, 6-3 to Marin Cilic.

Cilic will play Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, who beat Sweden’s Robin Soderling 6-3, 6-3.

In the women’s draw, Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Russian compatriot Nadia Petrova, 6-1, 6-3, to move into the final against Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who downed France’s Marion Bartoli, 6-4, 6-3.

•Davis Cup in Barcelona: The Davis Cup final between defending champ Spain and the Czech Republic will be played in Barcelona on Dec. 4-6.

Zenyatta runs record to 13-0

Horse racing: Zenyatta ran her way into rare company, improving to 13-0 with a victory in the $300,000 Lady’s Secret Stakes at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif.

The mare tied filly Personal Ensign’s streak of 13 straight wins set from 1986-88. Personal Ensign retired as the first undefeated champ in American racing in more than 80 years.

•Homeboykris and Devil May Care pulled off upsets in a pair of $400,000 Grade 1 stakes for 2-year-olds at Belmont Park in New York.

Homeboykris , making his first start for trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr., bounded to a 11/2-length win in the Champagne over Discreetly Mine.

In the Frizette for fillies, Devil May Care remained unbeaten in two starts, holding off even-money favorite Awesome Maria by a head.

Lopez, Gamboa both defend titles

Boxing: Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa remained on a potential collision course after defending their titles in separate bouts at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Gamboa retained his WBA featherweight title with a fourth-round stoppage of Whyber Garcia, while Lopez earned a unanimous decision against Rogers Mtagwa to keep his WBO super bantamweight belt.

•Vazquez looks shaky in victory: Former 122-pound champion Israel Vazquez overcame a rocky start and a nasty cut in Los Angeles to stop Angel Priolo in the ninth round of Vazquez’s comeback fight from a 19-month ring absence.

•Salgado earns title: Juan Carlos Salgado (22-0-1, 16 knockouts) knocked out Jorge Linares (27-1, 18 KOs) in the first round in Tokyo to take the WBC super featherweight title.

American women remain unbeaten

Miscellany: Tina Charles had 15 points and seven rebounds to help the U.S. women’s basketball national team beat Euroleasing Sopron 79-65 in round-robin play at the Ekaterinburg (Russia) tournament. The U.S. (2-0) will face host UMMC Ekaterinburg (2-0) today.

•Alexander, Wellington repeat: Craig Alexander won the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, for the second straight year.

The 36-year-old Australian completed the 140.6-mile endurance test in 8 hours, 20 minutes and 21 seconds.

Britain’s Chrissie Wellington earned her third straight women’s title, finishing in a course record 8:54:02.