MOTOR SPORTS
Hamilton takes F1 lead
Lewis Hamilton took the lead in the Formula One drivers' championship by winning the Singapore Grand Prix, leapfrogging teammate Nico Rosberg who had to retire early with a gear-selection failure. Hamilton led comfortably Sunday before he was forced into a late pitstop, giving up the race lead to Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel. However, Hamilton quickly passed the German to win by 13.5 seconds at the Marina Bay circuit. Hamilton moved to 241 points, ahead of Rosberg on 238, with five races left. Rosberg was forced to start from the pit-lane due to an electronically caused gear selection failure, and he did 14 laps in the stricken car before retiring. Vettel finished second, just holding off Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was fourth.
• Tony Schumacher raced to his second Top Fuel victory in two days at Texas Motorplex, taking the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals on Sunday. Courtney Force topped the Funny Car field, Dave Connolly won in Pro Stock, and Andrew Hines in Pro Stock Motorcycle in the second of six playoff events in the NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship. Schumacher, the winner of the rain-delayed North Carolina event Saturday, beat J.R. Todd in the final for his 76th career Top Fuel victory. Schumacher had a run of 3.891 seconds at 318.62 mph. Schumacher opened a 106-point lead over second-place Steve Torrence in the standings.
BASKETBALL
U.S. women stunned
Sandrine Gruda had 26 points and 15 rebounds to help France upset the U.S. women's national team 76-72 in an exhibition game on Sunday in Paris. It's the first loss by the Americans in an international game since falling to a team from the Czech Republic in 2011 when the U.S. was on a European tour. The Americans, who beat the French in the gold medal game at the Olympics in 2012, had a 12-point halftime lead and were up 60-52 with 6:39 left in the game before the hosts rallied. France led 71-67 with 27 seconds left after Celine Dumerc hit a jumper. Maya Moore made a three-pointer 7 seconds later to make it a one-point game. After the teams exchanged free throws, Dumerc made the first of two from the foul line before corralling her own miss with nine seconds left to seal the victory.
HORSE RACING
Easy winners at Belmont
Saratoga Heater and Temper Mint Patty rolled to easy wins Sunday in $150,000 stakes for New York-bred 2-year-olds over the muddy track at Belmont Park on Sunday. Saratoga Heater beat Bullheaded Boy by four lengths in the Bertram F. Bongard. Joel Rosario was aboard as the colt trained by Lisa Lewis ran seven furlongs in 1:24.63 for his second win in three starts. He paid $8.80 to win. Temper Mint Patty was even more dominant in the Joseph A. Gimma for fillies, romping to a 13 1/2-length win over My Super Nova. Irad Ortiz Jr. rode for trainer Dale Romans as Temper Mint Patty improved to 2 for 2. She returned $6.40 to win. The time was 1:23.78.
TENNIS
Ivanovic wins in Tokyo
Third-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia beat second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-2, 7-6 (2) on Sunday to win the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. In a match that featured two former top-ranked players, Ivanovic broke Wozniacki three times in the first set at Ariake Coliseum and won the second-set tiebreaker with a forehand to the corner to capture her first Pan Pacific title. Ivanovic, ranked No. 8, did not drop a set en route to the final and is projected to move up to No. 5 with the victory. U.S. Open finalist Wozniacki, the tournament winner in 2010, had her serve broken to go down 3-2 in the first set and then lost the next three games as Ivanovic seized the momentum.
• Caroline Garcia of France defeated Venus Williams in the first round of the Wuhan Open on Sunday in China, while wild card Victoria Azarenka withdrew with an injured right foot and will miss the rest of the season. Garcia, ranked 30 places below No. 18 Williams, won 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (6) and next faces Agnieszka Radwanska. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova from the Czech Republic defeated Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2) while Elina Svitolina beat Camila Giorgi 6-2, 6-3. Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova also moved into the second round with an easy 6-3, 6-2 victory against Kurumi Nara from Japan. Zarina Diyas, Kirsten Flipkens, Karin Knapp and Alison Riske also advanced after dropping a set in their matches.
• Second-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic defeated fifth-seeded Varvara Lepchenko of the United States, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2 on Sunday to win the Korea Open in Seoul. Pliskova stormed out to a 4-0 lead in the third set at Olympic Park Tennis Center and held on for the second WTA title of her career in a match that lasted 2 hours, 11 minutes. Pliskova added the Korea victory to her first WTA title she won in Kuala Lumpur last year. She was playing in her fourth WTA final this year. She lost the first three in Pattaya City, Nurnberg and Hong Kong. Lepchenko beat top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarterfinals but couldn't build on the momentum in Sunday's final. The doubles final saw Lara Arruabarrena and Irina-Camelia Begu beat Mona Barthel and Mandy Minella, 6-3, 6-3.
Sports on 09/22/2014