Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — MOTOR SPORTS Hamilton wins Singapore GP

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton won the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday in Singapore, while Brawn GP driver Jenson Button extended his Formula One championship lead by one point. Hamilton started from the pole and protected his lead to finish 9.6 seconds ahead of Timo Glock, who equaled Toyota's best Formula One result by finishing second. Fernando Alonso gave scandal-hit Renault a lift by finishing third for the French team's first podium finish of the season. Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel finished fourth after ruining his race with a pit lane speeding penalty. Button, who had qualified in 12th, was fifth, one place ahead of teammate and championship rival Rubens Barrichello. Button leads Barrichello by 15 points with three races to go. Red Bull's Mark Webber exited on lap 45 after a brake failure had sent him spinning off the track. That officially ended the Australian's slim championship hopes. He had been running fourth in the early part of the race. McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen was seventh and BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica was eighth. Williams driver Nico Rosberg was running second through the first stint of the race, but crossed the pit road exit lane on his way out after his first stop, and had to serve a drive-through penalty that cost him a chance of any points. He finished 11th.

Robert Hight raced to his second Funny Car victory in two playoff events, winning the NHRA Fall Nationals on Sunday at Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas. Hight, who barely advanced to the Countdown to 1, beat Jack Beckman in the final round at the Texas Motorplex, after outrunning Leif Helander, Tim Wilkerson and Ashley Force Hood. Last week, he beat Matt Hagan in the finale in Concord, N.C. Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel); Greg Anderson (Pro Stock); and Hector Arana (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also were winners in the NHRA Full Throttle DragRacing Series event. Schumacher beat rival Larry Dixon in the Top Fuel final. Schumacher finished in 3.944 at 312.86 for his fifth victory of the season and 61st of his career, while top qualifier Dixon trailed with a 4.232 at 225.18. With the victory, Schumacher, who has won the past five Top Fuel season titles and six overall, moved into the points lead. Anderson claimed his first playoff victory and second of the season in Pro Stock, driving his Pontiac GXP to a 6.684 at 207.11 to hold off former Funny Car racer Johnny Gray. Series points leader Mike Edwards was upset in the semifinals by Anderson. In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Arana raced to his third consecutive victory and fifth of the season with a final-round performance of 6.979 at 190.67 on a Buell to hold off championship rival and defending world champ Eddie Krawiec. Arana increased his series lead to 27 over Krawiec.

MARATHON

Mungara wins in Toronto

Kenya's Kenneth Mungara successfully defended his title in the Toronto Waterfront Marathon on Sunday, finishing in 2 hours, 8 minutes, 31.9 seconds - the fastest time ever in a Canadian marathon. The 36-year-old Mungara shaved 2 minutes off his personal record in breaking the course record he set last year. Ethiopia's Chala Lemi was second in 2:08:48.4. Ethiopia's Amane Gobena won the women's title in 2:28:30.4.

TENNIS

Date Krumm wins Korean

Japan's Kimiko Date Krumm became the oldest winner of a WTA Tour tournament in 26 years, beating second-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-3, 6-3 to claim the Korea Open title in Seoul, South Korea. The victory on Sunday was Date Krumm's first in 13 years and eighth of her career. She turns 39 on Monday. Billie Jean King was 39 years, 7 months and 23 days when she won at Birmingham, England, in 1983. Formerly ranked No. 4 in the world, Date Krumm quit tennis in 1996 before returning last year. She beat top-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinalsand defending champion Maria Kirilenko of Russia 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals. Date Krumm won her last WTA title at San Diego in August 1996.

Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic has upset former top ranked Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 6-4, 7-6 (1) in the first round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. The 10th-seeded Ivanovic double-faulted 11 times on Sunday and connected on just 41 percent of her first serves against the unseeded Safarova. Top-ranked Dinara Safina of Russia, the defending champion, and No. 2-seeded Venus Williams have first-round byes. In other first-round matches, Russia's Alisa Kleybanova defeated Japan's Ayumi Morita 6-1, 6-4 and Gisela Dulko of Argentina topped Agnes Szavay of Hungary 6-3, 6-0. Germany's Sabine Lisicki beat Switzerland's Patty Schnyder 6-4, 6-0, and Russia's Elena Vesnina ousted Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain 6-3, 6-2.

Shahar Peer of Israel has won her second consecutive WTA Tour title, beating local favorite Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan 6-3, 6-4 in the Tashkent Open final in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The second-seeded Peer earned her fifth career title Sunday. She won the Guangzhou Open in China last Sunday. The 46th-ranked Peer broke Amanmuradova two times in the first set.

Albert Montanes of Spain won the BCR Open Romania, overcoming Juan Monaco of Argentina 7-6 (2), 7-6 (6) on Sunday in Bucharest, Romania. It was Montanes' third career title and second this year, after winning in Estoril in May.

Top-seeded Gael Monfils won his second career ATP Tour title Sunday in Metz, France, taking the Open de Moselle final 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-2 over Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany. Monfils reached the fourth round at this year's U.S. Open. His first ATP victory came at Sopot, Poland, in 2005.

CYCLING Evans wins road title

Cadel Evans won the men's race at cycling's road world championships on Sunday in Mendriso, Switzerland. The Australian broke clear on the final climb Sunday to finish in an unofficial time of 6 hours, 56minutes, 26 seconds on the 162.9-mile course. Alexandr Kolobnev of Russia crossed 27 seconds behind to take silver, beating Spain's Joaquin Rodriguez in a sprint finish. Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara was in contention on the final lap, but finished fifth as he sought a historic gold medal double after winning the time trial on Thursday. The riders covered 19 laps of a tight, hilly course that challenged riders with two climbs, technically demanding downhill sections and little recovery time.

BASEBALL U.S. retains World Cup

The United States defended its baseball World Cup title Sunday in Nettuno, Italy, beating Cuba 10-5 behind catcher Lucas May's three-run home run. The game was tied 4-4 in the seventh inning when the United States scored six runs off three Cuban pitchers. May was 2 for 4 with 4 RBI. The Americans also beat Cuba in the 2007 final, snapping Cuba's run of nine consecutive titles. The United States finished with 14 consecutive victories after opening the competition with a loss to Venezuela. The U.S. roster consisted entirely of Class AAA and Class AA players, including Arkansas Travelers pitcher Trevor Reckling, who earned his second victory in the tournament on Sept. 19 with a 7-3 victory over Mexico.

SWIMMING Thorpe drops suit

Five-time Olympic swimming champion Ian Thorpe has dropped a defamation case in an Australian court against the publisher of a French newspaper and a journalist over doping claims because neither of the defendants responded to the claims. Thorpe was suing the French newspaper L'Equipe, its publisher, and journalist Damien Ressiot, over an article published in March 2007 during the world swimming championships in Melbourne, Australia. The newspaper claimed Thorpe gave a urine sample in May 2006 that showed abnormal levels of testosterone. Thorpe's lawyer, Tony O'Reilly, said Monday that despite being served with the proceedings several times, counsel for L'Equipe and Ressiot didn't appear in court.