Williams finally takes crown in Queen City

TENNIS: Serena Williams earned one of her most elusive titles on her sixth try.

Williams needed only 62 minutes to beat Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 6-1 on Sunday in the Western & Southern Open, for a personal breakthrough.

She’d never even reached the finals in Cincinnati until last year, when she fell apart and lost to Victoria Azarenka on a third-set tiebreaker.

No wobbles this time. After getting broken in the first game, she took control with her serve and took advantage of Ivanovic’s sloppy play, improving to 5-0 in finals this year.

Ivanovic was treated for a stomach ailment during her nearly 3-hour win over Maria Sharapova in the semifinals Saturday night.

She didn’t have much left against Williams, who served 12 aces while getting a long-awaited trophy.

The only other event that Williams has played six times without a title is Sydney.

• Federer wins Cincinnati for sixth time: Roger Federer won an unprecedented sixth championship in Cincinnati, extending his record of finals perfection at the tournament, beating David Ferrer 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 in the Western & Southern Open.

Federer has won all six times he’s reached the tournament’s title match.

The latest came against an opponent he has dominated throughout his career. Federer improved to 16-0 against Ferrer, who has won only five sets off him overall.

Ami’s Holiday takes Breeders’ Stakes

Horse racing: Ami’s Holiday won the 124th running of the $500,000 Breeders’ Stakes at Woodbine in Toronto, the third and final leg of the Canadian Triple Crown.

Ridden by Luis Contreras, Ami’s Holiday beat Interpol by three-quarters of a length, running 1 1/2 miles on the turf course in Toronto in 2:30.12.

Main Sequence wins: Main Sequence beat Imagining by a head in the Grade 1 $500,000 Sword Dancer Invitational at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Ridden by Rajiv Maragh, Main Sequence was slow out of the gate and spotted the field several lengths before rallying to finish the 1 1/2 mile course in 2:24.72.

Imagining was second, and Twilight Eclipse placed third.

Walsh Jennings sets another record

Volleyball: Three-time Olympic champion Kerri Walsh Jennings won the AVP Manhattan Beach Open for the record seventh time, teaming with April Ross to beat Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Sweat in Manhattan Beach, California.

Walsh Jennings and Ross led 19-21, 21-13, 9-0 when Fendrick and Sweat were forced to retire after Sweat sustained a back injury.

Walsh Jennings, who turned 36 on Friday, won her 70th career AVP title.

Phil Dalhausser and Sean Rosenthal won the men’s title, beating Theo Brunner and Todd Rogers 21-17, 21-14.

Marion agrees to deal with Cavaliers

NBA: Free-agent forward Shawn Marion agreed to a contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers, a person familiar with the negotiations told the Associated Press.

The 36-year-old Marion informed the Cavs this weekend that he will take a minimum deal and play for them next season.

He averaged 10.4 points and 6.5 rebounds per game last season with Dallas.

Mekhissi bounces back with 1,500 win

Track and Field: Mahiedine Mekhissi won gold at the European Championships in Zurich after all, outrunning all opposition in the 1,500 meters, three days after the Frenchman was disqualified in the steeplechase for stripping off his shirt in celebration before crossing the finish line.

Unlike Mekhissi, it took the French 4x400 team an amazing comeback on the finishing straight of the women’s relay race to nip Ukraine at the line. Britain came in third.

Italy’s Daniele Meucci won the marathon title ahead of Yared Shegumo of Poland and Aleksey Reunkov of Russia.

• Bolt cruises: Usain Bolt won a 100-meter race on a Rio de Janeiro beach with a time of 10.06 seconds.

Bolt cruised to victory on a four-lane standard running track set up on Leme beach.

The Jamaican easily beat Mark Lewis-Francis of Britain, Jefferson Liberato Lucindo of Brazil and Wallace Spearmon of the United States.

Pedrosa wins to snap Marquez’s run

Motorcycles: Dani Pedrosa won the Czech Grand Prix in Brno, Czech Republic, to end the season’s winning streak of defending world champion Marc Marquez.

The Spanish rider with Repsol Honda covered 22 laps of the 3.358-mile circuit in 42 minutes, 47.800 seconds for his 26th MotoGP victory.

Philly beats Texas on throwing error

LLWS: Zion Spearman scored on shortstop Matt Adams’ two-out throwing error to first base in the sixth inning to give Philadelphia a 7-6 victory over Pearland, Texas, in the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Scott Bandura reached on a bunt leading off the sixth. Two outs later, Spearman tied it with a line-drive triple into the left-center gap.

Mo’ne Davis had a bloop RBI single in the first inning for Philadelphia (2-0) to became the sixth girl to get a hit in LLWS history.

Philadelphia will play Las Vegas, also 2-0, on Wednesday night.

Pearland will play Lynnwood, Washington today.

• Las Vegas rolls: Brad Stone hit a grand slam in the first inning and Las Vegas hit five home runs in a 13-2 win over Chicago’s Jackie Robinson West.

First baseman Austin Kryszczuk homered twice, in the second and fourth innings.

Chicago’s Pierce Jones, who hit three home runs on Thursday, went 0 for 2.

• Tokyo tops Guadalupe: Shozo Kamata had a pinch-hit, go-ahead two-run single in the fifth inning to help Tokyo beat Guadalupe, Mexico, 9-5.

With the game tied at 5, Kamata hit a slow ground ball up the middle that escaped the reach of Mexico’s shortstop and second baseman and made the score 7-5.

Japan added two more in the inning and Mexico could not respond, going down in order in the top of the sixth.

Japan advances to play Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday.

• South Korea wins: Jun Hyeok Yun stole home to score the go-ahead run and South Korea beat Puerto Rico 8-5.

Entering as pinch runner, Yun raced home after teammate Hae Chan Choi drew a throw to second base from catcher Jeremy Colon in the top of the sixth.

South Korea added two runs and Jae Yeong Kim pitched a perfect bottom half of the inning.