In Brief
MOTOR SPORTS
Beckman takes Funny Car lead
with NHRA victory in Arizona
Jack Beckman took the Funny Car standings lead with two events left, racing to his third career victory Sunday at Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, Ariz.
Larry Dixon (Top Fuel), Vincent Nobile (Pro Stock) and Hector Arana Jr. (Pro Stock Motorcycle) won their respective divisions in the fourth race of the NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship, the six-race playoffs to determine the season championships. The next stop is Las Vegas Motor Speedway from Oct. 27-30.
Beckman powered his Dodge Charger to a 4.354-second run at 278.29 mph in the final round to beat Don Schumacher Racing teammate Johnny Gray. The victory, Beckman's second in a row in Phoenix and the 12th of his career, moved him into the points lead for the first time in his career.
Defending Top Fuel world champion Dixon held off Antron Brown in the final round for his second win of the season. The win also moved Dixon to the second spot in the standings, 20 points behind Brown.
In Pro Stock, rookie Nobile held off fellow Dodge driver Allen Johnson in the final round to secure his third race win of the season. In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Arana raced to his second consecutive win and third of the season, posting a perfect reaction time of 0.000 in the final round.
Also: Sebastian Vettel showed no sign of letting up, winning the Korean Grand Prix to underline his dominance of the Formula One season one week after clinching his second straight drivers' championship.
Vettel, who started from second on the grid in Yeongam, South Korea, passed pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton on the first lap and dominated the 55-lap race, crossing the finish line in 1 hour, 38 minutes, 01.994 seconds, 12 seconds ahead Hamilton.
UNLV
Josifoska bests Batta for title
in Mountain Region tennis event
Aleksandra Josifoska beat teammate Lucia Batta 6-0, 0-6, 6-2 in the singles final of the USTA/ITA Mountain Region Championships at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.
Josifoska, seeded third, stormed out in the first set, only to have Batta -- seeded second and the defending champion -- roll just as easily in the second set. But Josifoska regained her composure in the final set against the fellow sophomore.
Josifoska earned a spot at the USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, set for Nov. 3-6 in New York.
Also: The UNLV men's soccer team rallied from a 2-0 halftime deficit with four second-half goals, but Denver escaped with a 5-4 victory in double overtime at Johann Memorial Field.
Nick Marshall scored two goals in a span of 1 minute, 44 seconds, tying the game at 2 in the 59th minute. After a Pioneers goal in the 69th minute, UNLV's Salvador Bernal got a pair of goals 62 seconds apart, putting the Rebels (2-10, 1-4 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) up 4-3 in the 79th minute.
But Denver scored in the final minute of regulation, and after a scoreless first overtime, Matt Kirby scored the winner in the 105th minute.
MISCELLANEOUS
Murray tops Ferrer to claim crown in Shanghai Masters
Defending champion Andy Murray defeated David Ferrer 7-5, 6-4 to win the Shanghai Masters, ensuring he'll vault past Roger Federer to No. 3 in the ATP rankings.
The Scot, currently ranked fourth, had made finishing the season at No. 3 one of his main goals of the year. It will be the first time Federer has fallen out of the top three since June 2003 -- just before he won his first Wimbledon title.
Murray has been unbeatable during the autumn Asian swing of the ATP tour, capturing consecutive titles in Bangkok, Tokyo -- where he beat No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the final -- and Shanghai.
Also: Second-seeded Marion Bartoli of France rolled past top-seeded Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-3, 6-1 to win the Japan Open in Osaka.
Bartoli broke Stosur twice in the opening set and held serve throughout the match.
Top-seeded Petra Kvitova beat Dominika Cibulkova 6-4, 6-1 to win the Generali Ladies in Linz, Austria, for her first title since Wimbledon in June.
The fourth-ranked Kvitova had struggled since winning her first major at the All England Club, but she found her form while denying the seventh-seeded Slovak her first WTA tour title.
New Jersey Nets star guard Deron Williams had 11 points and five assists to help Besiktas to a 107-69 victory over Bandirma Kirmizi in the NBA player's Turkish league debut at Istanbul, Turkey.
Williams -- a two-time NBA All-Star -- is among a number of players signed to overseas clubs until the end of the NBA lockout.
Canadian Pierre-Luc Gagnon edged Shaun White by a half-point to win the Skateboard Vert final at the Dew Tour Championships.
Gagnon and White had spectacular runs in the finals at the Hard Rock Hotel, with Gagnon finishing with 92 points.
Ryan Villopoto claimed a $1 million bonus by sweeping all three main events at the Monster Energy Cup off-road motorcycle event Saturday night at Sam Boyd Stadium.
The Los Angeles Kings placed defenseman Drew Doughty on the injured list because of an undisclosed upper body injury sustained in Saturday's 3-2 overtime victory at Philadelphia.
Doughty signed an eight-year, $56 million contract last month, making the 21-year-old player one of the NHL's highest-paid defensemen. He was a Norris Trophy finalist in 2010.
Netherlands striker Robin van Persie put Arsenal into the top half of the English Premier League with both goals in a 2-1 victory over Sunderland in London. In other action, host Newcastle denied Tottenham a fifth straight win with a late equalizer in a 2-2 draw.
Redeemed made a late charge and surged ahead in the final strides to beat Alternation and even-money favorite Prayer for Relief in the $400,000 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park in Oklahoma City.
Redeemed covered 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.20 on a fast track.
