Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — TENNIS

Federer beats Nadal in final

Roger Federer won his fifth season-ending title by beating top ranked Rafael Nadal 6-3, 3-6, 6-1Sunday at the ATP World Tour Finals. Federer controlled the first set, losing only three points on his serve and breaking Nadal to take a 5-3 lead. The second ranked Swiss served almost as well in the second set, losing just five points, but four came in the fourth game that Nadal won to take a 3-1 lead. He held serve the rest of the way to even the score at one set apiece. With Nadal tired after a tough three-set win Saturday, Federer easily won the deciding set.

SOCCER

US among seeded teams

The United States is one of the four seeded teams for the women’s World Cup despite being the last nation to qualify for next year’s tournament in Germany. Host and defending champion Germany is the top-seeded team in Group A. It will kick off the tournament against an opponent to be determined at Monday’s draw in Frankfurt. Japan heads Group B, the U.S. tops Group C and Brazil will be the top-seeded team in Group D. The Americans, champions in 1991 and 1999, qualified with a 1-0 victory on Saturday over Italy, winning the home-and home playoff 2-0. The World Cup will be played from June 26 to July 17 in Germany.

A person familiar with the decision says Ben Olsen has been hired to remain coach of D.C. United.Olsen keeps the job after serving the last 2 1/2 months of the season as interim head coach, the person told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team has scheduled a news conference for today to make the formal announcement.

GOLF

Karlsson wins 2-hole playoff

Sweden’s Robert Karlsson won the Dubai World Championship Sunday, defeating third-round leader Ian Poulter in a two-way playoff after a bizarre marking blunder by the Englishman on the final hole. Karlsson calmly rolled in a birdie putt on the second playoff hole after Poulter was given a one-stroke penalty for dropping his ball on his marker on the green, causing it to flip over and move from its original position. Poulter spotted his error and reported it to the match referee, whose ruling left him with a long putt for par instead of a birdie. The putt came up a foot short, taking all the pressure off Karlsson. He then had two shots to clinch the victory in the season-ending $7.5 million tournament. He needed just one to secure his second European Tour victory this year.

HORSE RACING

C.S. Silk blazes to lead

C.S. Silk swept to the lead at the top of the stretch and took off for a 9 3/4-length win in the $67,606 Top Corsage Purse, the closing-day feature on Sunday at Churchill Downs. Trained by Dale Romans and ridden by Kent Desormeaux, C.S. Silk dispatched her six Churchill Downs opponents with ease. C.S. Silk covered the 1 1/16 miles on a firm Matt Winn Turf Course in 1:47.21.The victory was worth $41,124 and increased C.S. Silk’s earnings to $511,096 with a record of 6-4-2 in 20 starts. C.S. Silk returned $3, $2.20 and $2.10. Miss Catalyst, ridden by Robby Albarado, returned $4 and $2.60 and finished a head in front of Magical Theater who paid $2.10 to show under Julien Leparoux. The race was the final feature race of Churchill Downs’ fall meet. Racing returns to Churchill Downs on April 30.

Jockey Jason Gracia has been upgraded from critical to stable condition following a spill Saturday at Aqueduct Racetrack. Gracia suffered broken ribs, a broken collarbone, and a hairline fracture of his neck, said his agent Jorge Velasquez, the former Hall of Fame rider. Gracia will be further evaluated Sunday in the Intensive Care Unit at Jamaica Hospital.Gracia, 28, will be sidelined indefinitely. An apprentice rider, Gracia is 5 for 278. Jose Bermudez, the other jockey in the spill, suffered bruised ribs and was released from North Shore Medical Center. In the race, Ryan and Jack stumbled and fell on the far turn, throwing Gracia to the turf. October Dreams collided with Ryan and Jack as he was on the ground, unseating Bermudez.

Footcandles, a 30-1 long shot, held off Speight of Hand by three-quarters of a length Sunday in the $49,000 allowance feature at Aqueduct. It was the second straight win for the 4-year-old trained by John Kimmel and ridden by Rajiv Maragh. Foot candles improved to 5 for 13, running 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16.65 on the fast track.

SKIING

Gruenenfelder races to win

Tobias Gruenenfelder raced to his first World Cup victory, beating Swiss teammate Carlo Janka by 0.07 seconds Sunday in a super-giant slalom on the Men’s Olympic course. Gruenenfelder completed the 1.49-mile course in 1 minute, 32.31 seconds. Austria’s Romed Baumann was third in 1:32.58. Bode Miller was the top American, finishing 12th in 1:13.12. Travis Ganong was 20th in 1:33.65, and Ted Ligety finished 23rd in 1:33.79.

BOXING

Marquez ready for Round 3 with Pacquiao

Juan Manuel Marquez didn’t waste any time after defending his lightweight title before setting his sights on Round 3 with Manny Pacquiao.

Marquez stopped Michael Katsidis in the ninth round Saturday night at the MGM Grandin Las Vegas, winning an all-action battle and certain candidate for Fight of the Year. Moments later, he turned his attention to settling the score with the man considered the best in the world.

“Obviously, Pacquiao is my priority. I’ll go up to 140 (pounds), it’s no problem,” Marquez said through a translator. “Stop making excuses, Manny. Fight me.”

The two have met twice before, and both of the bouts were thrilling. They fought to a 12-round draw in 2004, and Pacquiao won a close split decision in March 2008.

Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum said in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Sunday that a third fight with Marquez is a distinct possibility, although just like everyone else, he’s waiting to see whether Floyd Mayweather Jr. steps into the ring against Pacquiao in what could be the richest fight in boxing history.

Other candidates include Shane Mosley, who has already put financial numbers on the table for a fight, and welterweight titleholder Andre Berto, who looked sensational in afirst-round knockout of Freddy Hernandez on the Marquez undercard Saturday night.

“Mayweather is the priority, but if he doesn’t want the fight for whatever reason, then there are three possibilities: Mosley, Berto and Marquez,” Arum said. “All I needis two numbers at this stage to go to Pacquiao on: what guarantee they’re looking for and how much per home above a certain number (on the pay per-view).”

Arum wouldn’t say what he’s been offered by Mosley, but Antonio Margarito received $3 million plus $3 per home over 700,000 buys for his loss to Pacquiao earlier this month. Marquez received $4 million plus $1 per home over a million when he lost to Mayweather last year.