| Padres cool off streaking Rockies 6-4, remain atop NL West Miguel Tejada tied a season high with four RBIs to help the San Diego Padres remain on top of the NL West, cooling off Colorado with a 6-4 victory ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Italian strike postponed after talks Serie A: This weekend's players' strike has been called off but the threat of future action remains guardian.co.uk |
Rays falter as Royals' Chen dominates with two-hit shutout Bruce Chen threw a two-hitter for his first major league shutout, leading the Kansas City Royals to a 7-0 victory over Tampa Bay that dropped ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Davydenko sets sights on Shanghai win • Russian back to defend his title after a troubled season• Injured wrist ruined his chances of a World Finals placeNikolay Davydenko's English lends itself to chuckles and he acknowledges his season has dwindled away to irrelevance – but Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer know the erratic Russian will be one dangerous joker in the Shanghai Masters this week.He beat Nadal to win this trophy last year – and went on to beat the Spaniard and Federer in the World Tour Finals in London, as well as in Doha at the start of 2010, completing a rare double over the two best players of his era. David Nalbandian is the only other player to manage that feat in two separate official tournaments.Davydenko's season, though, has veered between promise and serial disappointment and, although holding on to sixth place in the ATP world rankings, three months out with an injured wrist spiked not only his chances in the major tournaments but any hope of returning to the O2 next month.He had his Chinese audience amused and bemused when he admitted in broken English fractured into further shards, no doubt, en route to Mandarin: "I know I will not qualify for London this year [so] just enjoying now my last couple tournaments what I play this year and take rest before early, just practising, preparation for the next season in December."If that translates roughly as don't put your rickshaw on my winning here, it would be as well not to take Davydenko seriously; he will be dead keen to resurrect something from the ashes of a wretched summer.He expressed mild surprise that Federer, who has not played since losing to Novak Djokovic at the US Open, had not arrived early to practice for a tournament he has played nine times.The Swiss will need no incentive beyond pride, though, to get his game back to working order when he does arrive tomorrow. He is burning to reclaim his No1 position and a fifth victory here would convince him it is not an unreasonable ambition.Nadal, who beat Gaël Monfils to win in Tokyo today and is on the crest of a surreal wave of form, is another late arrival, along with Andy Murray.The tournament organisers plan to showcase the top four – Federer, Nadal, Murray and Djokovic – on what they are billing as Super Wednesday. Davydenko does not figure in those plans and instead will be the warm-up act on Tuesday – probably against the Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky. While Davydenko has reached the quarter-finals only three times in 12 tournaments since the Australian Open in January, a semi-final here against Nadal is not a laughable proposition.TennisRafael NadalRoger FedererKevin Mitchellguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Giants eliminate Phillies to win NL pennant By ROB MAADDI 2010-10-24T12:04:13ZPHILADELPHIA (AP) -- No one can say the San Francisco Giants took the easy path to the World Series. They had to wait until the final day to clinch a playoff spot, then had to wait through a tense final out in Philadelphia.... hosted.ap.org |